5 ms·

Ask HN: How to invest $1, $10, $100, ...etc.?

16 points by pizza 12y ago

What would you do with a dollar or ten, etc.?

beamatronic 12y ago
Are you assuming that all of your other non-mortgage debt has already been paid off? Dollar-cost-average into a Vanguard index fund.
- Jemaclus 12y ago
  New to this whole investing thing... what's dollar-cost-average in layman's terms?
  - gobengo 12y ago
    In short: Investing into the same asset in fixed amounts over time. It doesn't inherently improve your returns, but is a good idea to save consistently over time (not in lumps that you can procrastinate on). There are also benefits to your psyche. If you invest all at once, the asset value could drop by 50% the next day, and you feel horrible. If you had invested that money over time, your asset would not be 50% of your total investment. Again, this doesn't actually mean you get more returns. It just reduces the volatility of your returns at any one point in time. If you would like to get a good overview of strategies like this, read this wiki. http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging
thejteam 12y ago
$1: Mega Millions ticket $10: Two five dollar scratch offs $100: Books $1000: Depending on the company, now you can start looking into mutual funds. Personally, I would invest it in a nice vacation $10000: This is firm mutual fund territory. Simple Vanguard index fund. $100000: At this level I like real estate, but I've never made it this high so I can't really say. But I've been close enough that I've thought about it. And any higher I am just blowing smoke because I have no real knowledge of monetary numbers that high.
moocow01 12y ago
My boring answer... At every level you'd look at your available investment choices and try to balance a predictable return with the rate of potential growth. Hopefully as you walk up that latter, you get stepped into a more lucrative pool of choices. Likely the best things available on each rung are going to be the investments that you personally understand best. $1 - A can and a piece of cardboard to use to beg for money $10 - A spray bottle and rag to wash cars with $100 - A book $1,000 - A few classes at community college $10,000 - A really cheap degree of some sort $100,000 - Index funds $1,000,000 - Rental property
akg_67 12y ago
$1: keep in my wallet $10: keep in my checking account $100: keep in my saving account $1,000: buy CD/treasury I-series bond $10,000: buy index mutual fund $100,000: buy index mutual funds $1,000,000: buy index mutual funds, a few stocks, primary residence $10,000,000: buy index mutual funds, stocks, primary residence, real estate investment, a portion dedicated to 'pay it forward'. ...
oldspiceman 12y ago
VO -- mid-caps have better Sharpe ratios than large-caps... but you'll need $117 for a single share
- junto 12y ago
  Please can you explain this for the layman? Whiiiish.... Went right over my head. ;-)
  - gobengo 12y ago
    I think he's saying that investing in smaller (small-cap) companies is a better idea because it's easier for a small company to grow 10x in the next 20yrs than IBM to grow 10x in 20yrs.
  - davidddavidson 12y ago
    VO is the ticker for the Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF - https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0939&FundIntExt=INT https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0939&... The Sharpe ratio is a measure of the Risk/Return for a given investment - http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sharperatio.asp http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sharperatio.asp
davkal 12y ago
$1: top-up someone else's metro card, it will restore their faith in humanity $10: find a neighbourhood coffee shop, buy a coffee, tip the rest, talk to locals $100: Kindle/books $1,000: Choose a trade, buy the tools, master them $10,000: Travel outside your comfort zone, talk to locals, learn their language, get perspective $100,000: Invest half, spend the other half on the previous items $1,000,000+: Don't be a money-driven role model to others, study politics and people, use your financial cushion to do good in your community. Stay interested, stay awesome.
- davidddavidson 12y ago
  > $100,000: Invest half, spend the other half on the previous items What would you do with the remaining $38,889? Rinse and repeat the list?
  - davkal 12y ago
    Yeah, if your life runs in iterations ;-) Or just spend it outside the loop using those proportions.
josephschmoe 12y ago
$1: Costco hotdog $10: Book $100: Computer $1000: Community college $10000: Rent $100000: Down payment on a house $1000000: Rental property

16 points by pizza 12y ago

What would you do with a dollar or ten, etc.?

