Questions tagged [investing]

Investing is the process of buying assets such as securities, real estate and other items of value that will hopefully increase in value over time, providing a return in the form of income payments or capital gains.

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350 votes
18 answers
70k views

Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career?

I am young, just started my career, and looking to begin investing so I can make my money work for me. I'm still living like I did in college (occasional purchase on myself, but most of it goes into ...
Eric's user avatar
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254 votes
22 answers
84k views

Why isn't everybody rich?

This question came up after reading this question (stock market long term risks), in which it is re-iterated (as it has been many times on this site), that investing in the stock market, especially an ...
Cloud's user avatar
  • 3,645
240 votes
22 answers
97k views

If a stock doesn't pay dividends, then why is the stock worth anything?

I read somewhere that companies are not required to pay dividends to shareholders (this is correct, yes?). If so, then if company A never pays dividends to its shareholders, then what is the point ...
extremeaxe5's user avatar
  • 2,437
212 votes
13 answers
59k views

Why would a company care about the price of its own shares in the stock market?

After a company has issued shares, why should it care if the value of the shares fluctuate? Since the shares are now publicly traded, if the value fluctuates, that is strictly a transaction between ...
Victor123's user avatar
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172 votes
3 answers
696k views

Can someone explain a stock's "bid" vs. "ask" price relative to "current" price?

In my online brokerage account, I want to buy a particular stock and I see the following: Bid: 13.20 x200 Ask: 13.27 x1,000 the current stock price is 13.22. Can someone explain what ...
Amir's user avatar
  • 2,195
168 votes
11 answers
38k views

Do I make money in the stock market from other people losing money?

Basically I am new to stock trading and neglect to see the differences between trading stocks and betting on sports. Basically I am "betting" on which company will do well, and this can ...
Asleepace's user avatar
  • 1,993
131 votes
13 answers
28k views

Why does gold have value?

I'm curious about why is there so much financial interest and news coverage about gold. It's hard to do things like buy food or pay the rent with gold, but I can do this with cash. Gold doesn't yield ...
Stefan Lasiewski's user avatar
110 votes
20 answers
33k views

Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough?

If the odds of winning a lottery jackpot are one in 292 million, and the jackpot prize is expected to be greater than than $1 billion, does this make a lottery ticket a wise investment? I know there ...
Chris Payne's user avatar
  • 1,071
81 votes
11 answers
22k views

Why does a company pay dividends at all?

If a company can lower the dividends and even stop paying them at all during hard times, why would they re-install them at all? If I understand correctly a company pays dividends so that investors ...
Pablo Fernandez's user avatar
70 votes
9 answers
40k views

Making $100,000 USD per month, no idea what to do with it

I have a few consulting jobs I do on the side, and this year I've had a lot of extra work, with several months in 2016 exceeding $100,000 USD in billing. I do this work from my home with no ...
Fixee's user avatar
  • 4,496
70 votes
11 answers
14k views

Stock market long term risks

This question has been spurred by the following question which was on the 'Hot Network Questions' Is it a lie that you can easily make money passively in the stock market? . The answers to that ...
ispiro's user avatar
  • 1,263
69 votes
10 answers
13k views

If a broad long-term investment in the stock market is such a good deal, why don't banks do the "obvious" things?

There is a fundamental discrepancy or paradox that has been keeping me, and many others, away from the stock market. Before I explain it, let me mention some selected popular questions on this site in ...
B K's user avatar
  • 824
66 votes
10 answers
29k views

What would prevent me from taking advantage of scammers?

Inspired by 20% monthly mining vs 5% monthly trading What would prevent me from investing $1,000 for a month, pulling out, investing with a different scammer, rinse & repeat? This question is ...
MonkeyZeus's user avatar
  • 8,045
64 votes
10 answers
15k views

Why don't bond makers just get loans?

I was just looking at investment opportunities, and I found a number of places offering bonds paying up to 12% interest over two years. My first thought was, I can get a loan from my bank for 5% ...
Benubird's user avatar
  • 807
63 votes
11 answers
35k views

I'm 18 and have 6 grand. What should I do with it?

I'm 18 and about to go to college. Luckily, I don't have to worry about student loans or most other living expenses. I've been working and have over $6,000 (will probably be about $7,000 by the end of ...
Emily Harms's user avatar
59 votes
16 answers
19k views

Why can't we all agree to create a self-fulfilling prophecy with regards to the stock market?

To start off, I'm very green in my understanding about finance or the behavior of the stock market, but it does seem to me to be driven largely by fears & emotions of investors. If investors feel ...
Will's user avatar
  • 1,047
58 votes
11 answers
8k views

Should you always max out contributions to your 401k?

