Another alternative is to keep it in savings and earn interest and then maybe after you have earned enough money from interest and working, you can invest in stock where putting more money is beneficial.
Last October (2013), Disney stocks were at about $60.69. Currently they are at $86.89. If you invested $500 that October you would have about 8 stocks of Disney (figure that the commission fee is about $9.95). If you were to sell the stocks right now you would have $695.12. Again, figure that commission is another $9.95. You would have made a profit of $185.17 (in 9 months). Reinvest this money wisely and you could make a lot more.
I know this isn't much, but for a student working a minimum wage job, this is like a paycheck. You aren't old enough to day trade right now, so I suggest you study market trends and get some reading material about the subject. For now, put it in a savings account for easy access. If you still want to invest this money stick it in CD. This won't generate as much interest, but hey it's something.
Good luck! Good thing you're thinking about these things early on.
The lower the investment, the lower the return. To be completely honest, you can't make much with 500 dollars - I don't think the risk is worth the reward.
But if you feel that you're a really smart investor, the by all means go for it! You can still make decent sums of money, and if you continue investing over time, who knows where it could take you.
A certificate of deposit would probably be a good short term investment.The interest rate is about 1.09% compounded daily. Other investments like money markets are designed for longer terms, such as building up you retirement.
If you decide to do a more risky thing and play in the stock market, you might be able to open a brokerage account with $500, but at your age I don't know if you legally can since you are underage to sign a legally binding contract.
In the US you can not open a brokerage account at 16. So you will have to get someone you trust to do it for you.
If you do try to buy stocks, you are limited to a few shares in one company. The odds would be against you making a profit.
Ledhead gave good advice. Realistically a CD is your best option. Though you will probably need to go online to get a rate over 0.1%.
when I was 16, i was paying for gas and car insurance
why don't you save up your money for a CAR?
careful with those grant scams
if you get a check,,, expect it to be completely FAKE
Purchase inventory or materials that you can make into something cool. Then rob a bank. Sorry I got distracted but marketing is free (the kind your gonna use on social networks n stuff). Don't get caught on the bank part.
Put it into the bank. That is not enough to risk by "investing."
Save it for you education. If well used, it will payback thousands to one (maybe).
Okay, So i'm getting $500 dollars with no strings attached for doing this program, blah blah its grant money from the government and they give it to us for attending. But i'm trying to decide what a smart option would be on how to spend the money. I'm only 16 years old. How can i invest this money? Is there anyway i can buy a stock or something and be able to get more money in a couple of years just from this 500 bucks? What would be a smart thing to do with it. Thanks.
