I’ve always liked the idea of investing in the stock market, but I’ve never felt like I’ve had the cash to put into it. I am currently contributing to my 403B after three years of an Israeli adventure. I think the next step is contributing to a Roth IRA in addition to the 403B. After doing lots of research, I think these tax-advantaged accounts will be good long-term investments.
I am still itching though to play a little bit in the stock market. I’m considering this more like play money. Instead of buying a new thing-a-ma-gig (ok, iPod), I’ll consider actually buying a piece (a very small piece!) of Apple. I am trying to consider ways of squeeeezing my budget to come up with this play money. There are so many other things I’d like to do with it!!!
But look at this quote from an article at fool.com:
A $5,000 investment in Coke in 1981 would have grown to about $240,000 without reinvested dividends. With dividends reinvested, it would have become roughly $373,000. Impressive, eh?
Ways to regularly fund Roth IRA and Stock market play money:
1. Second job - No thanks, not a lot of play time as it is. (well, there’s one thing I could do…)
2. Craft income - Turn my crochet habit into $ making. Hello, eBay!
3. Donate plasma - My veins! - Plus, ew.
4. Cut something - Pretty bare bones as it is…really. (I HATE having to spend so much of my income on that DAMN car.)
Any ideas?
4 responses so far ↓
Daniel // Dec 2, 2007 at 2:34 am
Sounds like you’ve got a challenge on your hands! Even if you only take $100/mo and invest it in a mutual fund, (which, in turn, invests it in the Stock Market), your money is a little safer and more spread out. There’s lots of mutual funds out there that allow you to put a little in every month. Good luck!
John // Dec 2, 2007 at 3:21 am
Hey Daniel - Yeah, I am not so sure about mutual funds. There are some no-load funds that are ok. But many mutual funds have underperformed the stock market average and have high fees. After taxes and the fees some mutual funds don’t do very well. But thanks for the encouragement. It feels like a real luxury problem to be discussing where to put my extra money - after I’ve saved for retirement…etc.
Arie // Dec 3, 2007 at 4:22 am
Sell the car, get into some socially responsible no-load funds.
Jeremy // Jan 28, 2008 at 1:17 pm
You could try to bottle up and sell your cuteness, but if that doesn’t work why not try writing more on the side?
How’s life?
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