Investing
My son who is in college would like to invest $1000.00 – what is the most pragmatic investment he should make?
Thank you
Terry Says
Hmmm — pragmatic? I’m glad you didn’t say profitable — because who knows?!!!
So I would go either of two ways:
1. If he just wants to invest the money for the long run, he should open an account at Vanguard in the S&P 500 stock index fund and buy the “whole market” and have the dividends reinvested. There has never been a losing period for this investment if you held 20 years!
2. If he is interested in individual stocks of companies whose products he uses, open an account at www.Stockpile.com, where he can buy small amount of stocks very inexpensively.
Of course, this all presumes that he is over age 18 — the age of majority in most states and so can open an account on his own.
AND, if he will be applying for college financial aid, he should also understand that money in his own name weighs much more heavily against him in the aid formula.
