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Ask HN: I have 1k to invest, what would you recommend?

oblib 9y ago
Since many with more knowledge than I are saying the stock market is overvalued and Bitcoin is vapor based I'll offer you invest in something you can add value to and resell or keep for your pleasure.
- blumomo 9y ago
  Can you give an example?
  - oblib 9y ago
    Restoring furniture, old cars and motorcycles, growing food, tools for any kind of trade work, buying and reselling almost anything of value. One might just sit on the cash and wait for a bust in the stock market and then jump in.
4073cc 9y ago
Bitcoin and Litecoin
- oblib 9y ago
  "1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of the [bitcoin] Market" That, right there, is just one problem with Bitcoin, and it's a big one. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/the-bitcoin-whales-1-000-people-who-own-40-percent-of-the-market https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/the-bitco...
  - eberkund 9y ago
    How is that any different from US dollars? https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/16/worlds-eight-richest-people-have-same-wealth-as-poorest-50 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/16/w...
    - oblib 9y ago
      US dollars are mostly invested in financial securities which have hard assets like factories and real estate. Bitcoins have no hard asset backing them up. They are based on "irrational exuberance".
      - quickthrower2 9y ago
        The market can stay irrational longer than your FOMO regrets can resist buying in.
Grazester 9y ago
High yield dividend ETF if you are risk averse or if you want to gamble then a cryptocurrency
FilthyAnalyst 9y ago
If you want to be safe buy 4 $SPY you'll have to go a little over a grand as they are at $265. Historically very few assets beat it over a given 25 year period. For some fun buy Litecoin or 10 NVDA Jan 12 2018 217.5 calls.
thatsheelpatel 9y ago
Start a side hustle! https://www.sidehustlenation.com/ideas/ https://www.sidehustlenation.com/ideas/ IMO that money is far better spent in a way that allows you to develop skills in areas you're passionate about while making money.
companyhen 9y ago
http://coinmarketcap.com http://coinmarketcap.com 30-40% BTC 10-20% 3-5 other alts :)
itamarst 9y ago
Do you have money saved for a six month emergency fund? If not, put this money in a bank account. If you do have an emergency fund: don't ask on Hacker News, they'll tell you to do crazy stuff like buy Bitcoin. Head over to http://bogleheads.org/ http://bogleheads.org/, or just read the extensive wiki.
muzani 9y ago
1k investment would give you very low returns most of the time. Like $50 in a year. So you might as well put it into a high risk investment.
- hndamien 9y ago
  Bitcoin unfortunately probably has the best risk return profile for this amount of money.
brentm 9y ago
If you want to play it safe and not spend a lot of time deciding where to put it, Wealthfront.
mdotk 9y ago
Ethereum
richardknop 9y ago
Probably invest in yourself. 1) Buy books about programming / machine learning / etc and read them. Add some online courses to get some practical knowledge. 2) Flight ticket & hotel to go to some interesting tech conference and do some networking (this can lead to opportunities later). 3) You could also buy some new hardware for development, if your current gear is getting old and clunky. This also is good long term investment.
- jackgolding 9y ago
  I agree. If you are in the first 7 years of your career especially this will do wonders for you.
SirLJ 9y ago
Educate yourself about the stock market, it will take much less money and will help you in the long run... who knows you might even get really interestedly and could change your life... I am building stock trading robots and it really gave me my freedom and the FY money everyone should have to be able to pursue their dreams...
- subrat_rout 9y ago
  In one of your previous post you mentioned using python. May I know your roadmap of learning the python and using it? Not asking you to divulge your trading strategy.
  - SirLJ 9y ago
    I am not a developer, so maybe there is a better way, mine was to look into examples provided by the API providers... For sure my code is messy and not optimal, but it works and that is what matters to me...
    - subrat_rout 9y ago
      Fair enough, thank you.
mindcrash 9y ago
Don't invest in either bitcoin or stocks. If you don't have a emergency savings account I fully agree with itamarst below and invest in a emergency savings account. If you already have a emergency savings account I personally would use it to either: 1) Invest in myself (e.g. materials for self study, like a Pluralsight account) 2) Invest in goods which improve my quality of life (e.g. a new development box, kitchen peripherals, whatever), or: 3) Invest in bricks (e.g. my house)
kleer001 9y ago
Think more in terms of monthly streams not individual value. Think of dollar cost averaging instead of timing the market.
quickthrower2 9y ago
There are a lot of suggestions but you haven't provided enough information to make a solid recommendation. What rings out for me, is why do you only have 1k to invest? There could be a lot of reasons ranging from living in a low income country to having been recently divorced. How old are you? What is the ultimate purpose of the money? Is it for retirement in 40 years time, or to buy a car next year? Are you likely to have more $1k's in the future to invest. Is it cash in the bank or coming from your salary this year. What country do you live in. What is your tax bracket? Can developing your skills earn you more money? Do you have debt? Is is tax deductible? High interest? Do you like to gamble on a long term payout (maybe a cryptocurrency would be good) or would you really HATE losing that money at any cost (perhaps a savings account). Etc. As a general recommendation, if you don't know what to do with $1k - keep it in a savings account (or offset your mortgage if you have one) until you know what to do.
tedmiston 9y ago
Keep it in the bank for now and spend some time reading r/personalfinance, starting with the wiki. Once you evaluate your current situation, which some of these questions others have asked or alluded too, the general strategy for how to optimize savings is pretty easy. Everything else is just how much risk you're willing to incur for potentially greater returns.
chatmasta 9y ago
Put $300 toward the administrative cost of opening an LLC or your local equivalent. Put the remaining $700 into a bank account for the LLC. Use that money to buy hosting, domains, etc. for side projects. Try to build something that makes money, but don’t worry too much about that. Just having the administrative structure ready will make it much easier for you to find productive ways to spend free time. That could mean freelancing or building side projects. The important thing is that once you’ve got the LLC you can just focus on code, and you have a legal umbrella under which you can release any new projects you decide to build.
- GFischer 9y ago
  That sounds like putting the cart before the horse. I wouldn't spend on an LLC or domains before he has to. I do agree investing on trying to build something, but there are a lot of free resources before having to spend money.
  - jasonrhaas 9y ago
    Agree with this as well. It's fun to set up up the LLC and domains and everything, but without an actual product or business its not necessary.
akulbe 9y ago
Get a subscription to O'Reilly Safari Books Online. $39/mo. or $399/year. Easily one of the best investments you can make in your technical education and continuous learning. It will also help you with leveling up so you can make one of those products/services other commenters have mentioned.

