Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Money and investing

How to invest $30k for 3 months?

trbrts — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:09:12 -0800

What are some good low risk ways to invest $30k for about a 3 month period? So, our house is under contract, but, so far we've been unable to find a house that's meeting our requirements. At this point I feel that we aren't going to see anything good until after the holidays. So, we're probably going to switch over to looking for a rental. Rather than just sticking the money in the savings account, I'm open to taking some of it and seeing if we can get some kind of return, but, I don't know anything about investing. So, what are some ways I can invest around $30k for around a 3 month time frame that will see some kind of return. Obviously I can't get too crazy with this money and I understand that 3 months is a pretty short timeframe. Would there be any tax implications in doing this? Thanks in advance.

Fun Money Sites & Games For Kids

maryh — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:25:36 -0800

My 7 year old son has developed a passion for money. He enjoys collecting unusual coins and bills, spotting bargains at the grocery, playing 'store' and (yikes) making bets for cash. His favorite character is Mr. Crabs. Finance is not my specialty *snort* so any suggestions for age appropriate sites/activities that revolve around the wise use of filthy lucre will be appreciated. My husband and I are both artsy, broke dopes when it comes to anything financial, so we're not exactly the go-to grownups when it comes to teaching a kid about commerce. I'm impressed by the kid's grasp of monetary value- he's a pretty critical consumer for a first grader- but he's also a bit of a gambler and a wheeler-dealer. I've overheard him making bets with his friends (25¢ heads, double or nothing tails, that sort of thing). Another mom recommended investing websites, but it seems the ones I'm finding are either geared toward older kids or their parents. A good investment game simple enough for a second grader would be right up his alley, if one exists.
I know there are plenty of financial wizard mefites out there; what inspired you when you were a sprout?

Low risk investment advice

blueskiesinside — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:23:58 -0800

FinancialAdviceFilter: How to best invest $10,000? We're a newly married couple who have been given some money we want to invest ($10,000). We're looking at a 5 year time frame and the goal of building a nest egg to buy property at the end of that 5 years using what we've saved. There's already money in a savings account, 401k's, and a small amount of stock. We're looking for low risk with decent return. Municipal bonds? Money market funds? CD ladders? Where should we put the money?

Online games for money moguls?

skypieces — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:31:51 -0800

I dig "Mafia Wars" for its investment features. Would love to find more games about modern money-making and investing. I've recently become a fan of Zynga's "Mafia Wars" game, via Facebook. Right now the bulk of the action (fighting battles, collecting loot, etc) is not as much an appeal to me as the accumulation of cash and investment property in the game. An odd side-effect has been that this part of the game engages my brain and I have actually become more productive elsewhere, structuring aspects of the game so that I play less often and maximize the investment return-over-time aspects of the game.

I am looking for other games (preferrably web-based, though I certainly will consider any others - PC games, board games, etc) that are more primarily about wealth accumulation. I do have Kiyosaki's "Cashflow" E-game (PC based) and do like it a lot. And I have seen other board games that are marketed as teaching tools (maybe rightly so) but that I thought were outrageously expensive.

I did see this AskMe thread, but it is from 2005 and almost all suggestions therein are now outdated or gone.

Any suggestions of games featuring financial empire-building (preferably modern)? While I am not as interested in stock market "day trader" fantasy games, I am certainly willing to look into those and any others suggested, since this is a new hobby interest for me.

Should my recession dollars go into my 401k, or my wallet?

logovisual — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:03:38 -0800

Where is my money doing me, and the world, the most good right now: going into a 401(k), or going into my wallet and getting spent? I'm in my mid-twenties, in a stable but low-paying job that I expect to be in for a while (he said, in a fashion that he hopes does not prove ironic). I am basically living paycheck to paycheck in NYC -- not starving, but not really saving in any meaningful way whatsoever beyond my company 401(k), which has quite a good matching program. For the last couple of years, I've been paying the maximum match into my account, and had built up a reasonable little stash (about a third of my annual salary) only to, of course, watch it take a 30%+ hit over the last few months. I only have a couple thousand dollars in credit card debt, which I would like to pay down/off, but the tight squeeze for what's left over from my paycheck doesn't really allow for that.

