GenKreton,
I am a finance guy (who enjoys reading Slashdot). I have never posted before, but I thought I should at least give you my opinion since I have extensive experience in personal/corporate finance. First off, there were a lot of good suggestions in the responses (ETFs, brokerage accounts, lifestyle decisions, advisors, etc). But the most important thing that I can tell you is that you need to put together a full financial profile of yourself (either by yourself or with someone's help). That would include understanding your constraints in the following categories: (1) Liquidity (do you have any need for a large chunk of cash at any point in the near- to medium- term future or can you stash away your cash for the long term?) (2) Legal (are there any legal reasons you can/cannot invest in certain securities, etc.?) (3) Taxes (all sound investment strategies at least begin to understand your tax profile and try to steer you towards a strategy that maximizes after-tax returns) (4) Time horizon (you're in college so your time horizon is still the rest of your life... this is more important who is, say, retiring in 3 years) and (5) any specific or unique circumstances you might be facing (grad school? volunteer work for a year after college? etc)... Taking these five factors together can help identify your return AND risk objectives (how willing and/or able are you to take on risk?). Sorry for the very long response, but sound financial planning is a big picture thing, and I don't want you to throw your money into a basket of stocks for example, becuase one person told you that was a good idea. They (a) don't know your specific circumstances and (b) are only offering one choice, which is really no choice at all. Anyway, I hope this helps.
Slashdot Mirror
GenKreton, I am a finance guy (who enjoys reading Slashdot). I have never posted before, but I thought I should at least give you my opinion since I have extensive experience in personal/corporate finance. First off, there were a lot of good suggestions in the responses (ETFs, brokerage accounts, lifestyle decisions, advisors, etc). But the most important thing that I can tell you is that you need to put together a full financial profile of yourself (either by yourself or with someone's help). That would include understanding your constraints in the following categories: (1) Liquidity (do you have any need for a large chunk of cash at any point in the near- to medium- term future or can you stash away your cash for the long term?) (2) Legal (are there any legal reasons you can/cannot invest in certain securities, etc.?) (3) Taxes (all sound investment strategies at least begin to understand your tax profile and try to steer you towards a strategy that maximizes after-tax returns) (4) Time horizon (you're in college so your time horizon is still the rest of your life... this is more important who is, say, retiring in 3 years) and (5) any specific or unique circumstances you might be facing (grad school? volunteer work for a year after college? etc)... Taking these five factors together can help identify your return AND risk objectives (how willing and/or able are you to take on risk?). Sorry for the very long response, but sound financial planning is a big picture thing, and I don't want you to throw your money into a basket of stocks for example, becuase one person told you that was a good idea. They (a) don't know your specific circumstances and (b) are only offering one choice, which is really no choice at all. Anyway, I hope this helps.