Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with invest

I Don't Like Money

Kippersoft — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:45:46 -0800

I honestly have no interest in money, but I'm constantly reminded to invest my money. I've tried learning about it with little success, presumably because of my uncommon beliefs regarding money. So how do I invest this stuff so that I can maximize my joy in life and minimize my reliance on money? I'm 21 and live in Canada. I'm going into my 4th year of university and yet I probably know less about money than a 15 year old. I was never taught anything about in school and I've never had any interest in it. We're working with an entirely blank slate here (to put it into perspective, I was asked by my bank cashier if I got money on my tax return last year and I didn't understand what she meant... I'm totally stupid when it comes to money :P).

I recently picked up a Personal Finance for Dummies book and a Complete Idiots Guide to Personal Finance. I also read The Wealthy Barber a few years back. All of these were totally over my head. Furthermore, I assume this is all outdated because of the recession or whatever. ;)

I think my problem is that I don't really care about money -- it just doesn't mean that much to me. I don't buy much, I don't have any debt, I don't have any real expenses, and most of it just sits around.

So, all that said, what do I do with this stuff? Which of the Bonds/RRSPs/RRIFs/GICs/ROFLs/BBQs accounts do I put my money in? Here are my basic interests:
- Lets make it an even $10,000 I want to invest
- I want to save for my retirement and use this compound interest thing
- I don't want to lose money. I'm happy with whatever I've got, but I want to minimize my reliance on money. I don't want to be working while I'm 65 just so my family doesn't freeze in the winter. The more time I can enjoy life, the better.
- I want the "set it and forget it" approach. I don't have enough interest to make this a hobby for me.
- I don't want to pay anyone and I want to understand and run things myself (I just need to know where to start)
- Locking 100% of my money away for retirement means I can't enjoy life while I'm young which is a waste. I want some money available for my often spontaneous ideas. ("Maybe I'll by a car tomorrow or go on a vacation next Thursday...")

I know a sound like a naive, 90-year-old grandpa still living out the Depression with his money buried in a coffee can in the back yard (I'm only one step above that... I don't even own a bank card yet), but I just have no idea where to start and not enough ambition to learn about financial stuff which changes from month to month.

I know these might be a unique situation (which is exactly my problem), but where would you begin? What would you do to make the ideal, simple way to invest $10,000? What are the only one or two concepts (RRSPs, etc.) I need to learn and use?

All ideas and suggestions are very appreciated! :D

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?

invest 1 million dollars guaranteed income

endlessknot — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:34:00 -0800

Where should one invest 1 million dollars for guaranteed income ? I have been reading that there are Fidelity and Vanguard income funds guaranteed for life. Please suggest how/where to invest 1 million dollars for at least 10% interest per year. Thank You. endless

where to invest?

locoindio — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:09:38 -0800

so ive got like $3500 or so that i want to put into either a roth ira and some index funds.....or that id like to put all together in the market. there are these funds ive been reading about a little in the market itself that are labeled as 'safe' bets. they pay anywhere from 10-15% return and are pretty much all in energy, oil, gas, drilling, and that sort of thing. it's buy and hold on a smaller scale. anyway, that's one option and the other option is to just put the minimum in a roth and buy about a grand's worth of fidelity funds. my goals are to be able to help pay rent and to build small amounts of wealth. alright, lemme know what you think.

Help me budget!

DMan — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:25:26 -0800

Given that I have no bills to pay, what percentage of my wages should I save and how much should I take as spending money? I'm a college student about to be home for the summer, and I'm in a unique sort of situation. Due to circumstances I won't go into (beyond saying that my family isn't rich), college tuition isn't a concern and I really don't have any other bills to pay. However, I do need to be saving money to get a start after college, which is why I'm asking this.

I've managed to get a pretty good summer job; I'll get paid $10 an hour and I can work anywhere between 20-40 hours a week--the hours I work are completely up to me. For the purposes of this question, let's assume I work 25 hours a week.

My question is, in your opinions, how much of this should I save and how much should I take as discretionary money? I understand the importance of a budget in that it enables you to not feel bad about spending money if you've planned for it, and I'd like to figure out a budgeting plan that lets me have a bit of spending money while still saving for the future.

So if I work 25 hours a week, that's $250 a week or $500 every paycheck, before taxes. 10% of that will go to my church tithe, leaving $450 for me (before taxes).

What percentage of this should I save, and what percentage should I keep for short-term spending? I'm not really asking for advice on how to invest the saved money since I'll be talking to an expert in that field in a month or so, but if you have any specific ideas about what to do with the money feel free to share.

Thanks in advance!

