So, I know there are a few investment/finance gurus here at TL, and I thought I'd get everyone's advice.

I have a CD in the bank right now getting pathetic interest(about 2 bucks a month), and I'm looking for something with a bit higher returns. My first though is a mutual fund, but I'm not sure as to the minimum amounts or the procedure, and I thought perhaps someone could help me out. And if anyone knows about reputable mutual funds to invest in, that'd also be very helpful.

I've got about 1100$ US.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Mora

Canada5235 Posts

October 01 2009 17:45 GMT

everything is red today

etfc
cbl
thqi
erts
atvi

go

(sorry, this post is not helpful to you at all)

Caller

Poland8075 Posts

October 01 2009 17:47 GMT

mutual funds tend to function like any other investment in equity. You may be penalized or prevented from trading in anything under 100 shares, so I would probably the riskier mutual funds, especially because I don't trust the stock market at this point in time.

I do suggest instead that you put it in the mutual fund type called the money market fund. If you have a broker, you can set up an account and basically "buy" that fund, and whatever returns it makes will be distributed proportionally among its holders. However, you are unlikely to get much for it as the interest rate and the LIBOR is low and stocks are rather unstable.

This is really just a fairly shitty time for investment in general imho.

citi.zen

2509 Posts

October 01 2009 17:56 GMT

Based on the little info yo provided I would suggest a well diversified fund with low management fees. Vaguard does an ok job and they have a fund with only 1k minimum investment - see here. If nothing else, use their website to understand your general options and expected risk/return trade off.

At this particular point in time, I think there is a huge degree of uncertainty over what the future will bring for any asset. A big driver to our recent "recovery" was loose monetary policy, which kept interest rates low and forced a portfolio shift. As you mention, money market accounts and such earn basically zero interest these days, which has made a lot of investors (both private and institutional) switch to other assets - such as stocks, corporate bonds, even commodities such as gold etc. This increased prices for all these assets and made it quite a bit cheaper for corporations to borrow. Once this loose monetary policy ends / people start worrying about the deficit / inflation fears creep in, who knows where we will end up.

I'll be nicer than the pinheads on the TV investment shows, and offer this disclaimer as well: if I really knew what was going to happen to markets, I wouldn't be blogging or telling others about it about it, I'd be busy getting rich!

micronesia

United States24779 Posts

October 01 2009 18:36 GMT

I think that's too little money to be worth worrying about investing (except for educational purposes?). Keep that money easily accessible if you can.

xiaofan

United States513 Posts

October 01 2009 19:17 GMT

On October 02 2009 03:36 micronesia wrote:
I think that's too little money to be worth worrying about investing (except for educational purposes?). Keep that money easily accessible if you can.

Mora

Canada5235 Posts

October 01 2009 21:03 GMT

$1100 isn't enough to do real investing and it's not much money to lose.

honestly, day trading is the way to go.

look at a good stock spread and monitor which ones are on more of a roller coaster. study their history (past 3 months) and determine their 'low'. wait for it to get close. buy, wait a day or week or 2 (at most) sell, repeat.

at the moment i watch atvi, cbl, etfc, and thqi.

you want to stick to low-cost stocks (ie: etfc) as they experience (typically) the biggest fluctuations in price.

CharlieMurphy

United States22895 Posts

October 01 2009 21:34 GMT

isn't day trading almost always bad and more like just gambling?

randombum

United States2378 Posts

October 01 2009 21:51 GMT

On October 02 2009 06:34 CharlieMurphy wrote:
isn't day trading almost always bad and more like just gambling?

Kind of, in the long run its very likely that you lose overall, but for the short term you can make a killing. At least that's how I understand day trading.

Track

United States217 Posts

October 01 2009 22:12 GMT

#10

Thanks for the input guys. I'm really hesitant to begin day trading, as I've been warned off from it countless times since it's extremely hazardous to the amateur such as myself. I've no experience with the stock market, and as such, I'm nervous to start throwing money around(even if it's a small amount of liquid funds).

Any suggestions as to what I can do with that 1k to make it grow apart from investing? Any ideas are accepted and appreciated.

citrus

United States158 Posts

October 01 2009 22:40 GMT

#11

yep. from what i understand, day trading with $1100 would be a joke. even assuming your picks perform well, you're going to get raped by broker fees by buying and selling on a daily basis.

with no knowledge of investing and using the technique mora described (lol), you're essentially gambling.

Mora

Canada5235 Posts

October 02 2009 00:14 GMT

#12

i completely understand the perspective of everyone here that day trading seems unwise, but i've been doing so for a year now, and have made almost 30%. Before starting i had absolutely 0 knowledge about trading, stock markets, currency, etc.

I've done a little bit of reading, a lot of thinking, and a lot of breaking down the system that is the stock market. with a little common sense, day trading is a super easy and non-risky way to make a lot of money on your money that does jack shit sitting in your bank or sitting in a shitty mutual fund.

I am not against diverse portfolios for long-term investment, (infact, i do have a diverse portfolio for a long term-investment, ie: RRSPs, etc), but right now, if you have $1000 or more, you should be day trading.

