Hi everyone,
I am a Uni student with 5 years to go in my degree. Ive been working hard and have saved around $10-20k and was wondering what would be my best option(s) in investing? Atm i am considering just leaving it in a term deposit as I am not willing to invest in anything thats high risk. If anyone could give me any suggestions on investment ideas or banks running excellent rates atm I would really appreciate it :)
Thanks
Thanks for your quick reply greenpossum,
however I have had a term deposit before where it gave me at least 6% for 6 months.
Well, of course if you are sure you won't need the money for the term, then you can get higher returns. Also since the RBA lowered the rates, 6% rate might be a thing of the past. There is a section on term deposits at the website.
no 6% rates are a thing of the past. Logon to a few banking websites and you'll probably be abel to see the rates there and at least you'll have a readjusted idea of interest rates at the moment. The ubank is probably the best online saver rate atm, probably baout 4.66% from memory… ME bank saver a/c is probably a step up being an intro rate… not sure if the ubank does it. but it's definitely one of the most competitive for cash.
if you are going to make big bucks you could pay off your HECS with upfront discount
term rates change quarterly[?}
if not an investor or trader [not gambler]
willing to study years to figure out the risks
then stick to term deposits for now
anything else needs steep learning and unlearning curves as a lot of info is untrue put out by people selling you their hogwash. even AMP, shane oliver [no one checks their accuracy 1 year later or whenever their time frame is.
or compares to the indicies.
HECS is one of your most cheapest forms of debt. Unless you have the money to burn for it you're better off not paying it off. THe discount is also alot less than when I was considering up front paying off amounts too (>$500 amounts you pay off get the discount from memory).
YOu're better off sticking your money - if you can't be bothered using brains and want lower ris: in a listed investment company like AFIC - AFI (asx ticket code). THat's offering a 5.7% dividend yield grossed up (including franking credits) on the current share price, which, depending ony our personal views could be at higher highs than historically (given the current focus on dividend paying shares in this climate).
Even DJERRIWARRH INVESTMENTS LIMITED (DJW)- is trading on 8.65% dividend yield fully franked up on its current $4.29 share price.THat's after running from the mid $3's. Again, it is your personal view on the share price given recent demand for dividend/income stocks.
But yes that sure beats the 5.1% you'd get on the ME interest account mentioned above, and any term deposits, which I must add, has (if your middle or low income) 30% tax on it. So 5.1% x 0.7 = 3.57% is the real rate of return you're getting. Taken your situation you're probably not paying tax anyway.. but in which case you'd still be comparing 5.1% to 5.7% in AFI and 8.65% in DJW.
Banks, utilities, and others range from 5-11% yields - depending what you choose.
I would also have to agree with the above poster - labelling a trader a (gambler) smacks of a misunderstanding of what it is to be a trader. A 'gambler' trader doesn't last long. Good traders, yes, I guess you could argue 'gamble' in the sense of who knows what the future brings, but there's a heck lot more money and risk management techniques that can be employed that you cannot on a roulette table. Anyone discounting that and painting it as gambling with a broad brush may not understand trading. I would strongly suggest you do alot of reading on financial books, personal development etc prior to investing. There are alot of people out there who will tell you this and that, and the only way to not be misled is to read and see what the best of the best in the financial/investment world have done, are doing, and are likely to do.
Steep learning curves - yes? But why else - otherwise any tom, dick and harry would be raking in money for what professionals and others spend hours of their life studying and learning about PER day, week etc. Thousands of hours and days in a lifetime. But if you have an interest and passion (i mean it can affect your financial future - so why shouldn't you?) then take some time and effort and learn. 1 hour a day with a book whilst someone watches the latest episode of Gossip Girl, will probably put you ahead of a vast majority of the population. So pick up a book (as nerdy as it sounds) for an hour, and turn off the tv :D
good luck. I note that none of this is investment advice specifically but general in nature - do your own research and conclusions. A common strategy with 10-20k at such a young age would be to choose a few diversified shares, managed/listed funds, all of which are income producing, good, solid businesses, plonk them in there and turn on any DRP (dividend reinvestmnet plans) they may have on so that all dividends are re-invested in the company, brokerage free, for new shares. By the time you finish uni or in 5-10 yrs time, it may be a princely sum :)
wow thanks for that reply I forgot to check back. If you could open up your inbox I'd like to chat about a few things with you :)
Use your parent's equity (if they own a house) and get a (cheap to start with, but realitively new for depreciation) investment property.
If you are a petrolhead, use that 20 grand as capital to source for a underpriced performance vehicle or suv, and resell it for more. If you make 3 grand that's already a 15% return. Or if you are good with Legos just buy some and stock them up for the long term. Some have risen 300% in the last couple years and it looks like it'll run up even more.
What do you mean by "put it into an investment company"? Do you mean buy shares?
bump.
Wow this forum is pretty much dead.
I guess most here can't really legally give financial advice :) Please see your financial adviser for details.
Check this out. I heard about this too late…
I got some money to buy shares with, bought WES shares, they have gone up ~10% in value since Jan and I have got 2% in bi-annual dividends.
They are similar to an online bank account like Ubank but it a managed fund but you can take the money out any time. Currently on their site they are paying 7.7% interest PA
They aren't paying 7.7% pa, that was the net return for the twelve months to 16 Feb 2013. It's a managed fund and as such it pays whatever the deposits and bonds it invests in earn (i.e. uncertain returns).
I wouldn't liken it to a USaver account at all - it's not an at call account with an ADI.
http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/
You might also consider the ME Bank saver account intro rate of 5.1% for 12 months.