First of all, don't listen to kelby, he/she apparently doesn't know what he is talking about.
Savings accounts don't really earn enough interest to be worth your time, but if you want something similar to that with a slightly higher rate of return (I'm not sure what they are paying these days), you could look into Money Market funds or a Certificate of Deposit (CD). You can get either of those through your bank. You can write checks from a money market fund. If you get the CD, your money will be locked in so you can't withdraw it without a penalty, for the term of the certificate. You can get a CD from 3 months (maybe less), up to 20 years or more.
If you are looking for a better return, you could invest that $300 into a good mutual fund. There are many different types of mutual funds, like aggressive growth, international, dividend/income, etc. I would guess you want to go with an aggressive growth mutual fund. You need to open an account with a brokerage (Scottrade would work great), and use their mutual fund screening tool to find the fund you want to invest in. What to look for? Make sure the manager has a tenure of at least 5 years or so... Make sure that the fund has been getting good returns so far, look at the investment strategy of the fund, the size of the fund, and other things... I suggest a simple google search to find out how to choose a mutual fund. There is not a set time that you have to leave your money in a mutual fund, but I would say you want to leave it in there for a year at least... I think Dave Ramsey recommends at least 5 years. I have seen mutual funds earn about 25% in a year, so you have the potential for a pretty good return if you decide to go down this path.
My next idea: invest in a stock yourself. Is there a company you really like, and you would jump at the opportunity to own a little bit of it? Do you see a startup (or any other company) that you think is really great, and is going to increase in value? I think you should invest your money and buy some stock in that company (or a few companies)! I heard somewhere that MSFT (microsoft) has increased in value since its IPO (when stock was first available for purchase) about 35000%! I wouldn't really expect to find one of those companies, but you never know! Even if it doesn't explode like MSFT, you could still make a tidy profit if you pick the right company.
If you like the idea of handling it yourself, you could try your hand at daytrading, if investing isn't your style... Don't just hop right in though, do a demo account and research it first, so you can learn how to profit, and be (not overly) confident going into it. I am really passionate about daytrading, and I have been studying the foreign exchange market for a little over a year now; I am just now profitable. I lost about 40% of my account, but now I am on my way to making good money. If you want to do this, it is going to be a full time job, and then some. A good place to start is babypips.com. You can go through the school of pipsology; that is how I started, although it took a lot more than what I learned from that, but it gave me a really good foundation, and understanding so I knew what else I had to do.
My last suggestion/idea: start a business! It could be something you do full or part-time. Or you could just create some type of website, and let it run itself and collect the money from it periodically... I don't really have a suggestion of what type of business to start. Google it! "Business to start under $300". Most of the richest people in the world made their fortunes by starting a business. Subway was started by a 17 year old kid with a $1,000 loan so he could pay for his way through college. I started a website for about $250, and had it all set up and ready to make money, but then I realized that nobody knew my website existed, and I had not planned for customer acquisition costs, so my business just kind of flopped because of that. There are a ton of business you could start for $300... But none really come to mind, so you will have to rely on the Google search for that.
I feel like I should remind you: You could lose your entire initial investment by starting a business, daytrading, investing, or putting money in a mutual fund (and other things... I think the savings account, money market fund, and CD are the only ways I listed that you can't lose money at).
I wish you all the best! God loves you!
P.S.: I typed a lot, and I am not going to go back through and read everything to look for errors... So please overlook any errors.
$300 could go a long way in the market, not usually, but the "green rush" is in full swing and has been since Dec since recreational use first was about to happen. Laws are changing fast and will be faster now that people see how much money they can make off it. Stocks like PMCM that are just entering the marijuana industry can see stocks go from 1/2 a cent to perhaps 10 cents or even dollars depending on if the company does things right and how long you keep it. If you buy this stock $300 at 1/2cent then when it probably goes up to 10 cents in a month or two then you will have $6000. Today is my first day investing (with financial aid money, lol), although I helped a bunch of my friends bank lately, one went from $5k to $100k since mid January. This boom is rarely seen in the market and last time a whole industry did this was probably the tech's in the late 90's (which eventually did crash, but I think these companies will have an easier time making profits selling a product rather than doing online services or whatnot). I can give you my referral code to get 3 free trades, although my first trade this morning wasn't free, or else they credit me back? I got 3 free trades for using my friends referal, but they still charged me $11 for the 1 trade I did, but maybe since stocks under $1 might not be free since it is $7 per trade (+ 1/2% of trade value but this part is only for stocks under $1 or is it $3??). Just don't go investing money you can't lose, these stocks are speculative and some of these companies could be scams, or "pump and dump" schemes, but also there is a huge opportunity for these companies so don't think they would want to blow it for a little quick profit. I don't think you need a minimum to open an account at scottrade, my referral for you 3 free trades (maybe only for stocks over $3???) is MWBZ4330. With that little money maybe it is better to save it for a rainy day, perhaps, but rather than drink it away, this would be my best advice. You can learn a lot watching the stock market daily as well, whether you are actively trading, or just holding one stock for a while and watching it go up and up. Don't trust anybody, I guess not even me, but if you do your research you'll see that PMCM seems pretty good right now, and could explode, lots are expecting it too soon. Recreational use in Washington state starts april 1, I believe, this is where they have their recently acquired "my suzie-q" business established.
