Question for you economics majors

Or perhaps even for those of you who paid attention in High School economics. What form of investment would have the highest yield return in less than one year’s time, if opened with an initial investment of $4,000? I’m considering a stock portfolio, but, of course, I could lose money there. I could, however, make pretty big, too.

Your thoughts?

Well rate of return is always comenserate with risk. US bonds, low risk, low yield. Playing slots in Vegas has high risk/yield. Stocks vary widely. A 1-yr investment is fairly short-term, and most major stock gains are long-term. I’d say the best bet would be to go with a diversified risk/return mutual fund, if you can get one for a 1-yr period. You can also use bank CDs, however with current interest rates, return will be fairly low.

Edit:

I thought a little more about it, A diversified Mutual Fund is again more of a long term investment, often use to set up for retirements.

Maybe invest in foreign currency? People who did so the day Bushy got elected have earned as much as 10% annual profit. Though, I don’t expect the Euro to climb much more, most economics analysts expect the US economy to collapse/meltdown within the next year or two. I’d honestly say invest, in Euros, in Tech stocks in European or Asian markets. India in particular is graduating twice as many engineering/tech degrees as America, which is just plain sad.

In the next year or two? Crap. I guess I’ll start looking for another promising country to live in, while I’m at it… >_>

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/north080204.html

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050701faresponse84415/brad-setser/how-scary-is-the-deficit.html

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/20050422/default.htm

http://www.forbes.com/home/economy/2005/01/10/cx_da_0110doomdollar.html?partner=msn

http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/01/11/cz_rm_0111dollar.html

http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/01/10/cx_da_0110doomtrade.html?partner=msn

http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/01/10/cx_da_0110doomoil.html?partner=msn

http://www.forbes.com/healthcare/2005/01/10/cx_da_0110doomdrugs.html?partner=msn

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/01/news/fortune500/buffett_talks/?cnn=yes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1432051,00.html

I posted a bunch, trying very hard to avoid anything from political-party-leaning sources.
The last 2 are Warren Buffet, and while he does tend to have political leanings, he is also the most successful investor ever, If anyone can predict the economy, its him. Thers also an Alan Greenspan article in one of those, where he does predict good things for the economy, but from reading the article, its obvious hes only saying good things to avoid hurrying along existing problems. pretty scary.

I still say invest in European/Asian markets, avoid investing in the US at this point. Most major international investors have slowly been getting out of the US stock market.

Basically, the US housing market is currently keeping the economy afloat, and this can only last as long as interest rates remain low. High oil prices are causing inflation, and the only way to deal with inflation is tob raise interest rates… It doesn’t take much to realize this can only end badly. When interest rates get a little higher, which they will, Greenspan pretty much guaranteed that, all those fun 1% Variable Rate home loans will climb… it wont take long before it climbs high enough that many people can no longer afford their mortgage payments. this means a lot of people will either default, or sell their house. However, since they spent so much on thier house, in a flooded market, it only takes a small dip in housing price to mean that when they sell their house, it won’t even be for enough to pay off their mortgage… Oil prices are/will continue to rise, inflation will continue to rise, this means interest rates have to rise. Oh wait, we’re 8trillion in debt, and now we have to pay more interest on it? Looks like taxes will have to go up to pay the interest. too bad they’re trying to cut taxes again…

Higher mortgage costs + inflation + higher taxes = ???

One year?!
That’s almost gambling.

How about OIL AND GAS INVESTMENT?
http://www.maverickenergy.com/faq.htm

But think long term - stock markets have had an amazing run for the last century and a half.

Step # 1 Picking Stocks

Choose companies that manufacture the favorite things in your daily life, such as soft drinks, shoes, clothes, restaurants, etc., and make sure they are publicly traded companies by checking the labels and packaging of the products.
Get company names from work places where your parents, friends, relatives, and neighbors have firsthand experience about the quality of the company.
Use The Value Line Investment Survey (800-654-0508, http://valueline.com) at the reference desk in the library. From the first booklet, which is a summary of the 1,700 companies rated by Value Line, take the 100 stocks with a rating of “1” for Timeliness. Next, narrow down to those companies with a Safety rank of “1,” “2,” or “3.” Also, check on the industry ranking on these companies. Narrow down your stock selections to the companies in the top 20 industries.
Investing for kids. Ha-ha-ha!http://library.thinkquest.org/3096/

You love video games? So, why not try EA http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=ERTS&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

Do you think that GTA fiasco will not affect Take Two too much?http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=TTWO

There is something called Real Estate Investment Trust - REIT

REITs receive special tax considerations, and typically offer investors high yields as well as a highly liquid method of investing in real estate. You can get a Dividend Yield of 5% to 7% from many well-managed and conservative REITs. And a healthy capital appreciation of course.
http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/stockinfo.aspx?IID=102991

But do some research, get a broker and … good luck.

He said for a year or less, long term, the US stock market is generally fairly stable. I’d have said get US stock portfolio if investing for 10+ years.

I would not want to invest in Real Estate right now. Interest rates keep rising, the housing bubble will probably burst fairly soon.

Ok. My top pick:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=XOM&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

Edit: DK, I meant this kind of real estate:

PREIT’s portfolio currently consists of 56 properties in 12 states. PREIT’s portfolio includes 38 shopping malls, 13 strip and power centers and five industrial properties. PREIT is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I’m not looking to gain money, just store it, but if there is a gain, I’d rather go for it. I might store it for more than a year, it just depends on how things go.

You could buy bonds of the 10 new EU members. Those are fairly save but still offer nice yields, around 4%. You should consider it. Another option could be business bonds.

Maybe you can put your “dough” in a CD? Some banks pay 4%+ on an 18 months term. No risk with that.
But, I think that there is not much risk in some stocks (Oil) for the next 12 – 18 months. You can open an account with a discount broker (like Ameritrade) and save on the commissions. Exxon Mobil might give you much more than a 4% yield in one year.

Edit: Dividend yield on XOM is 2%, closing today at $58.75 down $1.25. Buying opportunity?

My advice would be to just sit on that money and gain interest while you study economics for yourself. I took Economics and got high school credit this last semester, and I think, if memory serves, your best bet would be to but stock in something that is already big, or something you think will be very big very soon, then sell the stock right when it’s about to go to hell. I’d try something up-and-coming, like this Neopets thing or Red Bull. No, I can’t make up my mind. Sorries.

Umm, I’m kinda busy studying other things. I’m majoring in journalism with a minor in poly sci, and then I’m probably going to law school.

Buying in something that’s already big = BAD idea. Remember Nortel? Yeah.

Buying stocks of something that is already big (called a Blue Chip) isn’t necessarily bad. It has the advantage of lower volatility compared to smaller stocks, but has the disadvantage of lower potential gains. If you buy smaller stocks (Hot Stocks), they can grow rapidly, but likewise can decline sharply.
But even stocks of huge companies aren’t as safe as a bankbook. You could see this here in Germany when the Deutsche Telekom, our biggest telecommunication company, lose stock value en mass after the burst of the new market bubble.