Investing Money

If you're testing the waters in trading, pennystock.com is fun. You won't become an overnight success, but like I said it is fun to see how 'trading' works.

If you want to invest $100 in a stock - then do. most people use more like $1000 - but if that's what you are comfortable with - then go to a site like ScottTrade.com and read up on it, fees associated with investing, etc.

I would go to the library and pick up a copy of "investing for dummies" - not saying you are - but it's a simple book to help you understand stocks, bonds, etc. and how to invest your money.

remember - as with ANY investment - it CAN LOSE ITS VALUE!!! You may not get your $100 back...so if you are new to it - baby steps....

GOOD LUCK!

I'm sure your post was made with the best intentions. But if you only have $100 to invest you should use it for the raw materials you need to make something you can sell for a profit.

If you are a wonderful cook, buy flour and make bread and sell the loaves. Or make chocolate chip cookies and sell them.

If you get $2500.00 then open a brokerage account and invest in the stock market. I'm invested in AGNC (stock symbol) because it pays over 14% dividend. NLY (stock symbol) pays a 12.5% dividend.

Many brokerage firms will allow you to open a stock account so you can in an account that allows you to paper trade. (Paper trading is like buying and selling with monopoly money. No actual real money is involved.)

If you ever want to get serious about investing, buy "Money" magazine for a year. It was $10 the last time I saw it. It will help you get an understanding of the basics. Then buy books on investing and analysing stocks.

Good luck to you and yours.

Check out "Share Builders" you can invest any amount and buy just a portion of a stock (Apple stock is trading for over $500 a share right now) so with share builders you can buy a portion of a share. You can then invest weekly, bi monthly or monthly (dollar cost averaging).
Some stocks and index funds are less risky than others. You will have to do your homework. For what it is worth I think investing is a great tool to help secure your financial future. If I had credit card debt though my first priority would be to pay that off first then start investing. It doesn't make sense to pay 13% + in interest payments.

If you're looking at trying out stocks, I recommend approaching this similar to how you would any other investment like a home - You wouldn't buy a home without knowing whether the neighborhood was good, whether the price was of good value, etc. Do some up front reasearch on some companies that you're interested in. Get a feel for their recent market trends. Track that company and its competitors in the news for a while, and see if they have any interesting things that will trigger significant changes to their market share, equity, or value as a company. I recommend picking a company that you inherently know something about and can follow their trends in the news. i.e. a company whose product you believe in and are interested in, or a local or regional company that you can keep an eye on.
Also, once you've picked your company and have an idea of when you want to start your investment, don't just put your money in the market once, and see what happens. What is more meaningful is to pick a certain amount every month that you can continually invest over time. This is called dollar cost averaging. If you look at any stock's performance, you'll see up & down cycles. Dollar Cost Averaging smooths out the cyclical ups and downs of any investment. If you invested 100$ once, and then waited, you could lose if you happen to be on a small cyclical downturn. If you chose to invest (as an example), $20 each month, over time, you'll see smoother growth (or smoother loss) over time.
If you're looking at just using your $100, and you're not committing seriously to an investment plan, look for something relatively low risk, like mutual funds which follow general economic trends like a Vanguard index fund. These funds don't have a lot of overhead costs from the company that maintains them.
One other thing, since you're just talking $100 in your question, your money may be better spent paying off ANY existing debt you may have which COSTs you money, or making sure that you're taking advantage of any 401k programs your employer may have, which may come with a company match! 401k is great because it reduces your overall taxable income! so there's a benefit of you saving, PLUS the benefit of not being taxed on that money until you withdraw it in retirement. If your employer doesn't do a 401k, look into setting up a Roth IRA with a mutual fund company like Vanguard. Roth IRAs are awesome because you pay in with post-tax dollars, but the growth/interest is not taxed when you withdraw it in retirement. You said that you're a saver, but there are a lot of ways to save which include relatively low risk investments & government-supported plans which have tax benefits! Just be sure to understand the income limits and restrictions on your withdrawals! Read some Suze Orman books, and then do some research online to learn the basics.

I would highly recommend you spend a significant amount of time reading first:

http://www.wikihow.com/Invest-Small-Amounts-of-Money-Wisely

Go to your library and pick up books or magazines on investing.

Basically, there are safe investments, like bonds and CDs, some mutual funds and there are risky investments, like buying stock in start up companies.

You have to decide what you are comfortable doing and possibly losing.

You can also start at your bank and ask for a consultation about safe investment options. They are very helpful.

GL!

You might want to consider Microlending. Basically, the concept is that people from all over the world are in need of small loans to help start their businesses, or to buy more supplies, etc. There are some organizations that can help determine legitimate needy people, and you can choose who to lend to. Bank loans in developing nations are simply inaccessible to most people who need them, but microlending lets individuals or groups decide to lend to a person. If you are interested, check out www.kiva.org

You can lend to 1 person, or break up your $100 amongst a few different applicants. I especially like that I can search for women to lend to, since it tends to be much more difficult for them to get aid.

ETA: I do realize that the ROI for this won't be very large, at least in terms of $ you get from it, but I guarantee you'll be happy to know you've given someone else a chance to provide for their family.

If you are not "into" it as far as analyzing, forecasts, etc then educate yourself first.

People who invest and don't know what they are doing are simply gambling money away that could possibly been better invested elsewhere.

You are very correct with your assessment that it is risky. Only invest what you are willing to lose, otherwise keep your money diversified and depending on your age, determine how much risk you are willing to take.

We are very much into the numbers, financials, investing, etc. It is not a game to us as it is with some investors and newbies to the system. It would be well worth your time to talk to an advisor who can guide you. Also watch the morning financial reports and learn about it.

$100 is not much to invest, the amount reqiured would probably be higher then $100 when you look at the fees, etc to make the transaction.

When we move/shift funds we do so upwards of $25K or more. Pennystocks are not worth our time.

ScottTrade is decent but we don't do much through them.

Make sure you read about any stock you are considering. Learn the ratios. Educate yourself first and then take BABY steps into this pool.

Good luck to you.