My newborn daughter received some gifts at birth. Have $500 to invest. Planning on a stick and stay, make it pay approach, with dividends reinvested. I'll be adding monthly to her brokerage account, as well has adding her AK dividends (about 1k a year) to it.

Any suggestions? Costs $7.95 a trade, and I don't plan on selling. It'll be under my care for 18 years.

Congrats on the kid, I haven't been following the forum much lately & didn't know...maybe invest in Spano's winery???

Ruger stock, look at the ten year results. clicky here

Actually you should be taking much more risk, now, looking for growth, not dividends.

Calvin I am pretty conservative and believe the market is artificially supported right now. I would try to find and interest bearing account until we see what happens in the next couple of years...then maybe look at other options?

PM. We will kill the Chinese one cigarette at a time.

Might take a look at your state's 529 plans.

I would look for a good double action Colt with some good condition in 22 LR or 357 caliber about 40-50 years old...

Oh, and set it up as a UTMA and you will control it until she is 21, not 18.

No load, no transaction fee, no 12-b-1 fee, low AOR mutual funds.
Pick a solid fund family, and a fund consistent with you goals, objectives and time frame, BUT DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CHASE PERFORMANCE. All performance numbers are someone else's past performance, not your future performance.

I belive Vanguard and T Rowe Price still offer Custodian accounts for a $500.00 minimum.

^^^^This. I did the same for my 3 boys about 7 years ago, they each had $400 to invest from gifts and I bought a NIB Colt Python Silhouette in the fitted case with all the goodies for $1,100. If I had to guess I would say it would sell for $3K-$4K now and they are all still young so we'll hang onto it for a while. Double action Colts are better than money in the bank.

http://www.goldeneaglecoin.com/Buy_..._Ounce_Uncirculated_American_Gold_Eagles

Yep.

Vanguard Mid-Cap Value Index fund. Buy and let it ride.

ewms----you beat me to it.

Physical metals are fun to hold and possess but in all reality you have to hold enough long enough to triple or quadruple purchase price to make any real money IMOP because of the up charge in purchase price and then real price you'll get on sale.

The only problem there is that gold is really inflated right now. Add to the fact that those aren't really gold coins with any value other than gold content & they're a bust...The only reason gold is where it's at now is because of the world economy. If there comes a time when food/fuel are scarce, good luck with trying to get your money back or trying to buy groceries with those coins...

and buy high? How can they produce or profit more?

What's a whole-life insurance policy run on a newborn these days? I'd be looking in that direction, based on what you've said.

I agree.

I'd get walnut...don't like those synthetics

Yeah,...I've heard all of that too.

The big central banks have tons of the stuff,..and they don't lose money.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...-buying-most-since-1964-commodities.html

Bloomberg huh??? Does he maybe suggest artificial sweeteners???

I made a suggestion.

Do what you want.

Why insure the kid? Whole life builds up a modicum of cash value (variable universal life would be better), but the portion of the premium that is allocated to the insurance policy is just wasted as far as savings is concerned.

The fact that you may borrow against the policy tax free is pointless since so much of the earnings would end up being tax free due to the kiddie tax rules for quite a while.

Vanguard funds is where its at.

Just get one of their life funds, and let it ride.

I would put it in a life fund (say year 2030) as noted above though I prefer Fidelity over Vanguard.

My parents did it for me when I was very young and I am pleased with the annual statements that come in the mail. The annual cash value pays the premiums and builds value each year.

Silver

Coca-Cola.

Get a good advisor. Ignore mutual funds. They under performed for me. The advisor we've had for the last 4 years has reliably increased the value of our portfolio by carefully selecting stocks that are undervalued and pay dividends. Our portfolio out performs the markets. I often wonder what the portfolio would look like if I'd had him since I started investing, rather than all those wasted years in mutual funds.

