<p>Sorry for the stupid title.</p>
<p>Moving on to the main point, I have been saving up some money and now have around $1000. I want to put this in savings, but I heard that investing it in something like a CD will be more profitable (short-term investment I think it's called). </p>
<p>Would it be stupid for me to invest money while I'm still in college? Could this possibly make my fin.aid for next year go down? -How will this be factored into my fin.aid / tax?</p>
<p>It will not affect you.</p>
<p>The capital gains on $1000 is only going to be so much.</p>
<p>If you can afford to lose it, go ahead and invest. It will be a great learning experience whether you profit or lose money.</p>
<p>By all means, go ahead. </p>
<p>Just keep in mind to do the necessary Financial Literacy homework before you go into stuff like stocks bonds funds etc. I suggest reading something like Series 65 or 66, which is basically a study guide for pre-professional investment reps who have no previous financial or accounting experience. </p>
<p>Also, I wouldn't call "CD" much of an investment. Because of its lower risk, there's also a lower return, plus a really boring experience. Instead of doing a CD, try out something like ING Orange Savings. It's almost risk-free, along with the advantage of higher-than-average interest rates and no fixed term so you could withdraw your money at anytime for other more profitable investment purposes.</p>
<p>Interest is so low that I wouldn't call any of this investing. You can make a little, but it's pocket change.</p>
<p>My Investing paid for my undergrad education and is paying for my graduate education currently.</p>
<p>I am making so much money now its ridiculous.</p>
<p>You have to put your investments down on your FAFSA. I wouldn't recommend it, mainly because you never know when you'll need $1000 while in college. But if you do decide to do it, I'd choose something thats a little easier to liquidate than a CD.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have any thoughts on this topic? I find this topic highly interesting (unfortunately often ignored by most college kids until they are in mid-life). No matter how much money you make by investing, you will definitely learn many key knowledge that will make you financially literate for the rest of your life. Also, it's never a bad idea to start building your own asset at an early age, an asset which could possibly generate capital gains that could be turned into additional income for other uses. A well-managed investment portfolio also requires a broad array of up-to-date knowledge on world affairs, national and international economics, basic accounting, and many other things that will become highly useful and helpful to your future development.</p>
<p>If you have the extra $$ lying aruond, go for it. A couple friends of mine do this. This is a rare practice, since most college students don't have sufficient funds.</p>
<p>I'm in high school yet I'm investing actively in the stock markets to pay for private BS fees and plan to make it pay for college as well. </p>
<p>Is that what you did, Dr Horse? </p>
<p>I'm asking around as well, because I really love stocks and the economy etc (Planning to major, did and will be doing some internships etc) can this be an EC for me? </p>
<p>Because I've done tonnes of mock investments and simulations as well as insignificant amounts and now I've been given $100,000 to invest for the high school fees etc so could it be an EC? I spend hours analyzing current events and how it affected/could affect the stock market. Because for example I invested in Georgia in 2004 due to the opening of the economy, pro Western leader yada yada yada and I sold as soon as Kosovo was declared independent...</p>
<p>hey shore, just wondering, which online investment platform do you use? ameritrade? etrade? fidelity? etc</p>
<p>As far as financial aid is concerned FAFSA does not care what the asset is - $1000 in a CD or invested in stocks or in a savings account is $1000 will have the same affect on your financial aid - 20% of it will got to your FAFSA EFC (unless you qualify for the simplified needs test where assets are ignored). </p>
<p>If you know you will not need to access the funds I see nothing wrong with investing it. CDs for instance usually have set terms with penalties if you cash them out early.</p>
<p>To Jimmy - I'm Australian but Indian born so I've done both my simulations and tiny investments in those economies as well as a couple of more obscure countries such as Papua New Guinea, Georgia etc</p>
<p>But if you're looking for an Australian one (lol, I doubt it) I used Amscot. It's a cheap internet (other means but I used internet) brokerage service but it's non-advisory. And for the Indian one I used a very big firm that was non-advisory but I also did an internship there and so while I was researching how current events were affecting the stock market I could check the ODIM and choose to buy and sell in the actual Bolt Operator Department which was pretty cool. </p>
<p>I'm now going to a boarding school in America and in order for me to accomplish my goals in paying my school fees I'm looking to invest in America so what platform do you suggest Jimmy@Killarney? I'd like a cheap non-advisory brokerage firm that can deal via Internet. I was planning on looking this up when I'm in America but does anyone have any advice on this?</p>
<p>Compared to a high yield savings account like ING Direct, a CD will only get you an extra 1-2% return. For a $1000 investment, that's not much and in my opinion it's probably not worth it.</p>
<p>The big disadvantage with a CD is that you won't have access to that money until the term is up. If an emergency comes up and you need the money, you'll have to pay a penalty to withdraw it early and could even end up losing some money.</p>
<p>A high-yield savings account is great because the return is only slightly lower than CDs, but you have access to the money whenever.</p>
<p>YES finally a thread about investing. i've been asking about this stuff the past few years and few answered.</p>
<p>Anyway I suggest updown.com It's a great site and you can make actual money off of it but its very little. It's in the cents.</p>
<p>But you learn A LOT. I definitely think that a virtual portfolio before you start actively trading is really important. Although the amount of pressure may be different with real money I think you can still learn a lot.</p>
<p>BTW I'm thinking about investing during college too. I think the slow economy now is a great time to start invest. Buy low sell high.</p>
<p>hey krnpsychopath, what's that updown.com specifically about? Does it offer your real-time quotes and research tools on different firms?</p>
<p>^ It's a stock simulator (so the quotes are probably a few minutes off), with user-inputted information discussing the user's logic for his or her action.</p>
<p>There's a ton of similar simulators out there (including investopedia.com).</p>
<p>Airline sector!</p>
<p>I use zecco currently for $4.50 trades Free</a> Online Stock Trading & Stock Investment Community — Zecco.com</p>
<p>They are pretty good. I suggest you only invest what you can loose, since we are all under 40, you can loose a lot and still recover easily. I started with a hundred bucks and just kept it growing over the years. I went to a state U, so my tuition wasn't 30K, but it was around $4300 and I was able to pay for it over time. </p>
<p>If you want I can give you guys a referral to Zecco, just pm me your email address. I think they are great because its really only $4.50 per trade and if you have a very aggressive But then sell, then buy investing strategy then they are the cheapest and the best. If you like to invest for the long term, then there are better brokers with better sites and better support.</p>