How would you make money ?

[Ashock]

"Buy real estate. God ain't makin' any more of it."
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While usually Real Estate is a good investment, at this time prices are very high. Maybe in your area they did not go up much, but they did throughout much of the country. Buying high is usally not a good idea.

What you might consider doing at this time, is allocating some of your money towards future Real Estate purchases, and put it somewhere safe, like CD. Maybe liek a 12 month CD. Rates are pathetic at this time, but it's better than under your matress.

The other chunk of your money you should contact an investment professional for, if you are not very savvy with that. Make sure that if you do, he/she does not put all your eggs in one basket. Any reputable investment/financial advisor will show you an asset allocation model suitable for your particular age and financial state. Usually, the younger you are, the more risk you can take. The closer you get to retirement, the more money should go into safe vehicles, like investment grade bonds. Annuity is also a possibility, as the cap gains on them are tax deferred.

Find someone you can trust, and talk to them. Do not go for individual stocks if you do not know much about them with more than 5 to at most 10% of your investable capital combined (not per stock, but for all individual stocks combined). If you want to participate in the market, Mutual Funds are a better vehicle for inexperienced investors. If you do buy some stocks, try to stay away from stocks that are under $10, especially $5. Those have a tendency to go down to nothing and for every MSFT/DELL/CSCO, there are hundreds of companies that do not exist anymore. These cheap stocks, commonly referred to as penny stocks, should be treated as pure gambling.
If you do buy some stocks, try to put the bulk of your money into Blue Chips (the old established companies) and some into Red Chips (The Blue chips of the tech sector like INTC, MSFT, DELL etc.) Not necessarily those names, but just in the same category.

Anyway, talk to a *good* pro and do not listen to most and possibly all amateurs.





-A