I was rebalancing my 401(k) into some less aggressive investments today -- I know that I am young, and there'll be plenty of time for a rebound, but there's no sense in wasting money when you know the market is probably still on its way down -- and began to wonder where my dollar is doing the most good for the economy: going into investments, or going into my wallet to be spent on consumer goods? And yes, that definitely is where it would go if I reduced the percentage of my paycheck that goes into my 401(k): food, home goods, etc.

Thoughts on this matter? I am obviously loath to give up much of the "free money" that comes from a company match, but I am also loath to watch every dollar I put into my 401(k) turn into sixty-five cents when it could turn into a dollar's worth of food, or furniture, or entertainment. And on the larger scale, do I help America more by buying a new couch instead of another share of a mutual fund? Should I reduce (not eliminate) my contribution to my 401(k)? Or stick to business as usual and try to make my budget work another way? I'd like to hear some thoughts that go beyond the conventional wisdom of "you should never ever stop paying into your 401(k)," unless you can make me see that argument in a whole other way.

I received an inheritance. Now what?

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:37:17 -0800

I just received an inheritance. I want to figure out how to invest it, but I'm new to investing - and can't make sense out of this economy. One of my family members passed away last month and left me a fairly substantial inheritance of around ~$25k. I've been spending the past few weeks mourning and now am trying to figure out where I go from here.

I'm 29 and left the corporate world last year to return to graduate school. I was making a decent salary before I left the workplace and have some savings to fall back on... What I want to figure out now is how to make as much return as possible so that I'll have a cushion when I graduate next year.

Everywhere I look, I see interest rates on CDs declining, stock prices plummeting and similar nonsense all around. While I have found plenty of advice around the internet on how to invest, all of it was written before the market went to hell.

So, MeFites... suggestions for short-term investment during a recession?

When a Plan is not a Plan

Xurando — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:24:36 -0800

Does anyone have a clear understanding of changes to 403b investment rules that become effective today? My wife is in a tizzy as her investments appear to be in chaos. Starting today, new IRS rules take effect that change all 403b plans. My wife has to choose a new plan administrator and new funds. Nobody is able to tell her why this has taken place.

Are there any mefites with a clear understanding of this situation or links to a clear explanation of the why of these changes? If you are affected, what are you doing?

30-year investment portfolio which has to start before the end of the year and wants to be left alone afterwards?

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:59:37 -0800

If you had a very strong incentive to invest money before the end of the year with a 30-year outlook, and a further strong incentive to not adjust your investment strategy over that timeframe unless absolutely necessary, what kind of portfolio would you assemble? I live in Germany, which has an effective 0% capital gains tax on long-term capital gains from financial instruments. The government has finally decided to end this peculiar state of affairs and will start to tax long-term capital gains at 25% or more starting in 2009. Investments made before 1/1/2009 and held for more than a year will continue to be (un)taxed under the old system. But, naturally, if you redistribute the portfolio at any point, what was redistributed will come under the new law, so there is a strong incentive to leave it alone if at all possible. I don't see this as a suicide pact, and would make changes that were necessary without sweating the tax too much, but I am trying to design a portfolio to put a little money in now that has decent odds of not requiring rejiggering and having acceptable performance over the long timeframe which is available.

Personality and background: I consider good money management to be an obligation but not a pleasure of life or inherently interesting, so I believe in keeping things as simple as possible, within reason. Past experience has taught me that if the workings of a financial vehicle aren't clear to me after one good and comprehensive explanation, I'd do best to avoid it. I have invested for the (shorter) long-term before and I've had good outcomes, and I've been lucky enough to have received my lessons about active short-term trading and speculation at reasonably low prices. My general financial health is healthy and the investment seed is extra money. I'm able to purchase many (but not all) US and other international securities/ETFs/funds/bonds without too much of a markup, so let's just assume for simplicity's sake that I can purchase any of them. This will be retirement money, but not the only source of retirement money.

I've read the Scott Adams article, lots of Warren Buffett, and several good books on index fund investing, and now this is my AskMe gut-check/brainstorm request before proceeding: what would your 30-year fire-and-forget portfolio look like? I would love to hear your ideas and advice if you wouldn't mind sharing. Thank you!

Where to invest during a financial meltdown?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:30:25 -0800

I recently inherited about $100k. I'm pretty dumbfounded. This is the largest amount of money I will probably ever have to figure out what do with, so I want to be safe and smart and invest in the long term. I have no debts. I'm 30 years old and single. I know no one has a crystal ball, but what are your best guesses for what I should do with this money in light of our current financial meltdown? (I haven't even deposited the check yet... my bank is Wamu and I wasn't sure if it would fold).

