Ask HN: How to invest $1, $10, $100, ...etc.?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7946609

by pizza • 12 years ago

16 14 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

What would you do with a dollar or ten, etc.?

beamatronic• 12 years ago

Are you assuming that all of your other non-mortgage debt has already been paid off?

Dollar-cost-average into a Vanguard index fund.

Jemaclus• 12 years ago

New to this whole investing thing... what's dollar-cost-average in layman's terms?

gobengo2• 12 years ago

In short: Investing into the same asset in fixed amounts over time. It doesn't inherently improve your returns, but is a good idea to save consistently over time (not in lumps that you can procrastinate on).

There are also benefits to your psyche. If you invest all at once, the asset value could drop by 50% the next day, and you feel horrible. If you had invested that money over time, your asset would not be 50% of your total investment.

Again, this doesn't actually mean you get more returns. It just reduces the volatility of your returns at any one point in time.

If you would like to get a good overview of strategies like this, read this wiki. http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging

thejteam• 12 years ago

$1: Mega Millions ticket

$10: Two five dollar scratch offs

$100: Books

$1000: Depending on the company, now you can start looking into mutual funds. Personally, I would invest it in a nice vacation

$10000: This is firm mutual fund territory. Simple Vanguard index fund.

$100000: At this level I like real estate, but I've never made it this high so I can't really say. But I've been close enough that I've thought about it.

And any higher I am just blowing smoke because I have no real knowledge of monetary numbers that high.

moocow01• 12 years ago

My boring answer... At every level you'd look at your available investment choices and try to balance a predictable return with the rate of potential growth. Hopefully as you walk up that latter, you get stepped into a more lucrative pool of choices. Likely the best things available on each rung are going to be the investments that you personally understand best.

$1 - A can and a piece of cardboard to use to beg for money

$10 - A spray bottle and rag to wash cars with

$100 - A book

$1,000 - A few classes at community college

$10,000 - A really cheap degree of some sort

$100,000 - Index funds

$1,000,000 - Rental property

akg_67• 12 years ago

$1: keep in my wallet

$10: keep in my checking account

$100: keep in my saving account

$1,000: buy CD/treasury I-series bond

$10,000: buy index mutual fund

$100,000: buy index mutual funds

$1,000,000: buy index mutual funds, a few stocks, primary residence

$10,000,000: buy index mutual funds, stocks, primary residence, real estate investment, a portion dedicated to 'pay it forward'.

...

oldspiceman• 12 years ago

VO -- mid-caps have better Sharpe ratios than large-caps... but you'll need $117 for a single share

junto• 12 years ago

Please can you explain this for the layman?

Whiiiish.... Went right over my head. ;-)

gobengo2• 12 years ago

I think he's saying that investing in smaller (small-cap) companies is a better idea because it's easier for a small company to grow 10x in the next 20yrs than IBM to grow 10x in 20yrs.

davidddavidson2• 12 years ago

VO is the ticker for the Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF - https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0939&...

The Sharpe ratio is a measure of the Risk/Return for a given investment - http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sharperatio.asp

davkal2• 12 years ago

$1: top-up someone else's metro card, it will restore their faith in humanity

$10: find a neighbourhood coffee shop, buy a coffee, tip the rest, talk to locals

$100: Kindle/books

$1,000: Choose a trade, buy the tools, master them

$10,000: Travel outside your comfort zone, talk to locals, learn their language, get perspective

$100,000: Invest half, spend the other half on the previous items

$1,000,000+: Don't be a money-driven role model to others, study politics and people, use your financial cushion to do good in your community. Stay interested, stay awesome.

davidddavidson2• 12 years ago

$100,000: Invest half, spend the other half on the previous items

What would you do with the remaining $38,889? Rinse and repeat the list?

davkal2• 12 years ago

Yeah, if your life runs in iterations ;-) Or just spend it outside the loop using those proportions.

josephschmoe• 12 years ago

$1: Costco hotdog $10: Book $100: Computer $1000: Community college $10000: Rent $100000: Down payment on a house $1000000: Rental property

Ask HN: How to invest $1, $10, $100, ...etc.?

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