Wise investing

[mamab]

Is there something that you would consider to be a "wise" investment with today's financial market?

 

[Furious George]

I always figured if I had the money to invest in a company, I would invest in a company that had good ethics, such as a green company, etc. I have compiled a small list if you would be interested. Otherwise, if you're interested in investing in a fairly successful company, it takes research on your part, and you must make a decision.

 

[Brandon]

If you feel nervous about jumping directly into stocks you could always try mutual funds. There are tons of stock and bond funds that work with how much risk you are willing to take.

Another option are ETF's (exchange traded funds). They work like mutual funds (you own a basket of stocks) and stocks (were you can sell them into the open market). ETF's tend to have lower fees.

 

[Plumley]

There are several non technical magazines that are good if you're interested in picking stocks, Smart Money, for instance. This is a good time of year, too, because they're making predictions for next year and reviewing how well their picks for last year did.

 

[FourBear]

I always thought mutual funds were a safe bet, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm horrible and clueless when it comes to stock market and investment related things.

 

[mamab]

What about gold? Do you think it's still a "safe" investment? Of course, now probably isn't the best time to buy-in with the price, but I think you could make some money even now.

 

[dong]

A couple of years ago, a chemist told me to ditch the Au (because gold isn't that rare- it's just inert and therefore "precious", and its price is pretty much arbitrarily determined by controlled supply, if I recall correctly), and go for the Pd (palladium). This rare metal is used for modern catalytic converters, and he assured me that this made it a sure bet.

I'm thinking that it'll be a sure bet until concerns that we've passed peak oil boil over- and since we're set to do that in less than a decade, I'm guessing that it's golden (no pun intended) days are drawing to a close in the not-too-distant future unless it be turned to some use in future technologies or another significant market.

 

[tater03]

Wow, I am glad to have found this thread. We are thinking about investing in something and this gives me some ideas. I am clueless when it comes to investing also, but now I have an idea on some things to research.

 

[Furious George]

Make sure when you do start to invest, you do your research and don't get overly-ambitious. You must 'learn the ropes' before you start spending loads of money.

Good luck though!

 

[mamab]

A couple of years ago, a chemist told me to ditch the Au (because gold isn't that rare- it's just inert and therefore "precious", and its price is pretty much arbitrarily determined by controlled supply, if I recall correctly), and go for the Pd (palladium). This rare metal is used for modern catalytic converters, and he assured me that this made it a sure bet.

I forgot all about palladium. My husband worked as a temp for a company that made catalytic converters for a couple of months. The lengths they took to make sure no one stole any of those precious metals was astounding. You were not allowed to take anything out of the plant, went through a metal detector, etc. From what he told me, and this was about 15 years ago, back then the amount of palladium you could put in a bic pen was worth about $100,000!

I doubt it's something that's readily available for purchase, however.

 

[dong]

Don't have to go after the metal itself- you could look for shares in companies that work in Pd supply- such as the company your husband would have worked for.

 

[xboxundone]

Overall a wise investment, is an investment you can feel good about... this usually means not investing in only one thing meaning more diversification as too many people put all their eggs in one basket and wonder one day what happened but if you diversify you can lessen that impact and ride out the ups and downs.

 

[dong]

That would depend on your strategy. A more conservative investment portfolio would be diverse in terms of both interests and sources, yes, and would therefore depend on overall market growth, which is generally slower but also more likely to be a given. On the other end of the spectrum is speculating i.e. very short-term gambling on single stocks.

At this point in time, the exact ramifications and the effect of the recent US sub-prime crisis is yet to be fully known. Since many countries both directly and indirectly hinge on the US economy either because their currency is tied to that of the US (many SEAsian nations), or because their confidence closely reflects that of the US (like Australia), one could say that it's an uncertain time in general because we don't have much of a precedent to go on.

 

[xboxundone]

Wise investing is fully looking at the risks and rewards and understanding the risks and the rewards. taking the risk that you are comfortable living with... meaning you aren't investing in stock market on monday with money you need on friday to pay rent you should only invest with money you are willing to lose.