Any ideas for 80k?

[maineman]

I'm looking for a place to put 80k. Stocks..no. Anybody have any good suggestions other than their own pockets?

[festus]

Iraqi Dinars ..... ??????

[toothfairy86]

You can't become a dermatologist for only $80K unless you're already an MD. Med School alone would probably run you over $200K nowadays.

[toothfairy86]

Look for a "fee only" financial advisor who only charges by the hour for advice. They don't take a commission on your investments. They're difficult to find, but well worth it. Some of them won't take you on as a client unless your net worth is over $250K though.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Buy a laser tattoo removal parlor. It's gonna be a growth industry.

I think you're on to something there. Better yet, if you could devise an easier, more painless process than laser removal you'd make your fortune. Of course there's always that old standby, the belt sander!

[A CA Guy]

Don't know about that, with 32 million, he could be a run down Los Angeles two bedroom home for cash.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Is he really? He makes more sense than just about anybody out there speaking about investments. "Stocks for the Long Run" is a classic, and I just finished "The Future" last week. It's good, old-fashioned common sense wisdom--buy value, don't pay too much, buy and hold, diversify--but Siegel backs it up with good, solid data. Lots of data.

It's the way I invest and the way I'll help my clients invest.

I'll keep an eye out for your review!

[MoralSense]

You can't read too much, I figure. Siegel's outlook, remember, is 50 years, so for younger clients who don't want to be stock-jocks, it's fabulous. You can get more involved and make money in the shorter term, via the CAN-SLIM method or some variants of it. I know a very good advisor who ran his model portfolio at about a 10% loss for almost all of last year, then made up the difference and more in about 8 weeks toward the end of the year. He wound up gaining 30% overall, which is darned good trading for 2004.

[manic4organic]

Drop it on my daughter's singing career! She's going places.

[OKSooner]

"Pay every single debt you have, even your house. Best investment you can make.

I'll second that. Then you can put your next 80k in real estate or whatever.

[myprecious]

Yes, can you imagine how gross all those wrinkled tatoos will look in about 40 years? Or when those little roses stretch into big cabbages. Euewwwwww.

[BCR #226]

I'd talk to a financial advisor and do something to put the money where it will grow. That amount of money is the start of a very nice nest egg if you nurture it right.

Personally, I'd put some in stocks, some in growth funds, some in an IRA, etc. Spread it around a little and reinvest the dividends to make the principle grow. Give it a decade and you might be able to turn that 80k into several hundred thousand if not more.

Mike

[eyespysomething]

My own bank account.

[OKSooner]

Especially if you don't yet own a house. Pay off all that uh, stuff and free yourself from a life of servitude. Then buy a nice house with your unencumbered income afterwards.

[RavenATB]

"1. your own business"

Not a bad idea, depending on where you live. Some states/localities are a lot more business-friendly than others. Lincoln, NE, for example, was recently voted by National Federation of Independent Business as the most unfriendly city in the US in which to start a business.

2. precious metals, esp. silver (these are untraceable and untaxable)

Silver has had a major gain, as has gold. While I agree that if you handle the actual coins/metal/bars you can move it without a trace, I'm not altogether confident that gold will, in fact, continue to gain as it has in the past two years. I suspect that as we see oil dropping we'll also see precious metals drop. Oil if over-bought and oil companies have been working hard to sell futures contracts to lock their prices in. They do that when they think the price of oil is going to continue to drop.

3. real estate, are you joking?? When the next recession hits, there will be massive foreclosures and the bottom will drop out.

I bought a lot in an upscale Florida community development, last year, and paid what I thought was an obscene $96K. The lot is currently worth about $240, and rising quickly. While I agree that a recession could potentially hurt the real estate market, there's always money to be made in real estate if you understand the market, your property, and are nimble. Should a recession hit, I'd suggest that the best possible investment (for safety and for potential growth) is high quality acreage or a lot/home in a good quality, upscale subdivision in a southern state...where the baby boomers are flocking to right now.

4. currencies, esp. the euro, yuan, or yen.