Thinking about it. Everything is super high right now, but if I reininvest dividends, ride out an 18 year ups and downs, todays prices might be cheap, or expensive in 18 years. Who knows. I'm sure dividends will be reinvested cheaper than the current price.

I hate mutual funds.

That was a buy at 42. I did..(grin)

Calvin

Be smart. Nothing out performs index funds over time. You win every time, no maybe. If you want to be aggressive, then go to Las Vegas, otherwise do the index fund.

http://www.fool.com/mutualfunds/indexfunds/indexfunds01.htm

Consider planting some walnut trees, if you or family members have a suitable place where you can control access...

The initial investment is low, maintenance is cheap, and the ROI is phenomenal if you let the investment mature properly over 25 to 30 years...

Life Membership to the NRA for a start

deleted.

Costco is to anti gun for me to ever invest in them and support their take your guns agenda. I don't need money that bad.

No problem. A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

The question was where to put the money for safety and relatively decent return on your investment.

If you add anti-gun/pro-gun into that mixture, it is likely that the $500 will sit in the gun safe. Happy landings with that

I wrote more very good stocks just now but deleted it. Prolly wouldn't make the grade. I apologize for making you angry.

Blessings,

Steve

You didn't make me angry, i just wouldn't support Costco. Didn't know if you knew about their anti-Gun Agenda .

Duke power

The stock market is good until it ain't.

It goes from "good" to "ain't" overnight.

You'll go to sleep good,..and wake up ain't.

It's obnoxiously overheated at present,...and it's all false.

The only thing keeping it rising is the series of huge sums of cash dumped into the system by the Federal Reserve.

It'll all take a mega dump in the near future and the much anticipated decoupling will occur.

That's when the rush toward PM's will occur.

Yep, I study the market for several hours each and every day. And I am aware that the Costco CEO or whatever is an Obumma fan. And he is a dick.

I also know that most of "the folks," the employees at Costco are gun-friendly, at least here in Oregon. I often spend an extra half-hour when Karen and I are in Costco ... the guys and gals want to talk guns, hunting and such with the "gun writer." That would be me.

Frankly, I've always been in the market to make money. Period ... no agendas, just make as many bucks as possible while keeping risk to a tolerable level.

And the more I can make, the more we can donate to the Steve and Karen Education Endowment.

Blessings,

Steve

He only has $500.00, the advising fee would eat him alive, and no reputable advisor would accept a $500.00 account on a fee basis.

don't know what vehicle to tell you to invest in Calvin, but one of the things we're looking at for long term growth for our kids, is water stocks.

Long term.

but I do want to say, I'm proud of you for being a good dad and looking out for your daughter while time is on her side.

Kudos to you man, raising children is truly a gift from God, hope you enjoy every blessed second of it.

Whole life is good at making money for the salesman, not so good when it comes to making money for the client. On average it's second only to Annuities as the highest fee financial product you can buy. Any advisor who would sell you a whole life policy for an infant is a crook, and not worthy of your business.

agreed, only reason I'd carry TERM life insurance on a kid is if I couldn't afford burial expenses (God forbid)

but I've never been in that situation and doubt Calvin is either.

he seems to be a pretty solid citizen.


insurance is a good investment for the guys selling it ime

Hey Steve! Hope all is well. Frankly, I wished you had not deleted what you posted and would like to hear more about the kind of picks you made to enable retirement at 49. :-). To a great degree I'm with you. Past 6 years I've just been watching full parking lots for companies like Cracker Barrel, CVS, Costco and others and all of those listings have more than doubled for me. I could give a damm whether gun friendly or not. And btw what defines gun friendly? I got my safe from Costco.

And Calvin, I totally agree with Randy on your decision to invest in your baby girls future versus blowing the gift on junk. You're a good dad and man.

Calvin...congrats on the newest family member.

500 dollars worth of kitchen and bathroom cleaners and some propane will gross you about 10K street value.

Yep, you are dead on.

