Anyone know about investing money?

[Piggy]

I have a savings bond my parents bought from me when I was one year old for $50. It's now at $264.

I thought about passing the money down, dividing it by 2 and investing in something for my kids and adding maybe like $5 or $10 a month. I'm looking for some suggestions, if it be stocks & bonds on a long term basis, or possibly something like gold / silver coins.

[canuckofapeach]

I have had a few years of experience in investment banking, trading - both institutional and retail.I also deal with Compliance issues and Fraud.

I haven't been around much 'cause I've been darn tired.

You might wish to consider opening up an informal family trust at a bank, listing the 2 kids as beneficiaries and buying CD's. These CD's would be FDIC insured, you'd be receiving a guaranteed yield or rate of interest, and the principal wouldn't fluctuate. Of course the minimum investment might be over the amount you have to invest.

Here, we have 'registered' education plans for kids (RESP's) where the investments are protected, the interests stays in the account and is not taxed as interest income to the parents. A grant is given according to the plan contribution amount and the parent's income also. You can do monthly contributions (or choose another comfortable timeline) and the gov't cannot get their mitts on it. Check to see if you have a parallel universe in your country.

Unless you buy a savings account that holds a money market fund ( the yield can change but the unit price is still pegged at 10$, thus it doesn't change) I wouldn't touch any single equity in the stock markey for the time being. Commodities are too volatile and you need a bigger output to reap the true valuations. Even a bond mutual fund has a percentage of equity in it, so you can lose part of your principal. Buying one bond by a sole issuer will probably be too expensive, so in essence a mutual fund would be a basket of bonds. Check with your bank. Another option would be to open an account (informal trust) at a direct brokerage, however they may have minimum investment requirements and a yearly admin fee.

Slow and steady is the key. Who won the race between the hare and the tortoise...?

PM me if you wish.

[retdetsgt]

Might check to see if your state has a college fund. I invest money in my grandkids'. Two grand of whatever I put in is deductible from my state income tax. It's taken some hits lately, of course, but they're a long time from college yet.

[pafindr]

I would recommend checking out Dave Ramsey's radio show or his website. He has great financial advice about investing.

http://www.daveramsey.com/

You can hear some of his show online too.

[Johninaustin]

Use it to buy more bonds. That's what I did during my army days, (automatic payroll deduction) I have no idea how many I bought over 21 years,, but it's worth a bunch.

[mxwelch]

I would recommend checking out Dave Ramsey's radio show or his website. He has great financial advice about investing.

http://www.daveramsey.com/

You can hear some of his show online too.

+1, he's very good.

[BP348]

+1 for Peach!!

I also agree with johninaustin but remember bonds take like 12-15 years to reach full face value.

Right now I buy bonds for both my daughters. Right before all the stock market mess started I had everything ready to just open a mutual fund account for them rather then buy the bonds. But that won't happen until the market gets better.

Texas also had and is suposed to be restarting their Texas Tomorrow fund where you pay so much for college at todays prices and it pays for college whenever you kid(s) go to school later down the road. I'm thinking about doing that if and when it starts up again.

[Creeker]

+1 for Peach!!

I also agree with johninaustin but remember bonds take like 12-15 years to reach full face value.

....

Geez.

My wife & I financed about half of our 20% down on our house via years of Savings Bonds (payroll deduction) but they matured faster than that. That was back in 2000 when we bought the house.

I'd heard that there were new Bonds out now, but didn't know they took so long to mature.