I disagree with the Euro, especially if the investment is long term. The Islamization of Europe is a huge problem on the horizon, and as it continues, I'd say it's almost the worst possible choice for investment. I agree that the Yen may be a good investment. However, regional instability which may result from China/Taiwan and US/Japan/Korea could have a devistating effect on the Yen.

5. The Vice Fund, or Biotech stocks/mutual funds. During the last 20 years, tech stocks are were it was at. During the next 20, it will be biotech stocks not stocks like Intel/MS/Cisco/Dell.

I won't argue this. I can't agree or disagree. The variables of individual stock choices are the important factor, unless you're going to buy a mutual fund. Should you decide to purchase a mutual fund, I suggest you look into "the Mutual Fund Store," and investigate what they're buying in the sector you favor. I'm not suggesting you buy into the Mutual Fund Store, but they have a radio show wherein you may get some real sound information. I listen to the show, and I've found it to be interesting and valuable.

I used to have a young man who worked for me in an administrative position, who inherited an amount of money of about the same size as your own little chunk. He asked me the same question you're asking now. My advice to him was the same as previously offered here: "INVEST IN YOURSELF!"

He didn't have a college degree at the time, and I told him that investing in his education is the best possible plan for "growing his money." I stand by that advice. If you don't have a college degree of substance (not basket-weaving), I'd suggest that you pursue one, providing you're still young enough to reap the financial benefits of a good career over time.

A few months after I gave that young man my advice I was transferred and we lost contact. Two years ago (four years after we'd parted) I got a phone call from him. He finished his degree and called to thank me for what I'd told him. He told me that he'd grown up without a father in his life. When he received his inheritance he'd decided that since I was the most accomplished man he knew, personally, that whatever I told him to do with his money was exactly what he was going to do.

He thanked me, and told me that I'd completely changed his life. I thanked God that I didn't tell him to buy Enron.

[Mannaggia l'America]

REITs

[corlorde]

What a coincidence! I've just got an email from this guy overseas who said he recently inherited millions of dollars but can't get at it unless someone in the US is willing to put up 80,000 (TEMPORARILY, of course) in bank fees and then he'd be willing to give you millions for your troubles....

[SAJ]

Easily done. Just open an account w/a bank in Hong Kong (entirely legally, btw), let your deposit sit for 30 days, typically in a short-term CD or savings note, then ask the bank to convert your account into yuan (btw, ''renminbi'' is the ''people's term'' for yuan -- same thing).

The bank will take, depending on the size of your account, somewhere between 0.5% and 7.5% as a ''conversion fee'' (in plain English, you're paying the bid-ask spread, plus a bit for the bank's carpets...).

Or, you can make a friendly arrangement with a business acquaintance who travels to mainland China, hand him or her X thousand dollars, and ask him/her to return renminbi notes to you.

One SMALL problem with this latter idea: if the ChiComs revalue, as seems rather likely at some point fairly shortly (or else you wouldn't want to buy their currency, right?), they are ENTIRELY CAPABLE of reissuing their currency and cancelling out their old currency.

Why do you care about this? Because the typical historical pattern is that you (or someone) will have to present the currency you have in person at one of a number of specified locations, BEFORE a named date.

Which is fine if you want to spend the dough to go visit the Great Wall, etc., but otherwise, said condition fellates deceased canines. You don't really want this risk unless you have really good connections on the mainland, ok? (Hey, I'm just a FReeper, well, a trader first, what do I know?).

[Dan from Michigan]

Lucky you. I wish I had 80K to invest.

If I did, I'd be buying land where the next "exurbs" will be and wait for the developers to outbid one another for it.

[KC_for_Freedom]

I second the idea that you visit bobbrinker.com and listen to a few shows. Put your money in a money market fund for a month and read some books. When you understand what they mean by risk, and understand what your risk level is. Then you are ready to make an investment. You do not need to rush into this, you need to learn first.

BTW, Brinker called the last stock market crash, and is recommending dollar cost averaging new money into the market in index funds (SPY) for example. But read up. Become money saavy youself.

[WoofDog123]

"they are ENTIRELY CAPABLE of reissuing their currency and cancelling out their old currency."

Thanks, fear of just this is one of the main reasons I have not simply bought specie through a broker....