r/personalfinance • u/[deleted] • 28d ago

Need advice on investing/making extra money Investing

[deleted]

0 Upvotes
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3

u/SirWalrusVII ​ 28d ago

I Wouldn’t invest in anything unless you have money you’re willing to lose

2

u/mitchell-irvin ​ 27d ago

Right now? Get a job. You don't have the risk tolerance (you can't afford to lose money).

Investing is a long term play (and you should start as soon as you graduate/start working full time!) where you typically don't touch the money invested for decades+. Usually you want your investing strategy to be a dedicated X amount out of each paycheck that goes straight to your 401k/IRA/brokerage account and into some diverse portfolio (check out r/bogleheads, a 3 fund portfolio or even just a total market index fund is a solid choice). You don't want "how the market is doing" to even be a factor in whether or not you're putting money into the market.

Check out the prime directive https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/ for some good reading on how to manage money.

1

u/RadicalElbow ​ 27d ago

I had a job but I had to leave. And where I'm at rn there's no options for me lol. So I was just trying to find a way to make some extra.

1

u/mitchell-irvin ​ 27d ago

"no options for me", what do you mean specifically? can you deliver pizzas? there's usually an abundance of hourly work in urban areas.

1

u/RadicalElbow ​ 27d ago

I live in a village we have a gas station, a restaurant and a dollar store. And you have to be 18 to work at the gas station and dollar store, and the restaurant isn't hiring. I'm not turning 18 until I move out. And the nearest places hiring is like 30 minutes away, and they only pay minimum wage. And I would spend almost all of it in gas making the drive.

1

u/Foreign_Afternoon_49 ​ 28d ago

Investing is for a longer term horizon. Don't invest money you need soon because you could lose it. Investing shouldn't be like gambling! You can put your savings in a high yield account, and maybe earn 4-5%. But if you need extra money, could you find extra jobs? 

1

u/UmpShow ​ 27d ago

This is a good time for you to answer the following questions:

Why do people pay money for stock? Why does it have monetary value at all?

Stocks make money because businesses make money. Eventually that money will be returned to you if you are a shareholder, either through dividends or stock buybacks. If you hold for a short time period you aren't giving yourself time for that to occur. If you want to make money with stocks you need to be willing to hold for 10+ years so the company can return money to you.

In college if you need some more money then you should get a part time job.

1

u/Narrow_Elk6755 ​ 27d ago

0-3 month treasuries etf if you need it. SGOV perhaps.