Looking to start investing

[baxtej44]

Came across an old savings bond that I won in an academic challenge of sorts back in 06 the other day and really got me thinking....

I think I want to start making a few small investments and continue installing in them to hopefully some day see my money working for me at full blast


Except.... I have no clue where to even start


Info:
Basically broke college student
No full time job (so 401k, etc out)


BTW, tried to look around, the savings bond is a "Series I" and face value of $200, issue date of 04/2006... Trying to find out if I can find a final maturity value in 2036 if that's possible. It says it's worth 244 bucks now after 5 years

 

[CHKNFKR]

If you're looking for long term investments, i'd check out dave ramseys website and see if he has an endorsed local provider somewhere near you that you can sit down with. He pushes mutual funds because they are safe and consistently quite a ways ahead of inflation so you can't go wrong there.

Where we disagree is gold. I love it, he hates it. To each his own...

 

[baxtej44]

I wouldn't mind getting into some short term, medium term (marriage, med school, etc), and long term (retirement) investments. Of course when I have kids I also want to set up long term investments when they are born also...

Money has always somewhat been a problem in my family, and I want to make sure that when I have a family that I can make it as comfortable as possible for us.

 

[straycat]

Don't do anything right away, Bro. I would wait until next year and see how everything has settled down with all of our U.S. issues. 2012 will be a new year and new elections are coming for a new president. I would just wait it out. I have over 300 savings bonds that my wife and I have collected. I put them in a bank safe at our credit union. Most of them I bought while I was in the military and the others we got from my wife's job. She has been teaching school for over 25 years now. They are worth more as they age.

 

[naford]

This question is to complicated to answer here. If your in doubt I would go to a couple of local Credit Unions and see what they have to offer. Usually a Credit Union pays higher interest on your money and they invest in local projects. You have acess to your money if you need some of it. You could go to a bank or a brokerage house. Remember one thing they are all salesmen trying to sell you something. It doesn't matter if it's shoes or a mutual fund they are all salesmen. A broker told me that and he wasn't even my broker. You also need to read go to Fidelity's website and they have a bunch of investment information and questions they ask without you logging in. I'm sure Etrade and the rest have something similar. I know the market is crazy right now but if you don't put the money away now you never will waiting for the market to settle down.

 

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

Speak to a Certified Financial Planner. Tell him/her what you want to do, and what your plans are.

I can PM you the name and number of mine, if you'd like. I really like what she does with my money.

 

[Will]

Get on E-trade and buy a few shares of Suncor Energy. That's all you have the dough for right now. They're squeezing oil out of sand up there in Canada and it seems like a good time to get in on that.