How do I invest in Euros?

pikaboy202 — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:36:33 -0800

Are there any financial institutions available in the US to buy Euros as a hedge against the falling dollar? As we all know, the value of the Dollar is falling and money in the bank is free-falling due to both the falling dollar and inflation. In a way to hedge against the falling dollar, I thought it might be possible to save in Euros or even the Chinese Yuan instead.

Is there any financial institutions are methods to invest in Euros or have a savings accounts entirely in Euros instead of Dollars in the US?

Good news: I've got US$100,000! Bad news: for one year.

killerinsideme — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:24:46 -0800

Asking for a friend. As the result of a credit card arbitrage scheme, he's going to have a hundred thousand bucks to invest for a period of one year (that is to say, until the 0% APR ends). What should he do with the money? The primary limitation (besides time) is that it has to be basically no-risk, since of course he has to have at least $100K on hand at the end of that year to pay back the credit cards.

He genuinely enjoys finance and playing around with numbers and will not be scared off by something that requires a lot of effort and/or babysitting if the return's high enough. Other than the aforementioned arbitrage, he's debt-free, no car payment, no credit card debt, only rent and living expenses which are covered by his job - the $100K can be left untouched once invested.

I realize that trying to make as much money as possible in only a year with low-to-no-risk investments is pretty limiting, but maybe having a chunk of change like this carries some advantage with it...? CDs seem like the obvious option - are they? Are there any others?

(I've dug through AskMeFi and found a couple threads on the $100K part and one or two on the limited-time part, but none that really covered this specific situation.)

Which type of ETF to go for

Jimmeh — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:12:40 -0800

I have $2000AUD to spend on Exchage-Traded Funds and I can't decide what to go for. My initial idea was to put $1k in something blue chip/stable and the other $1k in something high-growth/risky.

I am based in Australia.

For the blue chip/stable investment, I was thinking:

SPDR S&P/ASX 50 Fund (ticker: SFY)
or
SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund (ticker: STW)

more info here: www.streettracks.com.au

Out of those two, what should I go for? Would a top 200 fund be considered more reliable?

For the other $1k, I'm thinking something available from iShares. I'm not sure if going for any U.S. flavoured ETF's are a good idea right now, so I thought either something based in Asia or the iShares MSCI EAFE (ticker: IVE).

It's quite confusing trying to determine which world market is going to provide future growth and returns.

What do you think?
I know, it's probably a big ask, but I'd appreciate any opinions.
Thanks all

I live in the UK. How should I invest £20,000?

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:28:31 -0800

I live in the UK. How should I invest £20,000? My partner and I have £20,000 sat in the bank (earning around 6.5%) that we'd like to invest over a period of around 10 years. We also have £800/month to invest.

I know nothing about investing but have done some reading, and Index Trackers (along the lines of the Vanguard 500 that everyone seems to rave about) look like something that would interest us in terms of low overheads/maintainance.

We both have cash ISAs, but no shares ISAs. We have an emergency fund separate to this £20k. We also have a £70k mortgage which we are making extra payments on, but we don't want to plough this £20k into it. We have a one year old child.

Can anyone recommend Index Trackers that we could use with a shares ISA? Should we both invest in different trackers to diversify? Would you invest in a tracker in the current climate? Or how else would you invest this money?

Rich Dad, Poor Dad: buying out a family home

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:19:23 -0800

Is investing in this house a good deal? My husband and I are both artists. Typically, our after-tax income is about $15-20K, combined. This is alright with us because we're doing what we want to be doing -- there isn't anything else we want to spend our money on. We have no debts and no children; we are both 34.

We live rent-free in a house co-owned by my husband's father (call him A) and uncle (call him B). A and B inherited this house from their father (C), but didn't need to use it as a residence because they have their own homes. Several years ago, my husband and I had moved in to take care of C in his old age, in exchange for rent-free living. C died last year. The house is currently worth approximately $1 million (4 bedrooms, 3 baths, finished basement, 2-car garage on a small property in an affluent suburb in the Northeast US).

A and B are currently proposing to us this deal: we begin making monthly payments at a reasonable interest rate (TBD) to B in order to purchase his half of the house ($500,000). After that's done (30 years?), we would co-own the house with A. We could then sell it and split the results with A. Or we could do nothing and wait for A to die, in which case we'd inherit half of his portion (my husband's brother would get the other half), thereby owning 3/4 of a house that was worth $1 mil in 2007.

Now, people at our income level don't normally invest in million-dollar houses, which is why I don't know if it's a wise investment for us. Is it? What would make it so? Is it only worth doing if we get an especially favorable interest rate from B? Is it worth sacrificing for (e.g. taking on part-time supplemental jobs that take time away from our arts jobs in order to make the payments) because it'll be such a good investment?

