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What to do with $8000
Rey Del Aguila
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Title is the TL : DR version read below for more info.
I might be getting around $8,000 and here's what I intend to do with it, is this a good idea or a great idea:
4 into euros
1 for a trip to Bermuda (What's up Grifter)
2 for gadgets including a flat screen, a laptop and an iPod of some sort
This is for advice on where to get the best deals for what I already want to do with it, best items, and a better currency to change it into. Also if you think I should do something else with it that would benefit me. PS I have a learning disability to going to college is going to cost me a lot more then 8thou and I refuse to put myself into debt for any reason (especially going into debt to invest in myself)
Some other relevant info:
I make about $350 a week as a janitor(fluctuating weekly and getting thin during the thanksgiving season)
I like biking so with my excess pay check I will be fixing my bike and getting a wii and some other small things.
I had 8thou$ before and whittled away at it for about 6 months and regret not buying a mp3 player, a trip to Bermuda etc, but I also spent $500 on a camera that I used only sporadically and could have made do with a cheaper camera.
Besides college
Besides giving it to you
Besides 2 women at once (ohwaitnothatsactuallyagoodidea)
I might be getting around $8,000 and here's what I intend to do with it, is this a good idea or a great idea:
4 into euros
1 for a trip to Bermuda (What's up Grifter)
2 for gadgets including a flat screen, a laptop and an iPod of some sort
This is for advice on where to get the best deals for what I already want to do with it, best items, and a better currency to change it into. Also if you think I should do something else with it that would benefit me. PS I have a learning disability to going to college is going to cost me a lot more then 8thou and I refuse to put myself into debt for any reason (especially going into debt to invest in myself)
Some other relevant info:
I make about $350 a week as a janitor(fluctuating weekly and getting thin during the thanksgiving season)
I like biking so with my excess pay check I will be fixing my bike and getting a wii and some other small things.
I had 8thou$ before and whittled away at it for about 6 months and regret not buying a mp3 player, a trip to Bermuda etc, but I also spent $500 on a camera that I used only sporadically and could have made do with a cheaper camera.
Besides college
Besides giving it to you
Besides 2 women at once (ohwaitnothatsactuallyagoodidea)
Because you know who SAID you know what with you know who, let's keep that between me and you.
Rey Del Aguila on
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Investing in another currency isn't the greatest of ideas. They're relatively unstable and difficult to predict. What you have planned now isn't necessarily bad, just put the 4k into a retirement account instead of another country's currency. You can even get ones that invest in specific fields or follow certain parameters.
Kyle
But if you put it in a German bank, or similar, and invest in a German high interest savings account, or otherwise growth-based investment (do they have CDs in the EU?), you'll earn interest on top of currency-based exchanges.
That does make it a lot more difficult, of course, and for the hassle (and the fact that it's only $4k), you might be better to stay stateside.
The same thing happened to Marvel shortly after they declared bankruptcy. They ended up going from about two bucks a share to around thirty eventually. Sometimes being a nerd can pay off.
Kyle
I recommend something boring. Probably something that has some risk/reward to it, like a mutual fund. Otherwise you could buy really reliable instruments like t-bills or CDs.
"PS I have a learning disability to going to college is going to cost me a lot more then 8thou and I refuse to put myself into debt for any reason (especially going into debt to invest in myself)" makes me afraid this is flame, because "going into debt to invest in myself" is perhaps the best investment you could make. College doesn't cost -you- more if you have a learning disability, it costs the campus more. A state school is going to be open enrollment and very cheap. This is probably a better bet than anything else you could do with your money in guaranteeing a good rate of return. An equally good bet right now is a technical school that teaches you mechanics, steelfitting, etc...lots of skilled labor jobs are in demand because everyone's been going to college.
How's your savings? Like, do you have a few grand stuck in a savings account, or are you basically living paycheck-to-paycheck at the moment? Because the very first thing you should do, if you don't have that, is take that $4,000, and stick it in an ING Orange or other high-interest savings account (if you do checking through Washington Mutual, their online savings account actually gives a better interest rate). This is your "shit happens" account, so that you have something to fall back on if your car breaks down, your landlord decides to sell your apartment building and you have to find a new place, you lose your job, you get sick and can't work for a while, etc.