Financial crisis blog recommendations?

vizsla — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:21:38 -0800

Recommend any financial crisis blogs written by people who are following all the relevant indicators, or by people involved in the finance industry, who are trying to make sense of the market and economy?

Would I be crazy to invest in a money market account now?

DrDreidel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:39:51 -0800

I want to invest, but I'm a little wary, is a money market the right choice for me? I'm an extremely lucky person. I'm a recent college graduate with no student loans due to a scholarship, and no credit card debt due to having a frugal accountant for a mother. I'm employed with a 401K, but have no savings beyond the few months I've been paying into it.

I'm not one to really spend much money on things I don't need, and my rent is relatively cheap since I have a roommate. As a result, I've been accumulating a good bit of cash in my checking account. My parents have advised me that it might be a good idea to invest in a money market account since they are traditionally very low risk. However I'm feeling apprehensive in this economy.

I understand this is a great time to buy, but I don't fully understand what a money market fund is or how it works. Could someone enlighten me?

How do I check the 'health' of my brokerage?

random1destiny — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:58:36 -0800

How can I find out the health of my investment brokerage (like Fidelity.com, E-Trade, etc)? Can brokerages even crash and lose my money like in a bank failure? Much public focus has been placed on having a bank fail and people not getting their money. I know that in the case of banks, the money is covered up to 100,000 of FDIC coverage and there are sites to look up the health of your bank like http://www.bauerfinancial.com which give banks star ratings based on their current financial stability.

However, what if you have your money in stocks/mutual funds in a place like Fidelity.com or E-Trade? Can these places fail and not be able to pay you back? Are there places that rate how safe/healthy these institutions are?

Where the wealthy ride out the storm.

From Bklyn — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:16:00 -0800

Where does Dick Cheney have his money now? I remember a couple years ago reading about how Cheney was 'shorting' the dollar (betting against it's continued good health). It struck me at the time as cynical, sure, but also indicative of better financial advice than I get. So, where's he squirelling away his money now? How to find out?

Disclaiming money, not responsibility

Clyde Mnestra — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:59:08 -0800

I need to choose which shells (account types) under which to put the coins (inherited and disclaimed assets), and I am worried that if I choose the wrong one, I will lift it after shuffling to find nothing underneath. When one parent passed away, her 403b funds went to surviving spouse, who disclaimed a portion to me. The investment company has been advising me on my options for the survivor spouse's share and mine. The conversations have raised a few questions on which some of you may have vast knowledge.

1. Supposedly some or all of the money transferred to spouse cannot be moved from the fund company, because under some 2007 law, the original institution (the employer) could have elected to make it portable but did not. Does this ring true? Is there a more accurate way to put this?

2. Supposedly it makes a great deal of difference which type of legal instrument the spouse's money is put into. If it is put into a "SIP" (savings and investment plan? is that right?) it has spouse's life expectancy associated with it and always will, even after spouse's own death; that is bad news for me, because it will mean the money will be exposed to taxes sooner. If, on the other, it is put into an IRA, it will not have that problem. Sound plausible? Any sources to confirm this account? Any other advantages of one over the other?

3. Apparently my own options are either an amended SIP or an inherited IRA. To my understanding, neither one has a decided advantage (both use my life expectancy). Are there any tax or other reasons to choose one over the other? Again, am I using the right terms?

Thanks in advance! I know you are not my lawyers or CPAs. My main objective is to find a way to research this and talk about it intelligently, including to advisers.

P.S. Of course the shell may be empty for other reasons, but I am trying not to think about that right now.

Where do you put money for baby?

ND¢ — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:04:05 -0800

So, we just had a baby and grandmothers keep coming up to us and handing us checks for $50 and saying "This is so you can buy a savings bond for the baby." However, I would like to hear about alternative saving/investing ideas for my daughter. I know 529s are the hot new thing, but I hate that it can only be used for college. What if she decides not to go to college or needs the money sooner for whatever reason? Is there a good way to invest the money that keeps it in our name until a certain date and then it goes to her and has more flexibility than a 529? I am not sure that tax liability is a major concern since we are talking about like $400 right now, but we would like to set aside a regular amount ourselves and there will be birthday gifts and whatnot to add to it.