Thanks for the advice Steve. I caught Costco, and will look into that. I'm not afraid to pick stocks. I'm sure the "experts" want me to buy the funds they manage, and make a fortune on, but I happen to be able to think for myself. (grin) And dang it, if I'm going to lose money, it'll be because I lose it. (grin) Baby Ada's investments are insured by Daddy.

Here's the problem with gold:



From time to time you will get a nice spike in the price of gold, but once the panic subsides, the prices slide back to pre-panic levels. Yoy may also notice the similartiy in the current pattern of gold prices, and the Carter erra.....Gold may lead on the way up, but Silver leads on the way down, and silver prices have already broke, so neither would be high on my list for a new born at this time.

If you're a Ruger stock holder you should thank me

At some point all this mania will break, and both Gold and RGR will be good short sales.....

Look into the pharmaceuticals.

Yup. Big time. Especially, cutting edge companies that put up to 30% back into R&D and have progressive intellectual property filings.

Also, tech companies with the joint solutions to the upcoming nasty stuff that will give corporate America a ton of pain. Especially, financial institutions. We see a huge ddos attack coming on or about May 7. Tech companies with instant cloud remediation will jump in Q3.

No investment advice, but I wanted to congratulate you and your wife. That's great news!

you crack me up sometimes ya big jabroni!


"hey baby, daddy's gonna buy you a meth lab"


you oughta have your azz whupped, Karen busy?

I'm on my way over there Randy. I got this. :-)

Look at Vanguard Mutual Funds.

Comment bases on 40 years investment experience.

If you are willing to work the investment as opposed to "put the money there and forget about it" there are many options. Of late I am doing very well with Fidelity mutual funds in automotive, construction/housing, Japan, biotech, defense and transportation. But, I watch them every day and do a quarterly review and adjust where necessary. For the former scenario I would go with a Fidelity Freedom fund indexed to the year you would like to start spending the money.

Park the money in an index fund and forget it for 18 years.

Buy GILD @ 55

should be able too get a brick of 22lr if you add a few bucks too it.

S
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Alaska Airlines has done me fine in the last year. I got lucky with the timing admittedly. (Also, I'm an employee- and they have this employee stock thing going.) 4K in withholded employee payroll sunk into stock is now worth over 10K.

A year ago (about the time I signed up) it split from about 74 to 32. It was back over 63 today - and their philosophy is to keep it affordable. I was thinking a few weeks ago that 54 was expensive. I'm an idiot. I kinda think it will split again once it reaches 73 or 100 again. They have a good management/expansion plan, I think. 4 or 5 JDPowell awards in a row. 1st quarter is usually a loser, but they made a mega-million profit this time around. Agressive marketing and attention to detail (If I can believe my employee bulletins).

Facing some challenges from Jet Blue, Alliance, Spirit and other ultra-low cost carriers.

I wish I'd sunk my 10K mad money into AS stock at 40 instead of a Yamaha 40 Jet, fitted to boat....

I'm getting pom-poms and a skirt next week...

A little extra thought:
The key here will be adding to the initial $500. IMO it would be prudent to get the fund to $1K,$3K, $5K...$10k by aggressively adding to it monthly if lump summing is not an option. Amazing what happens to a starter $10k fund that is smartly invested. So maybe you park the initial $500 in a fixed income or buy $500 worth of Exxon etc..basically something relatively safe and then kick in on a monthly basis till you hit your goal $$... Its not hard. It is important to remember that the initial phase of wealth accumulation for most of us is getting expenses in check,then set up the saving plan then invest. Once you reach the benefit of compounding interest/growth then work towards getting enough invested that it makes more than you can save on a annual basis. Good luck with the fund you will thank yourself later in life.

A parting thought as well: Really get to know and understand the fees and what it is actually costing you to invest. Understand the reasons for putting tax inefficient investments in tax favorable/deferred accounts and tax efficient funds in taxable accounts.