20, in school, $1500

[Carl_William]

U said: "Whatever investment you decide to go with, I would open a Roth IRA. The gains in a Roth IRA account are tax-free which makes a considerable difference over time"

My comment is: Don't you have to have a job to start an IRA. I guess a part time job might be OK. He could declare being a poker pro as a job -- would that be OK???

[Nemesis]

I didn't have a job when i dropped 2k into my ROTH IRA... it promptly tanked because of 9/11 way to go for investing =)

[digdeep]

Toby,

Invest in your youth. Take the $1500 and do something that you would like to do! You are only young once, take a trip, play poker, have fun. If you don't want to do any of these, invest in yourself. There is no better investment than you. Furthermore, if you want to start investing in the market, learn about investing. Don't trust some two-bit broker who is trying to make money off of you, learn about investing and invest. If you are even moderately intelligent, you can find investment opportunities with much greater potential than any salesman trying to make commission. A place to start is reading "The Essential Buffett," and excellent introduction to value investing, which is an excellent investment approach for those that don't like to trade the market. One thought is to invest in something you know well. What are you studying in school, what are your hobbies and interests? Find something that you know very well, and look to invest in something related to this. For instance, if you know technology well, consider what products on the market are revolutionary, and consider investing in a company that you think can and will revolutionize the future.

[laserboy]

$1500 is enough for a hot girl? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Don't think so!

[laserboy]

My understanding is that you do need to have income in order to open a Roth. Poker winnings do qualify as earnings. You ARE declaring your poker winnings, right? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Senor Choppy]

You can find them cheap on the internet, if you don't mind a lack of self-esteem or anything useful to say.

[bob2007]

I am also in college, I had about 3k I invested in stocks long term. In hindsight it was not a good idea, the stock isn't doing much, down 5%. Not that it makes a difference whether it is up or down. I would've been doing a lot better if I used that for a higher bankroll for poker.

My 3k is pretty much pennies in the grand scheme of things with commission charges of like $25 a trade. You do the math with 1500, you've lost like around 4% buying and selling a stock.

Stocks is not the way to go unless you have more money to invest.

[TM1212]

Bob I have to strongly disagree with you.

You can be a successful active trader with a small amount of money. Yes fees and taxes do add up, but with sound investing things can be looking up in no time. A friend of mine started buying stocks with 3,000, he purchase sirus and some memory chip company stocks, both shot up and he was up to around 7,000 in just a few months. Hes doing very well.
He started about 2 years ago during his freshman year and has made some nice profits. Ill have him post in detail what he did next time i talk to him.

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Poker on the other hand....

With 1,500 dollars, lots of skill and understanding of the game, about a thousand hours of actual table play, you could probably start playin $3-$6 at you local cardroom.

If your good youll make about $6 an hour grinding it out,if you play online 2 tables at once maybe just under $12. Its not easy and there are many ups and downs. you could lose as much as $600 or more in one session with bad cards and some bad plays.

If your willing to put in the time pokers a good choice, plus you could quickly build a nice bankroll and start playin some $5-10 or hirer and make some real money. But remeber the skill level increases as the limit increases.

[toby]

I had the same feeling as Bob which is why I posted originally. I think your friend, though successful, might be a little lucky too to have his investments double up like that. With only $1500, I feel like it would be harder to diversify and it sounds a little risky to put it all in one company.

Is there any specific field or company(s) you think I should look into?

[bob2007]

I've taken an interest in this company called ERF, 10% dividend annually, its Canadian, oil / gas royalty trust, dividend paid monthly. I haven't really researched it fully yet however. I think you can also invest in the company directly (without commission fees).

As far as diversifying, that shouldn't be a huge concern. To truly diversify you need like 20 stocks from what I've read. Most books have preached against diversification the way brokers try to make it sound safer and the professional way of investing.