Having reviewed the older questions on this topic, I feel compelled to list some advice I am not looking for: "buy gold because the grid is coming down man!", "my parents didn't give me any money and I turned out fine so your baby don't need none either", "don't ask people on the internet, go see a financial planner right now" and generally anything crazy.

Also, I can be convinced that a 529 would be the best way to go, but I would probably need state specific information. We are in South Carolina.

Thanks in advance everybody!

Resource for evaluating past stock recommendations?

ibmcginty — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:10:23 -0800

Is there anyone (especially online) who's collected reasonably well-informed stock picks from, say, 2, 5, or 15 years ago and explained why the recommendations did or did not work out? Is there a better way to track that stuff down than hunting around for old articles on financial websites? It seems like making the effort to learn from mistakes in the past would help guard against over-optimistic, irrationally exuberant picks today.

Financial / 401k advice for a 23-year-old engineer.

decrescendo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:26:06 -0800

Financial / 401k advice for a 23-year-old engineer. Considering the state of the economy and the price of oil, what should I do with my stocks. Also, I have the option for a 401k but I have no idea what type of 401k to choose. I have around 30k in McDonalds stock that is up 80% from when it was bought for me when I was a kid. Should I hold onto it and weather the storm? I keep reading rumblings of a recession and stock market crash but is that just a scare tactic? I don't want to get kicked back down to a 30% gain on that stock when it's been doing so well up until right now. It has defintely been a long-haul stock but I'm afraid I'm going to lose all that I've built up over the last 23 years.

Also, I've had the opportunity to enroll in a 401k from my company for the last 6 months. I haven't done it yet mostly because I have no idea what to fill out on the form. I have the following options. Any recommendations? I believe my company matches up to 15%.

Should I go with option 1 or option 2?

1. I elect to contribute ____% or ____$ (per pay period) of my compensation as before-tax contributions to the 401(k) Plan until
such time as I revoke or amend my election.

2. I elect to contribute ____% or ____$ (per pay period) of my compensation after-tax as a designated Roth contribution to the
401(k) Plan until such time as I revoke or amend my election.

Note: The total of your before-tax and Roth deferrals cannot exceed 100% or $15,500.00. Your before-tax and Roth deferrals must be specified consistently (both as a percent or both as a dollar amount). If I am 50 years of age or older and I am eligible for a catch-up contribution, I understand I may exceed this total.

I also have all of these to pick from. No idea what to go with here. Considering the economy and what I hear, I'd probably rather take a semi-conservative approach.

Maxim Aggressive Profile II
Maxim Moderate Profile II
Maxim Conservative Profile II
American Funds EuroPacific Growth R3
Oakmark International II
Oppenheimer Global A
First American Small Cap Select A
MainStay Small Cap Opportunity A
Maxim Index 600
RidgeWorth Small Cap Growth Fund I
Lord Abbett Mid-Cap Value A
Maxim Ariel Small-Cap Value
Fidelity Advisor Mid Cap T
Fidelity Advisor Leveraged Co Stk - T
American Funds Growth Fund of Amer R3
Davis NY Venture R
Marsico Focus
Maxim S & P 500 Index
Maxim T. Rowe Price Equity Income
Oppenheimer Capital Appreciation A
RiverSource Diversified Equity Income R3
Van Kampen Comstock - R
Maxim Bond Index
Maxim Loomis Sayles Bond Portfolio
Maxim US Government Securities Fund
PIMCO Total Return Admin
Guaranteed Certificate Fund 36 Month
Guaranteed Certificate Fund 60 Month
Guaranteed Certificate Fund 84 Month
Maxim Money Market

Any help would be fantastic.

The best things in life are free...

veryhappyheidi — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:45:16 -0800

My 13-month CD is just about up, and the current intrest rates are TERRIBLE! How should I invest 10k? I'm currently getting 5.25% on my CD which is up in two weeks. I'm young and carefree with no major responsibilities (ie no debt, no family to take care of, and my biggest expense is rent) and already max out the matching contributions on my 401K. Ideally, I would like to be able to get to this money in no longer than 3 years--bonus points if I can get to it in an emergency. Safe is probably better.

I know almost nothing about investing... what should I do? Thanks!

