im lookin to invest some money i have saved up but i have no clue where to start. I want to invest it for 2 years while I am gone out of country. What places do yaw suggest and what to aviod in being scamed.

thanks

btw. i cant spell

[Edited on June 22, 2006 at 11:36 PM. Reason : .]

6/22/2006 11:36:24 PM

Well, whatever you do don't invest overseas.

That said, pay off any debt you may have, always.

Beyond that, 2 years is not a long time, but your basic mutual fund should do nicely, just be ready to sell if your returns get much above 10%.

Well right now we are advising our clients to put all they can into canned food and shotguns.

[Edited on June 22, 2006 at 11:46 PM. Reason : .,.]

6/22/2006 11:44:49 PM

Quote :

"whatever you do don't invest overseas. "

rofl

6/22/2006 11:46:39 PM

^ Hmm, my expectation was that the dollar was close to an historical low so even if you manage 10% returns overseas with a 10% rise in the dollar (quite possible) you would have managed to earn nothing. Investing overseas is just too much like investing in money markets to me

6/22/2006 11:48:54 PM

Buy an umbrella.

6/23/2006 1:16:12 AM

Quote :

"Well, whatever you do don't invest overseas. That said, pay off any debt you may have, always. Beyond that, 2 years is not a long time, but your basic mutual fund should do nicely, just be ready to sell if your returns get much above 10%."

i wouldn't make overseas investments the backbone of my plan, but they aren't necessarily a bad thing. there are other countries with up and coming economies, and sometimes they grow strongly when the U.S. economy stumbles (although less and less, due to increased globalization).

Saying to ALWAYS pay off any debt is also not necessarily a good idea. For example, my car loan is at 3% interest. If I can't get a better than 3% return (over time) in my investments, I'm doing something very wrong. While I personally hate debt, and have none other than my car (which I could sell not only for more than I owe, but also for more than I paid for it 1 year and 20k miles ago), it isn't always smart to divert money that could be used for investing towards paying off lower interest debt. There's an opportunity cost there.

and a lot of (I personally would say most) mutual funds suck, although many offer instant diversification for basically no effort. Most underperform the market, especially when you account for expense ratios (and if they have any fees), and many require a relatively large upfront investment of thousands of dollars.

6/23/2006 1:38:46 AM

^Agreed


Also, Emerging Markets bonds have done quite well recently.

Quote :

"1994 through May 2004, J.P. Morgan’s Global Emerging Markets Bond Index rose 248%, which compares quite favorably to a return of less than 102% for U.S. corporate junk and investment-grade bonds and a gain of 193% for the S&P 500. "

GMDFX has had an average 17% annual return for the last 5 years.

But like ^ said don't put it all overseas but use some overseas funds to diversify.

Not sure how much money you have to invest but many funds have a minimum around $3000-10000. Many funds do underperform the market though you could buy buy tracking funds if you want, and there are some aggressive funds you can buy.



Probably the safest thing to do with little knowledge required, is to set up a Vanguard mutual fund account. They offer many no-load funds. Then pick and choose based on your risk level.

http://flagship2.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/content/AccountServ/General/ATSMFOverviewContent.jsp

6/23/2006 1:54:31 AM

rule of thumb...100 - your current age = % that should be in bonds and such.... your current age is what % should be in stocks (including of course mut. funds) etc...

paying off debt is by far the best thing to do...I'd be careful about investing in stocks right now though. I'd wait until they drop, and they will. I guess it also depends on when you're going to be out of the country...my question is, where are you going to be that you won't be needing the money or have access to it?

6/23/2006 3:40:55 AM

Quote :

"rule of thumb...100 - your current age = % that should be in bonds and such.... your current age is what % should be in stocks (including of course mut. funds) etc..."

what? i think you got something backwards.

When you're young you want more stocks and mutual funds, less bonds. As you get older, move money into less risky bonds and away from stock.
So i think your rule should read:
100-age = % in stock (therefore it decreases as you get older)
age = % in no/low risk bonds, t-bills

6/23/2006 5:26:26 AM

This thread is mostly BS from the second post onwards.

6/23/2006 5:43:25 AM

Quote :

".I'd be careful about investing in stocks right now though. I'd wait until they drop, and they will."

the market has already taken a pretty big hit

or are you saying you'd wait until a no-kidding bear?

and yeah, if you were to use that rule of thumb, it would be backwards (^^)

6/23/2006 6:33:37 AM

Get a 2 year CD, end of story.

A mutual fund is a longer-term investment. The only funds you should even remotely consider are no-load funds with absolutely no redemption fees. As for stocks, they should also be long term.

The 2 year CD is where its at, or perhaps if you have enough money, a ladder of CDs ending in 2 years.

As most people already said, pay off any debt first (except mortgages). If you look at what your debt interest rate is and you can't beat it handily, then you're losing money not to pay it off.

6/23/2006 7:28:12 AM

With free advice, there's only one guarantee: you'll get exactly what you paid for, and nothing less.

6/23/2006 8:49:01 AM

Quote :

"my car loan is at 3% interest"

How the hell!?!? A friggin ARM mortgage right now is charging over 5%, how did you get someone to loan you money for only 3%??? Some banks pay more than that to their savings accounts!

I'm guessing this must have been a promotional thing offered by the manufacturer?

[Edited on June 23, 2006 at 9:06 AM. Reason : .,.]

6/23/2006 9:05:45 AM

^ Probably. Remember, only a year or two ago they were offering cutrate deals on auto financing.

6/23/2006 12:07:47 PM

well i have no debt; it wont have alot of money to invest, im thinkin it will be about $1200 bucks. so yaw think that i should do CD instead of mutual funds.

6/23/2006 12:33:50 PM

^yeah.

the fees alone for a mutual fund will be too much for that amount/time of investment. Plus you'll probably need more than that to buy the fund you want.

[Edited on June 23, 2006 at 12:42 PM. Reason : .]

6/23/2006 12:40:04 PM

For $1200? Yea, a CD is the optimal choice.

http://www.bankofinternet.com/open/cd.asp

They claim they will give you 5.34% compounded daily.

I won't vouche for "Bank of Internet USA", it sounds seedy. Wachovia here in Raleigh says they will give you 5.15% for an 18month CD.

6/23/2006 1:02:36 PM

Quote :

"How the hell!?!? A friggin ARM mortgage right now is charging over 5%, how did you get someone to loan you money for only 3%??? Some banks pay more than that to their savings accounts! I'm guessing this must have been a promotional thing offered by the manufacturer?"

USAA commissioning loan package for new military officers. they'll give you up to 25k at like 3% (20k for a car, 5k unsecured).

i can get a regular car loan from them for slightly over 6%. It isn't tough at all to beat that with a decent investment.



I didn't realize we were talking about $1200 for 2 years...I don't really even count that as investing. In that scenario, I'd prob just put it in a CD (or maybe a money market acct).

6/23/2006 7:08:54 PM

I agree with the recommendation to get a CD. Over such a short period, you are just as likely to lose money in mutual funds (and things are looking bad right now). Even if you managed to get 8% per year in mutual funds, that isn't much money when your only putting up $1200.

[Edited on June 23, 2006 at 7:16 PM. Reason : ?]

6/23/2006 7:12:33 PM