What is the best way to invest $870? | Hacker News Reader

What is the best way to invest $870?

7 pointsely-s25 comments

$870 is a really specific figure, as though it's your whole bank account. Keep it liquid (cash or something easily and quickly exchanged for cash) in case of emergency if you're not sure what to use it for.

Note that an emergency may not necessarily be an extensional crisis; an emergency can simply be a need to take advantage of an opportunity.

Not really. $870 could just be a sudden windfall.

I'd suggest paying off some debt, if you have any.

Money isn't worth anything right now (beyond its face value) because we have extremely low interest rates at this time. I would suggest using it to buy some stocks in a sector you have some understanding about. If it goes well, you will know a place you can put money in the future. (This only is feasible if you can afford to lose your $870 if it doesn't go well.)

Also, if you have any debt at all (school loans, etc.) you can probably make a better percentage profit paying your debt off early than you can in any other way.

If it's a government college loan, the interest rate is like 5%, and mutual funds are giving more than that right now...so technicallly speaking...I don't know how quick I'd say that

Where is there a mutual fund giving more than 5%?

Did you even try to research this yourself? There are many mutual funds that have 20%+ YTD. It's typically recommended to invest before paying off debt like student loans/mortgages because you're likely to make more investing than what you'd save on interest.

You're talking about historical returns of 20% which have little bearing on future returns. (This is finance 101 stuff, let me know if you need a link that explains it to you)

Paying off a 5% interest debt gives a guaranteed return.

Sounds like you're the perfect candidate for the next Bernie Madoff... he guaranteed future returns of >10% on his mutual funds :-)

That said, a (heavily conditioned) case can be made for investing before paying off loans, as I did in my original comment for this thread.)

This, although I would say that you are probably better off just investing in a low-fee index fund like Vanguard's Total Stock fund.

Even if you have an understanding of a sector, most people are horrible investors and a simple index fund will out-perform them.

Buy online courses to teach you some marketable skills.

reccomend any?

http://www.udemy.com/

Get a cheap thinkpad off of ebay (t4xx/t5xx) and put linux on it, use the rest for buying textbooks, pen/paper and what you don't spend on that save for emergencies/get health insurance. Then learn how to program, python is a good start with MIT 6.0x classes.

I already have a powerful linux laptop and know how to program. That's a great suggestion though.

I think it depends on where your knowledge lies.

If you have the know-how, you can probably make a bit off sports betting, or stock investments, but otherwise high interest savings or a managed fund / superannuation would probably be best.

By defining what "best" means first.

Higher return? Lower risk? Long or short term? You can buy a lot of books with that and it could be (if you read it) the "best" investment.

Apple stock! It's holding really strong and if it were to start to tank you'd have enough time to sell your stock before losing in a bad way.

Hum, have you looked at the stock recently?

"Buy high, sell slightly lower" is not a great investment strategy.

Don't do this thinking you're going to make money.

pick up some venezuelan government bonds. they are trading at about 85 cents on the dollar currently so you should be able to pick up one. the return is about 13% annually (haven't checked in a couple weeks). They're backed by black gold so you're set.

I wouldn't do that now that Chavez is in very bad shape...

buy NOK. Warning: You will a problem of how to invest $1500 in next few months. But we can talk about it then :).

education. send me a check and I'll teach ya...lol...

saving it

compound interest is money's best friend.

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