I think these companies will have an easier time making profits selling a product rather than doing online services or whatnot). I can give you my referral code to get 3 free trades, although my first trade this morning wasn't free, or else they credit me back? I got 3 free trades for using my friends referal, but they still charged me $11 for the 1 trade I did, but maybe since stocks under $1 might not be free since it is $7 per trade (+ 1/2% of trade value but this part is only for stocks under $1 or is it $3??). Just don't go investing money you can't lose, these stocks are speculative and some of these companies could be scams, or "pump and dump" schemes, but also there is a huge opportunity for these companies so don't think they would want to blow it for a little quick profit. I don't think you need a minimum to open an account at scottrade, my referral for you 3 free trades (maybe only for stocks over $3???) is MWBZ4330. With that little money maybe it is better to save it for a rainy day, perhaps, but rather than drink it away, this would be my best advice
Yeah that's stupid. I'm hoping you're talking about grant or scholarship money. If you're thinking of investing left-over student loans then I wouldn't even bother. Just pay back the balance because you'd have to clear around 6% return after taxes just to break even on the money.
If you've only got $300 then I wouldn't even bother. Some of the best investments out there will get you around 10-12% (over years), which is only $36 in addition to your initial funds. If it takes you 3 hours to pick a good investment, commit your funds, and total time spent tracking returns before cashing out...you're only making $11/hr on your time. It's not even worth investing unless you have substantially more money than $300.
Take the cash, buy yourself a decent suit, and use your college degree to apply for jobs and get some practice interviewing. That kind of investment is going to result in much more earnings than any financial instrument you'd be putting your money into.
Hi there,
I've been trading the market for just a few months. My cousin actually told me about this website (http://pennystocks.toptips.org)and I signed up immediately after. This is my honest review about their method. I'm not someone who has a lot of time to be researching for ideas because I work many hours. they made it incredibly easy for me to make money in the market. Their reports are easy to read and follow. I've tracked most of the stock ideas that I've received in my e-mail from them and MANY have seen some nice gains after their announcements. I've made a nice profit (55% return on my investment on one, and 112% on the other!) on a couple of suggestions he's given and plan to start trading his ideas a lot more.
For more info: http://pennystocks.toptips.org
Cheers ;)
Are you looking to invest the money monthly are in one bulk ?
Like others have said if you only have $300 it won't get you far and especially if you don't know how to invest in shares for example. I invest x amount a month in shares and i leave it to experts to advise which companies the money going into.
Be wise and don't blow your money if you don't know what you doing.
I agree with the previous answers kid. Worry about student loans. If you want to invest in stocks your gonna end up losing more than you think. You gotta pay capital gains on every penny you earn. That's 25% of your earnings. I agree? Buy a suit, get a good college job or internship and learn the real world before you get into this. I found that out the hard way. I made a lot of money in the markets but I wish now that I would have paid off student loans sooner. Don't blow this off, you'll regret it down the road. Trust me, we all do.
I'd go with the alcohol. Investing involves saving 10 to 15 per cent of your salary for the next 50 years. You will be wealthy at the end.
please contact me via email / chat on ym @ chamid_leo, or via skype @ sakuduku
i have an online project and need only $100 to rent server for 3 months.
I'm going to have some extra money from my financial aid, and I want to invest rather then spend it on alcohol. What would be the best way to invest? I'm looking at investing in treasury bills or whatever else you guys suggest. I should have like $300 to invest and I don't want to wait 30 years. So what is the fastest maturity date and the most cash I would gain from it?