Now, do you want to be a janitor for the rest of your life? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it if you do; whatever makes you happy. However, even if you don't want to go to college, you should seriously consider investing in a trade school of some sort. As kaliyama pointed out, a lot of those jobs (which pay a lot more than $350 a week) are in very high demand right now. Last I heard, the age of the average machinist is 55, which means they're desperately looking for younger people to fill their ranks. And student loan debt is what we call "good" debt; it's generally very low-interest, and what interest there is is tax-deductible, which makes it hella cheap; if I could take out student loans now and just use the money to invest, I totally would. It'd be a great deal.
Otherwise, I'd stick it in a high-interest saving or checking account.
You will regret spending too much of it right away.
You will regret spending too much of it right away.
Believe this
I would follow Thinatos's advice for the 4k you're talking about putting in Euros. The spending plans you have for the other 4k I heartily endorse. You only live once.
https://www.everbank.com/
For 10K you can get a savings account in another currency.
The upside to this is that if you're right you make on the exchange rate and also collect interest.
If your wrong, you could lose a good deal of money.
Like other said, this is a risky investment (to play currencies); but can pay off good if you know what you're doing.
Gold/Sliver (and Oil to some extent) is also a play on the declining dollar.
it depends on your risk tolerance though. Are you willing to lose the majority of your investment if it goes bad?
I will echo this.
Personally I would stuff 100% of it into a 3 month CD. That'll give you time (3 months) to think and really consider where you put it and won't be 'lost' to impulses.
What's the return on a 3 month CD and those of longer duration?
I have $10,000 from a medical study, so I figure everything here can just as easily apply to me as well.
Depends on where you get them from... typically though, anywhere from 2% to 6% APY.
The point of the suggestion though isn't to get good returns; it's to 'lock away' the money long enough to make sure some thought is put into where to put it or what to do with it.
I host a podcast about movies.
I have like $300 saved in a checking account and that's it.
As for a trade school:
Why spend $ on something I have the ability to quit?
I have been here before. I had 8k (as you say) about 2 years ago. I went to pax, went to Portland and just bummed around there for 3 weeks, etc. This time I am trying to do some of the things I wished I did last time.
Last time however I spent half and saved half but in saving it I just had it in my checking account and spent it little by little till it was gone. Now I don't regret the interesting journey I took with that time/money. But this time I would like to buy some things that will still be versatile and useful when it's gone, like a sturdy laptop, an mp3 player to continue enriching my life, a modest flatscreen tv to increase my ability to enjoy one of my 3 main loves. Along with all that I don't want to make the mistake I made last time, I purchased a digital camera that was way too much for an event and then after that I hardly ever used it. Basically my life is sort of like the movie BIG meets Groundhogs day in that I get to do things over but I still feel like a child in adult world. I DO PLAN ON INVESTING quite a bit of it. The euro thing was just an idea. I would rather invest it then put it in a 3month CD.
That's actually a really easy question to answer. If you could do skilled labor, you could regularly afford nice things, as opposed to your current situation.
Like others have said though, if you're happy living on 350 dollars a week, then knock yourself out.
The beauty of some of the options people are bringing up is that they aren't easy to "whittle away" like money sitting in a checking account. I also don't think you could spend the whole sum on an IRA - they have have an annual limit.
And the easy answer with trade - or any school - is a) don't quit and b) so you can make more money.
You could say, "Well, I'm happy with the amount of money I have" but you obviously want stuff, and there are jobs between "High pressure sell-out stock broker with lots of money but no time to enjoy it" and "janitor" that you might like. (not that I judge janitors, everything needs done and shit)
I host a podcast about movies.
That's actually some really good advice.
Also, what could you spend money on that you couldn't quit? Crack? I'm not seeing what you meant by this statement. I would invest it in yourself. Like, all eight grand of it.
Because investing in something isn't a sure thing. Except investing it in myself. That is a sure thing. A sure thing to fail. Sorry to be all downer/emo but the OP states -Besides college- for a reason. All the other advice I have been able to really ponder but advising me on doing something I really don't want to do, something I would abhor doing... why?
But blowing it, or packing it all away when it could do you good now, and in the future (more so than just by collecting interest), then why not? Wanna be a janitor your whole life? Obviously not. You talked about photography. Photography equipment is expensive shit. But hey, you've got 8k burning a hole in your pocket and you want Bermuda and Euros!
You want to make $250 a day? Spend the money on making that a reality.
Me, personally?
If I had some cash in the bank and no obligations, I think I'd go to Thailand and take an intensive learning vacation in the native martial art of Muay Thai.