I am a year out of college, and therefore, i don't have any real retirement/investment plans kicked off. I was having a discussion with my boss, and he was making a few claims I would like to get ...
user606723's user avatar
  • 1,099
57 votes
6 answers
42k views

How can a company use money from stock investors when they are constantly being bought and sold?

I am interested in the mechanisms which a company can use the money that investors give them when they buy a public stock since they are being bought and sold constantly. How can a company spend other ...
Katz_Katz_Katz's user avatar
55 votes
11 answers
17k views

Should I take out a loan for a friend to invest on my behalf?

A family friend of mine is an accountant and his company allows him to buy discount shares. He is asking me for $7000 to invest, and we will split the profits 50-50. I don't have $7000, but I can ...
Mirror318's user avatar
  • 699
55 votes
7 answers
10k views

What is the best asset allocation for a retirement portfolio, and why?

Based on financial conversations I've had with trusted family members, I believe that asset allocation is one of the more critical things to "get right" during retirement savings. Based on an ...
CrimsonX's user avatar
  • 3,397
52 votes
8 answers
20k views

Aging parents with no investments

My aging parents (75/77years) own a house on 35+ acres (14+ hectares) in rural NE USA (no mortgage). They have: No investments (other than the obvious property) Savings of maybe $30k in a bank ...
moscafj's user avatar
  • 957
52 votes
12 answers
18k views

Invest $50,000 in cash or borrow $100,000 and get a mortgage?

I have $50,000 saved and I'm paying $760 on rent right now. All my relatives are telling me to get a mortgage so I don't "throw money away on rent", but I just don't like the idea of getting in debt ...
Nikolay Dyankov's user avatar
52 votes
4 answers
8k views

Recent graduate with new job: Choose Roth 401(k), or traditional 401(k)?

I just graduated, and I'm starting a new job soon. My employer has pretty good policy for matching 401(k) contributions, so I want to invest as much as possible, especially during this first year. My ...
Jay's user avatar
  • 675
49 votes
7 answers
12k views

Why are low risk investments so strongly advised for first-time investors?

Inspired by the flurry of questions on this site about the returns available from investing in equities over the long term, I decided to approach my UK bank about setting up a small investment fund, ...
Bob Tway's user avatar
  • 1,249
49 votes
12 answers
12k views

How can there exist a profession consisting of investing others' money?

How can there be a profession where some person sits at a desk and trades or invests for somebody else? If they are so smart and can predict the market so well, would they not long ago have invested ...
confused's user avatar
  • 469
48 votes
7 answers
13k views

I'm saving money too fast. What should I do?

[Apologies if this sounds (and is) like a first world problem] I get a very generous salary and I am not a spender. I am able to save $2000-$2500 every month. I've invested part of my money in some ...
Rajesh K's user avatar
  • 489
48 votes
7 answers
6k views

How do I go about finding an honest & ethical financial advisor?

First things first, this isn't a "recommend a good financial advisor" question. I'm looking for advice on how best to approach the world of assisted personal finance & investing. I'm currently at ...
TobyStack's user avatar
  • 581
46 votes
12 answers
35k views

Is it legal if I'm managing my family's entire wealth?

My family (father, mother, and brother) have allowed me to invest their money in the stock market and other types of investments (real estate, bonds and mutual funds). Is it legally okay to do all ...
Anoneemus's user avatar
  • 663
46 votes
7 answers
6k views

In general, is it financially better to buy or to rent a house?

I know this differs from country to country, from person to person (depending on how much you already have saved), but I'm curious about the simplest example. Let's say I have little to no money. I ...
user avatar
46 votes
5 answers
12k views

When to stop saving and start investing?

Since I started my first job after graduating a few years back, I always saved a certain percentage of my salary each month on an extra savings account my bank offers. At that time, and until recently,...
Suimon's user avatar
  • 421
45 votes
11 answers
12k views

How safe it is in the long run to regularly invest in the stock market?

I keep seeing the advice of "do not time the market and invest regularly you will eventually be winning over time". This advice is often illustrated by a graph of different index funds and show that ...
Maxime's user avatar
  • 483
45 votes
7 answers
6k views

Ethics and investment

I am a young man who has recently reached a point of financial stability. I'm starting to think about long-term plans which may one day buy a home, or provide for myself in old age. This raises the ...
AJFaraday's user avatar
  • 589
44 votes
8 answers
18k views

Is this projected return from Wealthify too low?

I am really new to investing and I am so confused. Books, blogs and conferences suggest that investing is the way to multiply wealth. I do not have enough start up money to play with mutual funds, ...
kang's user avatar
  • 551
44 votes
18 answers
23k views

I carelessly invested in a stock on a spike near the peak price. How can I salvage my investment?