Since many with more knowledge than I are saying the stock market is overvalued and Bitcoin is vapor based I'll offer you invest in something you can add value to and resell or keep for your pleasure.

blumomo 9y ago
Can you give an example?
- oblib 9y ago
  Restoring furniture, old cars and motorcycles, growing food, tools for any kind of trade work, buying and reselling almost anything of value. One might just sit on the cash and wait for a bust in the stock market and then jump in.

4073cc 9y ago

Bitcoin and Litecoin

oblib 9y ago
"1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of the [bitcoin] Market" That, right there, is just one problem with Bitcoin, and it's a big one. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/the-bitcoin-whales-1-000-people-who-own-40-percent-of-the-market https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/the-bitco...
- eberkund 9y ago
  How is that any different from US dollars? https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/16/worlds-eight-richest-people-have-same-wealth-as-poorest-50 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/16/w...
  - oblib 9y ago
    US dollars are mostly invested in financial securities which have hard assets like factories and real estate. Bitcoins have no hard asset backing them up. They are based on "irrational exuberance".
    - quickthrower2 9y ago
      The market can stay irrational longer than your FOMO regrets can resist buying in.

Grazester 9y ago

High yield dividend ETF if you are risk averse or if you want to gamble then a cryptocurrency

FilthyAnalyst 9y ago

If you want to be safe buy 4 $SPY you'll have to go a little over a grand as they are at $265. Historically very few assets beat it over a given 25 year period. For some fun buy Litecoin or 10 NVDA Jan 12 2018 217.5 calls.

thatsheelpatel 9y ago

Start a side hustle! https://www.sidehustlenation.com/ideas/ https://www.sidehustlenation.com/ideas/ IMO that money is far better spent in a way that allows you to develop skills in areas you're passionate about while making money.

companyhen 9y ago

http://coinmarketcap.com http://coinmarketcap.com 30-40% BTC 10-20% 3-5 other alts :)

itamarst 9y ago

Do you have money saved for a six month emergency fund? If not, put this money in a bank account. If you do have an emergency fund: don't ask on Hacker News, they'll tell you to do crazy stuff like buy Bitcoin. Head over to http://bogleheads.org/ http://bogleheads.org/, or just read the extensive wiki.