After I funded my IRA for the year : )
(assuming i had no credit card debt, no auto loans, no rented furniture, and my bookie had lost track of me)
You said you wanted an MP3 player - that kills a few hundred. I don't know where you live, but have you thought about getting into buying a house? If you own a car, is it paid off? I know these aren't all "fun" suggestions, but to me, if you don't have shit like that nagging you, your whole monthly salary becomes fuck-off money, you know?
I host a podcast about movies.
About photography studio. Actually I have almost ZERO interest in photography. The studio head always tries to motivate me into doing a better job by saying "If you do really well there is room for improvement." and it falls on deaf ears. I am not really excited in moving up and the only reason I can imagine to be rich is to be able to flee the country if something unpredictable should happen. That's left field but any way. I really like having THIS job because it's a job I can do and it's a job I can enjoy. I really don't want to go fail somewhere else.
The question here is not "What do I do with my life?" it's what do I do with $8000. Thinatos (did he lose weight?) and others have given some good advice so when I ask my ex-stockbroker friend about changing my $ to euros I will ask him to teach me how to buy stocks etc. Please stop giving me advice on those other things I don't want to have to justify who I am where I am or what I am.
To tell you the truth, it seems damned hard to give you advice on anything because you're very downbeat about everything . . . you mention working in a photography studio like it is second job/passion project, and then when people say "ah...photography equipment? No, I have ZERO interest in photography" etc.
maybe you could post more things you are actually into, instead of letting us try to guess unproductively what you might like from the limited things you've said?
I suppose 8 grand doesn't go as far in the Jersey housing market as it does where I live ( a friend of mine just got a 2900 square foot house for like, 115k), but it was a serious suggestion - if you can buy instead of rent, that's one of the solidest financial investments you can make.
I host a podcast about movies.
I really enjoy working here. It's really cool I get to be around smart/artistically conscious people with out having to actually talk to any of them. No one bothers me too much and I really like being "just the janitor" because I don't disapoint people. I don't have to talk to any one I can just mind my own business 99% of the time. See I really don't want to go into this. Simply put YES I do want to be a janitor for the rest of my life. In a sense because I don't really have any drive to be anything else. I just want to be the best Janitor/Painter/Office Maintenance guy I can be and if the skills I building being the best at that lead me into a better paying job/career then so be it.
SO: Back on topic: Colon:
What is buying stocks like? What would be my very first step form knowing only what I read about in the occasional magazine to actually being a stock holder?
but, anyway, there's a couple of basic routes you can take to buying stock. You can go to a broker, or an online broker, and pick out a bunch of stocks yourself. Typically you're looking at about 500 clams at a minimum to get involved in that. This is the "daytrading" you hear about.
It's also the form of investment that's basically the most like betting your money on gambling. Actually, if you don't know what you're doing, you'd be better off gambling. Daytraders have to do a lot of reasearch, have a safety net, and some luck.
Then there is the more passive approach - something like a mutual fund.
A mutual fund means basically a firm you work with has an expert (although you have to look at how 'expert' they really are sometimes) take your money and you fill out a form or tell him how risk tolerant you are, what your current income is vs your longterm growth, what other investments you have, when you want to turn the money around, etc, and based on your answers, he spreads your money around - ideally, he'll allocate a portion to high risk/reward things like tech stocks, while balancing that out by putting part of it in safer things - simple interest bearing CDs, bonds, and proven past performers. He should also give you a mix of growth stocks and established stocks that pay dividends (dividends are, nutshell, the shareholder's share of the company's profits). A mutual fund is a pretty good way to break into the market.
Now an IRA is basically a specially structured mutual fund that has a favorable tax structure for retirement - you pay into your roth IRA with money you've already paid taxes on, so when you withdraw that money years from now, at maturity, you don't pay income tax on the greater total. A traditional IRA, on the other hand, is taxed as you take it out but gives you a tax break the year you pay into it (you probably don't pay much income tax so a Roth may be the one for you, someone yell at me if I'm wrong)
The only real disadvantage to the IRAs is the lack of short term benefit and the caps on contribution/tax benefit - again, those caps won't hit you hard.
I host a podcast about movies.
This is what I did when I ran into some money. I went down to the bank and asked to talk to the investments guy, and he gave me a few options. I put some into an IRA, and some into a more aggressive mutual fund, both of which have performed very nicely over the past couple years. In hindsight - I'm very glad I didn't spend it on a car or something.
Investing in a company you know isn't a bad idea, but you should always make sure the company is solid financially. Investing in a company that's bankrupt isn't the smartest of ideas.