One thing that gives me pause is that when I used a loan-calculator to run the numbers, I discovered that if we pay B back $500,000 at 5% over the course of 30 years, we'll be paying him nearly $500,000 in interest alone! So we'd be paying him $1 mil for a house that he didn't even purchase in the first place? Would it be fair to propose a rate of 3% (like inflation) instead to approximate how much B would have made if he had held onto the house for an additional 30 years? Would it be fair to propose basing our payments on a reduced price?

If we were to move out of the house instead of investing in it, A and B would sell the house and invest the money in their own estates. (A portion of whatever remains would eventually come to my husband after A's death.)

Is this proposal a better deal for A and B or for us? Or neither? Ideally, we don't want to take advantage of A or B, just find a favorable situation for all of us. But if the deal favors A or B, we wouldn't be opposed to making counter-offers that tilt in our favor.

Searching for low risk, high yield, low timeframe investments.

evadery — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 17:56:07 -0800

I'm trying to get some decent, low risk investment income in the short term, as I am in a state where I may need access to my funds as early as 6 months to a year from now. Where should I put my money? I'm a Canadian, so I've heard that PC Financial has a 4% yearly interest savings account (processed daily I think), which gives you free access to finances. I would be OK tying it up for up to a year, provided the yield would be better, though 6 months would be a bit more ideal. Any ideas for good places to put my funds with minimal risk?

Some side questions - what are the best long term bond rates available now? Do you know any good general websites that have high yield bonds listed?

Sorry if this is too similar to some other AskMeFi questions floating around...but my piggy bank thanks you.

Taxation consequences for an expatriate investor?

Joe in Australia — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 22:26:38 -0800

My friend is a USA citizen permanently residing in Australia. What are the taxation consequences of choosing to invest a windfall in the USA rather than Australia? A friend has a one-time only opportunity to withdraw A$100,000 from a pension fund tax free. She presently has no personal income and pays no tax in either Australia or the USA. Her husband has a reliable income, which she shares.

Option 1: Leave the money in the pension fund, where it will accumulate tax free as long as she withdraws (and pays tax) on at least 4% of the capital every year.

Option 2: Withdraw the money and invest it in the USA, where it will be available for use on her regular visits.

Option 3: Withdraw the money and invest it in Australia.

Are there any major tax benefits to doing things one way rather than another?

Which will be bigger: biodiesel or ethanol fuel?

ykjay — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:31:47 -0800

Should I invest in companies developing biodiesel or ethanol fuel? There has been a lot of discussion everywhere lately about alternative energy sources. Electricity is nice, but, in a nutshell, batteries won't store NEARLY as much energy as fuel for some time, and people like to drive and live in the boonies, etc. I'd like to figure out which technology has the more promising future. Biodiesel is already a going concern, a big concern in some places. Then I see cellulosic ethanol production being touted by a high-profile ex-oilman, and read that a lot of cars in Brazil run on ethanol from sugar cane, and I don't know.

If you don't have a favorite, perhaps you have a favorite site or three on the subject, and can expand my research base.

When you own stock in a company that is being acquired, how do you know wether to sell the shares or let them be converted?

quadog — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 15:18:53 -0800

When you own stock in a company that is being acquired, how do you know wether to sell the shares or let them be converted? Are there any general rules that should be followed in this type of scenario?

/newbie investor

Managed Fund, too good to be true?

amigasteve — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:08:09 -0800

Managed Fund, too good to be true? My Financial advisor, who I am inclined to trust, looked over my 401K investments at my request with an eye towards recommending what should be done, if anything. He recommended a managed fund from Karel-Gordon Investment Associates. It costs 2% to get into it and 1.5% a year. He swears by it and says he has $150 Million in his client's funds invested with Karel-Gordon. The fund invests primarily in Corporate Bond Mutual Funds. When that fund starts down they shift it over to a money market fund till the other fund goes back on an up trend. Their annualized rate of return is 9.96% since 6/30/98. Everything LOOKS good, in fact it looks almost too good to be true. I can find very little about this company online and don't know enough about this kind of investing to make a value judgement. Does anybody have any experience with these people? Failing that some further questions to ask my financial advisor?

How do I use my stock options?

benjh — Sat, 17 Apr 2004 13:22:38 -0800

Any investors out there? My company gave me some stock options for the last several years, and I haven't a clue how to to use them. [more inside] I recently received a statement, which basically says for options granted 5/1/2002, i was granted 250 options, which 125 have vested. It says the income on the options if $12.295. What does all this mean, and how can I utilize this investment opportunity.

Google IPO

quibx — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 06:15:09 -0800

What is the best way to get in on Google's IPO? I know nothing about investing, other than having a 401k. Can the average Joe get in on it without paying a broker or something like that?