Invest the house?

purenitrous — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:35:50 -0800

$75,000 to invest. Question: Do we put it down on our next house or invest for retirement? We (finally) just sold a house one of us brought to our marriage. We have paid off debt with the profits, are planning a family vacation, and need to decide what to do with the rest of the money. DH and I find ourselves in some disagreement about this. We've consulted with a financial planner/investment guy, but I have hesitation about his advice, so want to do some more research before we meet with him again. I'll give you more details here not because I expect the mefites to do our financial planning for us, but because I am new to this, and need to know which general direction to go.

The stats: We both are public employees in a relatively stable (knock on wood) public employee retirement system (Oregon). I have been there 14 years, DH has about 11 years in. We could retire at 54 and 60 respectively with full pensions (30 years in).

We currently contribute $500 a month to deferred compensation plans, that are pre-tax investments. We plan on upping that now that we've reduced debt payments, and could add another $500 without a problem. We've accumulated about $80K in various investments, in these accounts and in an old IRA DH has.

We have 2 children, 2 and 11, so college planning is important-we haven't done any saving here, though my folks have some-but we don't intend to pay all college costs.

We own the house we live in, with about $80 K in equity. We really do need to move-not a great neighborhood, house too small for us and all of our crap, and we'd like to live somewhere where we aren't so dependent on cars. We'd like our next move to be our last, as much as possible; a house that we can live in long term. We'd plan to get a 15 year mortgage so we could be free of it at retirement.

Question at hand: Our adviser believes strongly that it's better to take out a larger mortgage and use your cash to invest; that it will give you a better return over time, and, if you're not planning on selling your house, the return you get in property is irrelevant, since it's not money you have to spend. He advised friends of ours, with a lot of equity in their house, to take equity out to invest a year or so ago. They are, obviously, very glad they didn't.

This philosophy makes me really, really anxious. My preference would be to put the money down on our next house, continue investing, and increase our investments as our income increases and our mortgage stays the same. I like the idea of being less on the hook as far as mandatory monthly payments. It's also a good time to buy real estate (though probably a crap time to sell the house we're living in). Drawback, of course, is a smaller tax deduction this way.

DH is worried that we might not have enough for retirement. I am pretty blase about it and think we're doing well.

What's your advice? Any great website to help us way the pros and cons?

Is an index fund really a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

reenum — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:34:08 -0800

InvestingFilter: Is there anything inherently flawed about investing in index funds? I recently opened up a Roth IRA, and have invested in an S&P 500 Index Fund. I'll also be investing in a bond index soon.

I've been reading articles online and books such as 'The Lazy Person's Guide To Investing' by Paul Farrell. These books make it seem that investing in anything but index funds sets you up for a loss long term.

In my opinion, I'm a passive investor. I don't have the inclination to try and pick hot stocks. I'm fine getting a market average return. Farrell's book and some other sources such David Swenson make it seem that investing in anything but an index fund is lunacy. They harp on about load funds and how actively managed funds always underperform the market.

My question is: What's the catch about investing in index funds? It seems to good to be true. You keep putting money in and 30 years later, a nice pile is waiting for your retirement.

Some input from the more financial minded members of the Hive Mind would be much appreciated.

How to invest proceeds from home sale short-term.

mumstheword — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:26:22 -0800

Where is the best (safe, short-term) place to invest money (over 200K) from the sale of our home until we purchase another one. Please don't make me learn a LOT about markets, etc. I'm packing and moving to a new area and already stressed. ; ) We are moving from Washington state to Oregon, and will be renting while we look for a home. Since the market is still going down in the area we're moving to, we won't be in a big hurry to buy but expect the market to hit bottom in late fall or winter, '08/09, so will probably only need a place for our money for 3-9 months. We'd like it to earn a little something to help w/ moving costs. Is there a safe mutual fund where the money could earn, but be easily accessed without a penalty? How and where would I go to find this out...or ???

What should a European do with this American savings account that is depreciating in value?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:42:23 -0800

European who has USD in an American account - what should I do? I'm European, but lived in the US for a little while, where I had a very good paying job that allowed me to save money. I have a little over $10,000 in an American CD now. I came home to Europe and went back to school, thinking I could use that money to start up a business, make a downpayment on an apartment or something once I gradutae.

I have been watching in horror as the dollar went down against the euro and now that money I was counting on is shrinking away. Are there any suggestions on what I should do with it? Should I just leave it and wait for the dollar to recover? Should I buy something in the US that is likely to appreciate in value? If I had a good income now, I would buy an American apartment or something with it, but I'm a student living from paycheque to paycheque.