muzani 9y ago

1k investment would give you very low returns most of the time. Like $50 in a year. So you might as well put it into a high risk investment.

hndamien 9y ago
Bitcoin unfortunately probably has the best risk return profile for this amount of money.

brentm 9y ago

If you want to play it safe and not spend a lot of time deciding where to put it, Wealthfront.

mdotk 9y ago

Ethereum

richardknop 9y ago

Probably invest in yourself. 1) Buy books about programming / machine learning / etc and read them. Add some online courses to get some practical knowledge. 2) Flight ticket & hotel to go to some interesting tech conference and do some networking (this can lead to opportunities later). 3) You could also buy some new hardware for development, if your current gear is getting old and clunky. This also is good long term investment.

jackgolding 9y ago
I agree. If you are in the first 7 years of your career especially this will do wonders for you.

SirLJ 9y ago

Educate yourself about the stock market, it will take much less money and will help you in the long run... who knows you might even get really interestedly and could change your life... I am building stock trading robots and it really gave me my freedom and the FY money everyone should have to be able to pursue their dreams...

subrat_rout 9y ago
In one of your previous post you mentioned using python. May I know your roadmap of learning the python and using it? Not asking you to divulge your trading strategy.
- SirLJ 9y ago
  I am not a developer, so maybe there is a better way, mine was to look into examples provided by the API providers... For sure my code is messy and not optimal, but it works and that is what matters to me...
  - subrat_rout 9y ago
    Fair enough, thank you.

mindcrash 9y ago

Don't invest in either bitcoin or stocks. If you don't have a emergency savings account I fully agree with itamarst below and invest in a emergency savings account. If you already have a emergency savings account I personally would use it to either: 1) Invest in myself (e.g. materials for self study, like a Pluralsight account) 2) Invest in goods which improve my quality of life (e.g. a new development box, kitchen peripherals, whatever), or: 3) Invest in bricks (e.g. my house)

kleer001 9y ago

Think more in terms of monthly streams not individual value. Think of dollar cost averaging instead of timing the market.

quickthrower2 9y ago

There are a lot of suggestions but you haven't provided enough information to make a solid recommendation. What rings out for me, is why do you only have 1k to invest? There could be a lot of reasons ranging from living in a low income country to having been recently divorced. How old are you? What is the ultimate purpose of the money? Is it for retirement in 40 years time, or to buy a car next year? Are you likely to have more $1k's in the future to invest. Is it cash in the bank or coming from your salary this year. What country do you live in. What is your tax bracket? Can developing your skills earn you more money? Do you have debt? Is is tax deductible? High interest? Do you like to gamble on a long term payout (maybe a cryptocurrency would be good) or would you really HATE losing that money at any cost (perhaps a savings account). Etc. As a general recommendation, if you don't know what to do with $1k - keep it in a savings account (or offset your mortgage if you have one) until you know what to do.

tedmiston 9y ago

Keep it in the bank for now and spend some time reading r/personalfinance, starting with the wiki. Once you evaluate your current situation, which some of these questions others have asked or alluded too, the general strategy for how to optimize savings is pretty easy. Everything else is just how much risk you're willing to incur for potentially greater returns.

chatmasta 9y ago

Put $300 toward the administrative cost of opening an LLC or your local equivalent. Put the remaining $700 into a bank account for the LLC. Use that money to buy hosting, domains, etc. for side projects. Try to build something that makes money, but don’t worry too much about that. Just having the administrative structure ready will make it much easier for you to find productive ways to spend free time. That could mean freelancing or building side projects. The important thing is that once you’ve got the LLC you can just focus on code, and you have a legal umbrella under which you can release any new projects you decide to build.

GFischer 9y ago
That sounds like putting the cart before the horse. I wouldn't spend on an LLC or domains before he has to. I do agree investing on trying to build something, but there are a lot of free resources before having to spend money.
- jasonrhaas 9y ago
  Agree with this as well. It's fun to set up up the LLC and domains and everything, but without an actual product or business its not necessary.

akulbe 9y ago

Get a subscription to O'Reilly Safari Books Online. $39/mo. or $399/year. Easily one of the best investments you can make in your technical education and continuous learning. It will also help you with leveling up so you can make one of those products/services other commenters have mentioned.