Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
moneymoneymoney
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 5:18 pm
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
Hi everyone
Here's my situation. I'm a college student who has a limited amount of money to use for investing. I'm sick of the normal savings accounts which have very little interest rates. I'm looking into distributing a portion of my money in stocks and in an investment CD. I know more about stocks then I know about CDs so my questions will be focused on the CDs. First of all, it seems CDs are much better in terms of APR and APY compared to normal savings account, but what I don't see on the bank websites are the fees for these accounts. Can experienced members please tell me what fees there are for opening, maintaining, and eventually collecting the funds (i.e., bank fees, types of taxes)? Are there any tax free or student types of benefits? Any suggestions, tips, and links would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you have any good tips on stocks it would be another plus.
Author: Ira
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 9:30 pm
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
Zero. No fees for opening a CD. If you have any doubts, why not simply ask the bank or credit union or other entity where you want to open a CD.
Author: mrpuddles
Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:53 pm
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
You just earn the stated rate of interest that a bank specifies. They do not *directly* charge you for opening a CD w/ you. However, you can get nailed with penalties if you close out a CD before it matures (if the contract allows).
For instance, you could open an ING 1-year CD for 3% w/ no limit. You earn 3% and in a year you will be able to collect your principle (original deposit) and interest. If you request the money in your CD prior to a year, I believe that take approximately half of the interest earned on a CD.
The bad part about CDs is that they are not liquid and could be difficult to recover if you need them for an emergency. However, CD's are great if you don't depend on them for emergencies and ladder your accounts to maximize your interest (ie a 5-year CD maturing each year).
Personally, the CD market is kind of slow right now... I would suggest keeping money in stock mutual funds like an index. Once the fed stops increasing the interest rate, I would probably put 30% of your savings in a bond mutual fund. Make sure to diversify.
Author: savesonline
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:52 pm
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
actually ING's Orange Saving Account offer 3.0 APR now, it's fairly easy to move money around in serveral days. have a look at ingdirect.com
Author: usmsci
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:13 am
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
CD's, Savings Accounts and Money Markets from what i have seen really dont give you much. You are lucky these days to get anything above 1.0% on savings account..right now i have 0.5% and no balance in it.. i think maybe $0.65. haha
As for CD's and money markets even if you sign up for a long term investment with the bank and put in lots of money you are not going to do much better than 4-5%.
id suggest open up an IRA or Roth IRA or take advantage of a 401K plan your employer might offer..
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 5:18 pm
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
Hi everyone
Here's my situation. I'm a college student who has a limited amount of money to use for investing. I'm sick of the normal savings accounts which have very little interest rates. I'm looking into distributing a portion of my money in stocks and in an investment CD. I know more about stocks then I know about CDs so my questions will be focused on the CDs. First of all, it seems CDs are much better in terms of APR and APY compared to normal savings account, but what I don't see on the bank websites are the fees for these accounts. Can experienced members please tell me what fees there are for opening, maintaining, and eventually collecting the funds (i.e., bank fees, types of taxes)? Are there any tax free or student types of benefits? Any suggestions, tips, and links would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you have any good tips on stocks it would be another plus.
Author: Ira
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 9:30 pm
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
Zero. No fees for opening a CD. If you have any doubts, why not simply ask the bank or credit union or other entity where you want to open a CD.
Author: mrpuddles
Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:53 pm
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
You just earn the stated rate of interest that a bank specifies. They do not *directly* charge you for opening a CD w/ you. However, you can get nailed with penalties if you close out a CD before it matures (if the contract allows).
For instance, you could open an ING 1-year CD for 3% w/ no limit. You earn 3% and in a year you will be able to collect your principle (original deposit) and interest. If you request the money in your CD prior to a year, I believe that take approximately half of the interest earned on a CD.
The bad part about CDs is that they are not liquid and could be difficult to recover if you need them for an emergency. However, CD's are great if you don't depend on them for emergencies and ladder your accounts to maximize your interest (ie a 5-year CD maturing each year).
Personally, the CD market is kind of slow right now... I would suggest keeping money in stock mutual funds like an index. Once the fed stops increasing the interest rate, I would probably put 30% of your savings in a bond mutual fund. Make sure to diversify.
Author: savesonline
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:52 pm
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
actually ING's Orange Saving Account offer 3.0 APR now, it's fairly easy to move money around in serveral days. have a look at ingdirect.com
Author: usmsci
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:13 am
Post subject: Looking to Invest in Stocks and CD's
CD's, Savings Accounts and Money Markets from what i have seen really dont give you much. You are lucky these days to get anything above 1.0% on savings account..right now i have 0.5% and no balance in it.. i think maybe $0.65. haha
As for CD's and money markets even if you sign up for a long term investment with the bank and put in lots of money you are not going to do much better than 4-5%.
id suggest open up an IRA or Roth IRA or take advantage of a 401K plan your employer might offer..
posted by CardRatings.com at 1:32 PM
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