What to do with $3000?

**PauletteGoddard** · 02-17-2014, 07:07 AM

You are probably wiser than me, but this is what I'd do:
divide at least 90% of the $3000 into laddered CDs: 3-month, 6-month and 12-month
with the remainder find some undervalued stock with high "price persistence" and "safety" ratings and buy a share, sell at 15+% profit. You'll have to pay short-term capital gains tax and commissions, though. If you don't want to buy shares then put 100% of the $3000 into laddered CDs.

**Petunia 100** · 02-17-2014, 07:09 AM

If I were in your situation, I would open an account with an online bank so that I could earn more while still keeping my principal safe. I would not risk money I knew I would need within a year. If you can't put it away for a minimum of 5 years, then you don't want to invest.

**lisamp725** · 02-17-2014, 07:10 AM

I have thought about buying laddered CDs but rates are SOOO low. I have thought about short term bonds but I am open to anything that will gain me some money. I do not need the money to grow but I can not stand to see it sit in an account gaining nothing. It will drive me nuts.

**bjl584** · 02-17-2014, 07:28 AM

You're not going to get much return on your money considering how much you have, a one year time frame, and a low tolerance for risk. That's just the reality of how interest rates are right now. The best you can hope for is a little over 1%, which equals about $30 in interest over the course of 1 year. Not much you can do but let it sit in the bank.

**snafu** · 02-17-2014, 11:50 AM

How much debt are you carrying at what interest rate? How much can you continue to add to savings? Are there any improvements to be made to make your budget more efficient?

**lisamp725** · 02-17-2014, 11:55 AM

I do not have that much debt and I am sure that if I used the $3000 to pay it off I would NOT be able to save the $3000 back up in the year. Any extra money I get over the year will go to my current debt I have now. Again I do not NEED the money to grow but will hate to see it sit in a savings account.

**feh** · 02-18-2014, 05:38 AM

Originally posted by lisamp725 View Post

I have thought about buying laddered CDs but rates are SOOO low. I have thought about short term bonds but I am open to anything that will gain me some money. I do not need the money to grow but I can not stand to see it sit in an account gaining nothing. It will drive me nuts.

Yes, CDs for 12 months does not make sense.

Online savings account is your best option. You'll earn about .85%.

**scfr** · 02-18-2014, 05:58 AM

Without knowing the details of the small amount of debt that you have it is hard to give a complete answer, but one option to consider is using the $500 that you mentioned you could "afford to risk" to pay down some of the debt, and using the remaining $2,500 to open an account where you would get a new account bonus. You can likely do better with a bonus than you would with straight interest. Just be sure to read the fine print and make sure that you can meet all of the requirements to get the bonus.

**BuckyBadger** · 02-18-2014, 06:10 AM

Originally posted by lisamp725 View Post

I have thought about buying laddered CDs but rates are SOOO low. I have thought about short term bonds but I am open to anything that will gain me some money. I do not need the money to grow but I can not stand to see it sit in an account gaining nothing. It will drive me nuts.

Originally posted by lisamp725 View Post

Again I do not NEED the money to grow but will hate to see it sit in a savings account.

Will you hate to see it lose 5% of its value? How about 10% or 15%? Will it drive you nuts for it to lose 25% of its value?

For that amount of money over that amount of time there is nothing you can do that will return you any appreciable amount of money - certainly nothing that won't at the same time risk that you lose some or all of it.

Put it into an interest bearing savings or checking account and step away from the ledge.

What to do with $3000?