I carelessly invested on stock on a spike (I have been persuaded by a family member) and now my investment value is really low, as you can see below. Is there anyway to salvage my investment for ...
John Isaiah Carmona's user avatar
43 votes
3 answers
13k views

Can I take out a loan and invest it at higher interest?

I noticed today that my bank is offering small loans of up to £15000 at 3.3% interest. Meanwhile, services like Zopa and RateSetter are offering over 6% interest on investments in their platforms. I ...
MHG's user avatar
  • 555
42 votes
3 answers
16k views

How does it work when somebody invests in my business?

Lately I've been curious about how exactly investing in a product works, and I've been thinking about this scenario: Let's say I'm creating some mobile application and I manage to get $1m of ...
Dino's user avatar
  • 577
42 votes
5 answers
8k views

Is trying to learn day trading a complete waste of time?

I understand there is a lot of people, maybe even most, who believe day trading is far too risky or the person trying day trading won't be skilled enough. I have gotten interested into investing ...
MCMastery's user avatar
  • 383
42 votes
6 answers
10k views

Why invest in becoming a landlord?

One of the most recommended ways to invest one's money still is real estate. Sure there are different ways to invest in real estate, but why does it make sense financially to buy property and become a ...
sigy's user avatar
  • 533
42 votes
6 answers
13k views

What do I need to watch out for when receiving a large sum of money as a gift in Germany?

I live in Germany. If my father would want to give me a large sum of money - let's say 10,000€ - what would be the safest, least bureaucratic way to do this? I'm an apprentice and I still receive ...
Flying Thunder's user avatar
41 votes
10 answers
22k views

Why would anyone buy U.S. Treasury Bills?

From the Treasury Direct website, I saw this Bills: U.S. Treasury Bills are a type of short-term security of one year or less, usually issued at a discount. The discount is the amount the security ...
Wapiti's user avatar
  • 611
40 votes
10 answers
12k views

How to rescue my money from negative interest?

My bank has announced negative interest rates starting Q1 2016. I have CHF 250'000 in that savings account (Swiss Francs). Now, pretty much all other banks will probably follow suit soon, if they ...
Quandary's user avatar
  • 655
40 votes
4 answers
6k views

Justification for aggressive investment strategy when young?

I've frequently heard that the conventional wisdom is to be invested in an 'aggressive' investment strategy when young, and as you approach retirement age, migrate to a more conservative strategy. ...
Rob P.'s user avatar
  • 1,065
40 votes
7 answers
6k views

Why don’t index-tracking mutual funds corner themselves?

I don't really want to think too much about investments -- just park my surplus money somewhere and be able to come back several years later and see that it has grown. (As this question shows, I'm ...
hmakholm left over Monica's user avatar
40 votes
1 answer
4k views

Where can I put savings for my kid that I literally cannot withdraw from?

I currently have a second savings account where I'm saving money for my child's future - most likely it will be used for their college and/or wedding. I've heard horror stories of parents stealing ...
Mar's user avatar
  • 909
39 votes
6 answers
8k views

What does "Its cash flow is deeply negative" mean?

Does "Its cash flow is deeply negative" mean "Netflix makes a big loss"? Netflix is profitable, but only on an accounting basis. Its cash flow is deeply negative as it pours cash into content. ...
haile's user avatar
  • 737
39 votes
6 answers
17k views

What to do with $1,000,000.00 for 3&1/2 months?

We have 1 million dollars from the sale of a farm, which we want to use to pay down land debt. But we can't make a payment until the anniversary date of July 5. Right now it is in an interest ...
user avatar
39 votes
7 answers
13k views

Why does Warren Buffett consider real estate as productive asset?

In the Berkshire Hathaway 2011 letter, Buffett said: My own preference – and you knew this was coming – is our third category: investment in productive assets, whether businesses, farms, or real ...
PatrixCR's user avatar
  • 501
38 votes
9 answers
17k views

How does gambling (like buying a lottery ticket) differ from investing?

Investors seeking a higher return on their investments may invest in things that they know have a higher risks associated with them. Greek bonds have higher interest rates, and banks charge more ...
ACV's user avatar
  • 513
38 votes
3 answers
26k views

Would compound interest work better if all my accounts were combined into one?

My wife and I currently have three retirement accounts from different jobs. The only one currently getting paid into is my TSP account. Would we realize better gains if we combined the other two ...
IEnjoyEatingVegetables's user avatar
37 votes
12 answers
8k views

Hedging vs just betting less

This is a question from a layperson about the fundamental concept of hedging, with regards to investing, gambling, and any situation in which hedging is used to manage risk. I do not understand why ...
David Kennell's user avatar

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