The market has never been more conducive to exploitation of day trading due to it's only certain factor: every stock is on a roller coaster. You cannot predict whether a stock will come up or down tomorrow, but you CAN guarantee that it will go both up and down several times within a 1-2 month period.

If anyone is actually interested in reviewing my trades this year, why i chose the actions i did, and what i've learned, i'd be happy to go into it. Me, a friend, and several of his friends have been doing this for a year, and all of us have had earnings. You may call it luck, and you may be right, but i'm not going to give credit to such a statement unless you prove it to be true. I can explain my actions and why they've been successful, if you cannot find holes in the logic used, then a claim of luck holds no ground.

Mora

Canada5235 Posts

October 02 2009 00:18 GMT

#13

On October 02 2009 07:40 citrus wrote:
yep. from what i understand, day trading with $1100 would be a joke. even assuming your picks perform well, you're going to get raped by broker fees by buying and selling on a daily basis.

with no knowledge of investing and using the technique mora described (lol), you're essentially gambling.

etrade.com charges $20 for trades (both by and sell).

that means as long as you're making 8% gains per trade (on $1k), you're total increases much faster than it would in any sort of long-term guaranteed return fund (ie: GICs sit between 2.5-5%, bonds between 4-9%, interest-savings usually 1-2.5%, etc.)

citi.zen

2509 Posts

October 02 2009 01:19 GMT

#14

Picking individual stocks and thinking you will consistently make a return in excess of the market means you think you have some information nobody else does. This might be because:

1. You have an evaluation/research method which differs in a good way from most professionals out there. This seems unlikely.
2. You have insider information. This is both unlikely and illegal. Its why Gordon Gecko eventually goes to jail :-)

Without meeting one of these conditions you are, as citrus mentioned above, gambling. For some people it works out. On average it will not though.

Track

United States217 Posts

October 02 2009 01:30 GMT

#15

On October 02 2009 09:14 Mora wrote:
i completely understand the perspective of everyone here that day trading seems unwise, but i've been doing so for a year now, and have made almost 30%. Before starting i had absolutely 0 knowledge about trading, stock markets, currency, etc.

I've done a little bit of reading, a lot of thinking, and a lot of breaking down the system that is the stock market. with a little common sense, day trading is a super easy and non-risky way to make a lot of money on your money that does jack shit sitting in your bank or sitting in a shitty mutual fund.

I am not against diverse portfolios for long-term investment, (infact, i do have a diverse portfolio for a long term-investment, ie: RRSPs, etc), but right now, if you have $1000 or more, you should be day trading.

The market has never been more conducive to exploitation of day trading due to it's only certain factor: every stock is on a roller coaster. You cannot predict whether a stock will come up or down tomorrow, but you CAN guarantee that it will go both up and down several times within a 1-2 month period.

If anyone is actually interested in reviewing my trades this year, why i chose the actions i did, and what i've learned, i'd be happy to go into it. Me, a friend, and several of his friends have been doing this for a year, and all of us have had earnings. You may call it luck, and you may be right, but i'm not going to give credit to such a statement unless you prove it to be true. I can explain my actions and why they've been successful, if you cannot find holes in the logic used, then a claim of luck holds no ground.

Yeah, please do elaborate. Very interesting post. Can you give us a couple of examples of your trades and why you made them?

edit: also, is 1k really enough to day trade?

tiffany

3664 Posts

October 02 2009 03:36 GMT

#16

lol

mora i don't know how it works in canada but you can't just tell someone starting out to day trade. for starters, you need a margin account to do it, with a minimum balance of 25000$

tiffany

3664 Posts

October 02 2009 03:48 GMT

#17

to OP:

if you are interested in the stock route instead of mutual funds, do some research on investment firms to see which company can give you the most bang for your buck. with only 1K it will make stock trading more challenging, because with each trade you are paying around 1% of your balance in commission. if you play poker, it's like joining a NL100 table and having to ante 1 dollar every time you want to play a hand.

Milton Friedman

98 Posts

October 02 2009 09:55 GMT

#18

You can day trade FX. There are internet brokers that'll let you open accounts for something like $500. This is what I've heard - I use DBFX which has a minimum requirement of $5000. Also, you'll probably want to do a bit more than guess the next low and start buying, but fortunately most online trading platforms will have many technical indicators for you to look at.

EDIT: many FX platforms don't take a commission. I know FXCM's standard account just profits from the spread but their "pro" account has tighter spreads with a commission per 100k.

nosliw

United States2716 Posts

October 02 2009 20:08 GMT

#19

are the broker fees per transaction based or percentage of earning based?

Mora

Canada5235 Posts

October 02 2009 20:39 GMT

#20

On October 03 2009 05:08 nosliw wrote:
are the broker fees per transaction based or percentage of earning based?

depends on your broker.

etrade does $20 flat fee per trade for their most basic account.

if you have over $25k in your account (though i might be wrong about the amount) zecco does not charge commission on trades. :O

edit - oh, only if you make 25 trades per month :O

edit edit - oh.. and only 10 of them are free