Like Bill suggested, if you have any earned income this
year, consider putting as much as possible into a Roth IRA.

Google for {"Roth IRA"} and plenty of gentle, consumer sites
will explain what this is to you.

Then tell the group your investing goals for this money. How
long can you leave it in the account? Do you have an
emergency fund, or have your parents covered you on much of
this? Will you cash it in at graduation to pay for a new
car? Etc.

"JerryGirrafe" <jared.clayburn[at]und.nodak.edu> wrote
- quote -

JerryGirrafe wrote:
- quote -

Here's a little checklist I would go through before doing any
investing?

1) Do you have any "bad" debt? "Bad" debt basically includes all debt
except mortgages and student loans (and possibly cheap car loans, since
you often need a car to get around). "Good" debt is easily
recognizable because it's tax deductible. If you have "bad" debt, put
this money toward it instead of investing it.

2) Do you have an emergency fund? In other words, do you have enough
money saved to pay 3-6 months worth of living expenses, should things
take a turn for the worse? If not, stick this money in a high-yield
savings account or money market account. I often see Emigrant Direct
mentioned as one of the highest-yield savings accounts available. If
you want to go the money market route, I would recommend you go with a
no-load money market mutual fund like VMMXX.

3) Does your employer offer a 401k match? If so, start making
contributions up to the matching level. You can't put this $2K
directly in your 401k, but you can accomplish this indirectly by
putting the $2K in your checking account and then contributing $2K to
your 401k over time. If your employer is matching, this gets you an
immediate return on your money.

4) Once all 3 of the previous bases are covered, put the remaining
money in a Roth IRA. You won't be able to touch the earnings (without
penalty) until you're 59.5. But, at that time, the earnings will all
be tax free. Assuming you're 20, that $2K will turn in to $167K by the
time you're 59.5 ($42K in today's dollars). That's a great start
toward a happy, comfortable retirement.

Oh, if you do end up investing in a 401k or an IRA, you'll need to pick
a fund. I would recommend an S&P 500 index fund, like VFINX, or some
other large cap index fund.

--Bill

In article <1154411659.597747.144030[at]h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> ,
"JerryGirrafe" <jared.clayburn[at]und.nodak.edu> wrote:

- quote -

I'd suggest going to a full service brokerage house and opening
an account. Put 1/3 into some low cost tax efficient mutual
fund, perhaps index based, such as the vipers. Put 1/3 into
some stock that you pick, not so much to get rich, but to learn
about how stocks work. And keep the remaining 1/3 in a money
market fund to be used as an emergency fund.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

I'm a college student with around $2,000, that I want to invest. Ya,
nothing big I know...college student. I was just wondering what some of
the people that know a little something about this sort of thing,
thought I should do with it. Anything insight will help. Thanks.