Are you assuming that all of your other non-mortgage debt has already been paid off? Dollar-cost-average into a Vanguard index fund.

Jemaclus 12y ago
New to this whole investing thing... what's dollar-cost-average in layman's terms?
- gobengo 12y ago
  In short: Investing into the same asset in fixed amounts over time. It doesn't inherently improve your returns, but is a good idea to save consistently over time (not in lumps that you can procrastinate on). There are also benefits to your psyche. If you invest all at once, the asset value could drop by 50% the next day, and you feel horrible. If you had invested that money over time, your asset would not be 50% of your total investment. Again, this doesn't actually mean you get more returns. It just reduces the volatility of your returns at any one point in time. If you would like to get a good overview of strategies like this, read this wiki. http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging

thejteam 12y ago

$1: Mega Millions ticket $10: Two five dollar scratch offs $100: Books $1000: Depending on the company, now you can start looking into mutual funds. Personally, I would invest it in a nice vacation $10000: This is firm mutual fund territory. Simple Vanguard index fund. $100000: At this level I like real estate, but I've never made it this high so I can't really say. But I've been close enough that I've thought about it. And any higher I am just blowing smoke because I have no real knowledge of monetary numbers that high.

moocow01 12y ago

My boring answer... At every level you'd look at your available investment choices and try to balance a predictable return with the rate of potential growth. Hopefully as you walk up that latter, you get stepped into a more lucrative pool of choices. Likely the best things available on each rung are going to be the investments that you personally understand best. $1 - A can and a piece of cardboard to use to beg for money $10 - A spray bottle and rag to wash cars with $100 - A book $1,000 - A few classes at community college $10,000 - A really cheap degree of some sort $100,000 - Index funds $1,000,000 - Rental property

akg_67 12y ago

$1: keep in my wallet $10: keep in my checking account $100: keep in my saving account $1,000: buy CD/treasury I-series bond $10,000: buy index mutual fund $100,000: buy index mutual funds $1,000,000: buy index mutual funds, a few stocks, primary residence $10,000,000: buy index mutual funds, stocks, primary residence, real estate investment, a portion dedicated to 'pay it forward'. ...

oldspiceman 12y ago

VO -- mid-caps have better Sharpe ratios than large-caps... but you'll need $117 for a single share

junto 12y ago
Please can you explain this for the layman? Whiiiish.... Went right over my head. ;-)
- gobengo 12y ago
  I think he's saying that investing in smaller (small-cap) companies is a better idea because it's easier for a small company to grow 10x in the next 20yrs than IBM to grow 10x in 20yrs.
- davidddavidson 12y ago
  VO is the ticker for the Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF - https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0939&FundIntExt=INT https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0939&... The Sharpe ratio is a measure of the Risk/Return for a given investment - http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sharperatio.asp http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sharperatio.asp

davkal 12y ago

$1: top-up someone else's metro card, it will restore their faith in humanity $10: find a neighbourhood coffee shop, buy a coffee, tip the rest, talk to locals $100: Kindle/books $1,000: Choose a trade, buy the tools, master them $10,000: Travel outside your comfort zone, talk to locals, learn their language, get perspective $100,000: Invest half, spend the other half on the previous items $1,000,000+: Don't be a money-driven role model to others, study politics and people, use your financial cushion to do good in your community. Stay interested, stay awesome.

davidddavidson 12y ago
> $100,000: Invest half, spend the other half on the previous items What would you do with the remaining $38,889? Rinse and repeat the list?
- davkal 12y ago
  Yeah, if your life runs in iterations ;-) Or just spend it outside the loop using those proportions.

josephschmoe 12y ago

$1: Costco hotdog $10: Book $100: Computer $1000: Community college $10000: Rent $100000: Down payment on a house $1000000: Rental property