What should I do?

Please help me decide between Fidelity and Vanguard.

salvia — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:37:09 -0800

Questions about opening a Roth IRA -- particularly, does it matter where I open it? If so, Fidelity vs. Vanguard? I want to open my first Roth IRA. I've read past questions and some online resources, but I still have some questions.

- First, does it even matter where I open it? If I figure out I screwed up, how hard is it to switch from one of these to the other?

- I will (very soon) have a 403b with Vanguard through my employer. Does that tilt things in favor of Vanguard for an IRA? Would I be able to "pool" these funds? It sounds nice to make one phone call rather than two. But is there some reason that tilts things in favor of Fidelity? Would it be better to have them both as options? Then I could hold, say, some of both group's target retirement funds.

- To make a good decision, do I need to figure out where I would invest the money first? They have different expense ratios even for their S&P 500 index funds (VFINX is .15% vs. FSMKX is .10%). I realize this isn't much of a difference, but if they differ on the simplest index fund, they're going to differ by more in other things, right? (I'd be deciding between S&P 500 index funds, some index fund with non-US companies, or a target-date retirement fund.)

- If you do think I should decide where to put the money first by actually looking at fees, how do I find that out? There are these scare stories (eg) about hidden fees. Are they still hidden if I look at Morningstar's front load %, back load %, and expense ratio? Or is there a better place to find all this out?

- All over the web people are saying that Fidelity's customer service is better and more informed. This has me leaning toward Fidelity. Do you think this still holds true?

- Lastly, what does this comment from jak68 mean, "Also -- in case you didnt know -- there is a small difference between buying funds via a trading account at a brokerage house (as with fidelity, schwab, ameritrade etc), VS. buying the fund directly from the fund family's website (vanguard, etc)?" Should this influence me in some way?

Thanks for your help. I'm interested in learning more over the long term, but I also have the feeling that I'm making this too complicated and should find a way to make this simple.

Help me understand US Treasury securities.

Flunkie — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:18:56 -0800

Help me understand US Treasury securities. I've invested in the stock market for quite some time. I've recently decided that I want to also invest some money in less risky securities, such as those offered by the US Treasury. I've been investigating, but there are still questions that I haven't found answers for.

Question 1. Is the only real difference between "treasury bills", "treasury notes", and "treasury bonds" the length of time until they mature? I understand that their price and interest rates will differ as well, but that obviously depends on the maturity length. So I guess I mean something along these lines: If the Treasury started offering "30 year treasury notes", under exactly the same rules as their current treasury notes except that they have a 30 year maturity, should an intelligent market value them exactly the same as it would "30 year treasury bonds" offered at exactly the same time?

Question 2. Let's say I use TreasuryDirect.gov (which seems like a good idea). How is periodic interest paid out? I don't mean "when" or "how often"; rather, I mean for example "Does it automatically get plopped back into the bank account that I linked to my TreasuryDirect account?"

Question 3. I use Quicken. Investigation reveals a profound lack of information on how to deal with this stuff in Quicken, but seems to indicate that it can't automatically track your US Treasury securities' values like it can your stocks' values. But this is almost unbelievable. So, my question is: Seriously? Quicken can't deal with United States Treasury securities, except manually? And if the answer is "Yes, seriously", then a followup: How do you personally deal with this?

Question 4. I gather that these things are only sold on very specific days. Do I have to log on to Treasury Direct that day, between some hour and some other, and tell it "Hey, I want some of that"? Or can I just tell it in advance that I want to buy such-and-such an amount of security such-and-such, at the noncompetitive price, whenever it becomes available? If the latter, how far in advance can I do so?

Any other hints that you think might be helpful would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

wtf do I do with all this money

borkingchikapa — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:22:46 -0800

Strange things happen to me regularly, and the last one left me with about $3000. I'm only 21, have no consumer debt and don't need to use any of it. I want to put it away, but I have no idea how. I know there have been a thousand threads about investing, but being a liberal arts major I'm a little overwhelmed by it all. I've always wanted to learn how to invest intelligently but I've never had any capital to start out with, so this seems like a good time to start.

I don't want to put this all in a retirement fund I can't touch until I'm fifty, because I'm young and reckless and that does me about as much good as lighting it on fire. I'm looking for short-term (5-10 year) returns. Where should I start?