If you had $20,000 what would you do with it?

[Alex]

I've been saving for a long, long time. In about a month, I'll have just accumulated a little over $20,000 dollars. I'm extremely frugal with my money. I would like to create more wealth from the money I have saved up thus far though. Any advice?

Background on me...

I'm a 22-year-old senior in college at the University of Colorado at Boulder and I will be graduating in December of 2007 with a degree in Human Resources and Information Systems. Right now, I only pay for entertainment, car insurance, and phone bill. Everything else (food, rent, utilities, etc) is paid for by my relatives. I work at one of the largest IT companies in the world. I'm an entrepreneur by nature. I plan on heading to graduate school in a year or two. I know that I am extremely lucky to be in my situation and I'm truly grateful. That's why I'd like to take advantage of the opportunity I've been given.

[redwildebeast]

well if it was still the year 2000 i could flip that 20k into 100k in about a week. but sadly its not 2000 anymore. and greatfully i dont live that lifestyle anymore. if you know what i mean.

[CSI_Nut]

Do you have student loan debt? That would be a definite factor in my answer.

[Alex]

Do you have student loan debt? That would be a definite factor in my answer.

My school is paid for. :)

[anfrey]

well if it was still the year 2000 i could flip that 20k into 100k in about a week. but sadly its not 2000 anymore. and greatfully i dont live that lifestyle anymore. if you know what i mean.
i know exactly what you mean... and the same time period applies to me... more 99-03 than anything


but if i had $20k, i would purchase a vehicle. mine's in a very sad state right now

[CSI_Nut]

WOW oh WOW oh WOW

Then in that case, you need to read some books by an author named J. J. Luna: "How to be Invisible," "Work from Home at Any Age", and "Invisible Money." CanaryIslandsPress - Publisher of eBooks and Reports (http://www.canaryislandspress.com) Especially if you think you might want to start your own business(es).

I don't have any get-richer-quicker schemes. Personally, I think you should always keep a nest egg of savings, but of course, I've been horrible about taking my own advice, lol!

My hat is off to you!

[ikuma3]

I would invest it into real estate. read the rich dad poor dad books. there are a whole series of them.

[anfrey]

I would invest it into real estate. read the rich dad poor dad books. there are a whole series of them.
kiyosaki!!! great recommendation

[Alex]

I would invest it into real estate. read the rich dad poor dad books. there are a whole series of them.

I read his first two books. I'm interested in real estate but I'd like something a little more automated and less risky.

[chokaay]

If you're looking for "less risk", more "automated", and "guaranteed" earnings, then you can always deposit it into a CD (if you KNOW you don't need your money for a while) or a High-Yield Savings/Checking account in the bank.

However, I must warn you that most banks have an interest rate that is lower than the average rate of inflation (right now at least). You may not be "making a ton" of money against inflation (and with many banks you may not be "making" money at all against inflation), but at least you're "losing significantly less" money than if your $20,000 was sitting in a regular checking account earning 0% interest. And you can't get much "safer" than keeping your money in an FDIC-insured bank.

But If you DO choose to go into real estate... at least in general it's not nearly as "risky" as stocks! ;)

[Alex]

I've been looking at putting my money in a money market account. I've seen rates as high as 5.46% apr.

[chokaay]

I've been looking at putting my money in a money market account. I've seen rates as high as 5.46% apr.


You can do that as well. I've seen a few banks offer High-Yield Checking/Savings and/or CD's for 5%+ (usually around 5.15%-5.45%, although percentages differ depending on the amount you deposit, and the length of term if you choose a CD). Percentages do fluctuate though, so YMMV. You might want to check around a few banks near you (the major branches AS WELL AS a few smaller banks and credit unions... as they may have better rates than national banks).

[Alex]

You can do that as well. I've seen a few banks offer High-Yield Checking/Savings and/or CD's for 5%+ (usually around 5.15%-5.45%, although percentages differ depending on the amount you deposit, and the length of term if you choose a CD). Percentages do fluctuate though, so YMMV. You might want to check around a few banks near you (the major branches AS WELL AS a few smaller banks and credit unions... as they may have better rates than national banks).

I'll look into these...thanks!!!

[~Evil~|~Steg~]

id ask a person who has made 100k if u wanna make 100k, if u wanna make 1mil id ask a person who has made 1 mil, me if id wanna make 20k id ask a person who has made 20k such as urself. on the streets its really easy to make 100k in a day, but ud be taking risks of jail time etc... the point is to ask someone else who has made the ammount you set for urself to make and ask them how they made it then ask them how would be a good way for u to make that amount of cash. you never use your own money to make money, u always use other peoples money such as bank loans, gov grants, etc..., and have ur own money to fall back on. when i worked for the japanese, they looked into the future, if i take a 5 mill lose for the year will the benifits be rewarding, how much will i make off of the 5 mil lose 10 yrs from now? example we had robotic plasma welders and they were a pretty penny to buy, it gave us a big loss up front but, 5 yrs later we made the money back 10 fold because of the amount of production we increased for the year.