Accounting forum
Students with money |
tallan
20-08-2007 02:28
|
What are the other students doing for setting up portfolio's with say, an extra 5 grand on hand, that should be making them money and not sitting in a bank account. I'm Canadian and at this point in time buying RRSP's doesn't make much sense because my earnings are too low, and I want to be more aggressive. GIC's are also a waste of my time, as they barely keep up with inflation. Unfortunately, I am not looking to be day trading either, because I lack the time, and obviously the experience to do so. At the same time, I want a learning experience and don't just want to hand over my money to an advisor and say "set me up a reasonably aggressive portfolio" and not learn a thing. I guess the obvious move would be to buy funds, and indicies, but I really don't know where to start. I think I would want to try and diversify within a few funds due to my lack of money...AKA, an S&P500 index, Vanguard total stock index, etc. However from there I like the idea of investing in gold....and other more risky propositions.
A few more questions:
-Does anyone have any good books for someone who is just learning about investing, but wants to get put together a growth portfolio?
-What kind of recommendations do you guys have ( I understand heeding internet advice is risky, but I wouldn't invest in anything I hadn't researched)?
-What is a good online platform for trading that doesn't eat too much of your commissions in Canada?
|
|
|
Re: Students with money |
emerson
20-08-2007 02:33
|
I got one for ya, The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham you can get the original or the revised version with Jason Zweig both are great.
|
|
|
Re: Students with money |
lanod
20-08-2007 02:37
|
Personally I am going with roth ira with 4k of vanguard target retirement 2050. I am 18.
|
|
|
Re: Students with money |
jedi
20-08-2007 02:41
|
That is a good hands off way killer.
To soon to see if target vanguards are worth the money but i've heard the logic behind them sounds good. I imagine on average you'll get a 10% return yearly with a 2050 near gaurantee'd. Which is better than 80% of the public ever got doing by themselves.
I still cringe looking at mutual fund returns though. Better off investing in the DOW average or NASDAQ. As long as people grow up and no wars inflare, I think the asian/indian/middle east markets will have largest gains on the short term if invest in indexes since so much potential/little built. Just a personal opinion.
I don't know Canada brokers so can't comment. If you want investing advice i'd suggest Millionaire Next Door (can't remember exact name) and Buffetology. Both are more generalized, but you get a bigger picture of the long term goals on what stocks to pick.
If you havn't already take Introduction to Finance or Financial Investments class on the side of regular curriculum. At least at my school those 2 classes are fun and very useful for investing. 
|
|
|
Re: Students with money |
keane
20-08-2007 02:58
|
To soon to see if vanguard 2050 is worth it? The target retirement funds are simply a combination of several other index funds that have been around for years, which are:
1 Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund 72.2%
2 Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund 10.2%
3 Vanguard European Stock Index Fund 10.2%
4 Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund 4.7%
5 Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund 2.7%
You can gauge the performance of the fund based on those funds. The only thing that is different is that the 2050 fund gets more conservative as it, "matures." Which is a very good investment philosophy. As you are young you can take more risks since we can generally hope that the overall market will expand as you age.
Also I would recommend those two books as well, both very good place to start.
|
|
|
Re: Students with money |
tallan
20-08-2007 03:03
|
Open an etrade account, read some books, invest in ETF's and other safer investments instead of chasing the top stocks or options. Be patient don't expect to become a millionaire overnight.
I've got a chunk of change in my retirement account and capital preservation is number one. I only invest in ETF's (exchange-traded funds) because of their relative safety with minor exceptions for stocks that pay big dividends.
|
|
|
| |
