If you really want a good investment, figure out how to how sell something at a higher price and get someone else to do the work at a lower price. Then use your $3K to seed the business and use the business to pay off your credit card. It's all about cash flow.
I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
21–30 of 36 posts
Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#22Unlike the OP, I have no debt and $6000 in the bank. A soon-to-be grad student, I'm also looking at a pretty low income for years to come. So I'd like to be able to reasonably quickly free up my assets. Is the money still best left in the bank?
Yes, keep it in a decent bank, and don't bother with bonds or equity.
If you find some project that you're passionate about, then don't be afraid to burn through a little bit of your savings in order to learn and explore.
Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#23Wait a few months, then buy Facebook stock. ;) $3000 is not much for starting a business etc.
Why was this downvoted? Buying Facebook stock is a perfectly reasonable suggestion.
No, it's not reasonable. His savings barely covers the cost of a new car (bought on an emergency). IPOs are volatile and impossible to time.
On his budget, I could see him investing a few hundred into Facebook with the intention to stay and hold, but anything beyond that is silly gambling.
Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#24 I think the smart money is probably to pay off your debt, but I'm going to repeat what an older gentlemen once said to me, because it meant so much to me.
"Sooner, rather than later, Invest in yourself."
I don't know if that will really help you with your predicament, but truly, sometimes the best thing you can do in life when the chips are down is just to bet on you.Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#25Unlike the OP, I have no debt and $6000 in the bank. A soon-to-be grad student, I'm also looking at a pretty low income for years to come. So I'd like to be able to reasonably quickly free up my assets. Is the money still best left in the bank?
Think like this: if smart investing allows you to raise your (risk-adjusted) returns by a full percentage point - which is really good - you have earned $60/year. That's unlikely to be a good wage for the hours you need to put in.
Looking at a comparison website and moving your money to an account with good interest is probably worth it, though.
Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#26[deleted]
Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consider the mathematically equivalent scenario: if he had only $3k in CC debt, would you recommend putting $3k more on the card for books and training?
Absolutely. If you're able to take a one-time $1-3k expense and turn it into a $10k+ annual increase in salary / profit, that's a huge win. In my experience, the actual returns are much, much higher than $10k/yr for pretty much everyone who's willing to invest the effort. Most of my early book / course purchases were financed with credit card debt. I paid off my cards in full with a small portion of my first product…
I heartily agree with you. I bought my first real computer with a student loan in 1993, outgrew it, and the next year I started a company to secure a loan for a $5700 computer. This was way more than I could afford, and in fact I often couldn't make the payment so I damaged my credit record and it seemed to my responsible friends that I was a financially incomptent retard.
But, three years later, I shipped my first real product, having done all the learning and coding on that very same machine, and made enough money to recover all that several times over. The knowledge I gained during those years led to a programming career that continues to the present.
Early in life, I think it makes sense to not pay down debt, or take on even more debt, in order to buy something is going to be a force-multiplier for you.
Obviously, without additional effort, there is not much you can do with $3000 that is likely to have a higher return than paying off the card.
But, depending on your own interests and motivation, there are a lot of things that--when combined with your own efforts--will allow you to upgrade your own value. So figure out what those things are, and whether any of them can be had for $3000.
Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#28[deleted]
Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#29Wait a few months, then buy Facebook stock. ;) $3000 is not much for starting a business etc.
Why was this downvoted? Buying Facebook stock is a perfectly reasonable suggestion.
And besides, buying Facebook stock right now is just plain stupid. It's a low-float IPO designed to make people who already own the stock rich. By floating a low number of shares, people who own the shares create artificial demand
The stock is being sold at nearly 25 times sales...Amazon is selling for about 2 times sales. Seriously? This is just a get-rich scheme for current Facebook shareholders.
Not saying anything is wrong with it. But you should definitely wait to invest until after the pop and the prices slide back to something reasonable.
Also, the OP has no business investing in stock right now. Unless you have 10k to throw around as disposable income, investing should be off the table.
3k is almost starving and homeless territory. Pay off your debt and get a part-time job.
Re: I'm 23. I have $3000. How can I best use it to make more money?
#30Just to clarify a point, IRAs are long-term investing vehicles for retirement savings. They are not meaningless, but they are only useful in the context of 40+ years.
Don't worry about them now because you have no money (and need to pay off that debt), but once you get a steady income and have your debt under control - start investing money into your retirement.
A little money put into an IRA now will make a huge difference 40 years from now.