AREAMAN! Play BadgerPoker in the last few years? heh

Honestly right now, the market is due to a pull back I think. I wouldn't invest anything right now you aren't comfortable seeing drop in value. You may think one thing, but when the numbers start dwindling and its your only big asset reserve it is quite another to not panic.

Since you've stated you don't make much money (curse Black Friday!) I'd honestly keep a larger chunk in cash, something like $10k, until you're more comfortable with cash flow and have a budget worked out.

The rest, I would tend to agree with smartalec to KISS, though I would modify it:
Take $10k and put it into the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund 2050 inside of a Roth IRA. This will be your 2011 and 2012 contribution.

Take the remaining and consider putting in the same fund, but in a taxable account. Keep that in mind. Dividends etc, sales of funds when profit has to be recorded and then filed with taxes.

If you wanted to get super aggro with a much higher risk level, the better choice is to break the holdings into a 3 or 4 instead of just one and target higher risk / higher yield like emerging markets, high yield and real estate.

USA
$5,000 to invest
Risk Tolerance: High. Fine with losing it all. At a point where it won't really cause any harm to my life.
$0 in debt

21 years old with some extra money laying around. I currently have tons of free time as I am taking a semester off of school to follow WSOPC and HPT events. I would love to spend some of this time learning a new trade, something to take over my involvement in online poker. I loved learning the game and perfecting something and I want to do it again.

Is this naive of me? Even possible with $5k. Starting fresh with limited knowledge so will be reading and learning along with investing.

If anyone could provide me with some opportunities or ways to involve some free time into investing I would greatly appreciate it.

I am a big fan of passive investing for retirement money, but I also have a trading account for individual stocks. What sort of investor do you want to be?
In my mind there are two primary types, investors and traders. Investors are typically seeking out stocks they can hold a long time (Warren Buffets favorite holding period is "forever"). Peter Lynch wanted "10 baggers", stocks that went up 10x original investment.
Traders are looking to get in and out fast. Lots of little 5 to 10% gains can add up quickly but your tax and brokerage costs can eat up some of the profit. Not to say that there can't be crossover between these two types but at least know what you are looking for when you make the investment.
Once you decide which style you are most suited for, select some good books on that style. I like Peter Lynch's One Up on Wall Street as a description of the investor style but that book is probably a little dated by now. I don't have much to offer on the trading style. I'm sure there is a good list of books somewhere in this thread.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/30...s-news-488527/

i have a 401k that i contribute 5% of my annual income to. its current value is around 15k, and im 30 years old. im not sure id qualify for a roth?

and no, i havent played badger poker in years.

how do i invest in real estate due to my limited amount?

Roth limitations for 2012 are 173k-183k for married, 110k-125k for single. If your adjusted gross income is below those numbers, you qualify. If your AGI is over the larger of the numbers for your filing status (single or married), you are ineligible, but may still contribute to a Traditional IRA.

REITS are the most accessible for limited income. Not sure what Direct Participation Program minimums are myself, but that would be something to investigate as well. Tread carefully with the latter.

Investing in real estate would be putting money into a mREIT (Mortgage REIT) like Annaly (ticker NLY) or American Capital Agency (ticker AGNC) or more conversatively Vanguards US REIT Index (ticker VNQ or mutual fund VGSIX) or Vanguards ex-US REIT Index (ticker VNQI) or mutual fund (VGXRX).

The mutual funds have a $3000 minimum but the stocks (ETFs) do not.

Country you live in: USA/Mexico (relocated poker player)
Age: 21
Income: 100k+
Amount available for investing: ~25k atm
Risk Tolerance:low-medium
Timeframe for investment:Long term
Debt: $0

Relocated poker player as I said, am going for 2mil VPPs this yr so that 100k number is on the low end as 2mil is worth 233k in RB alone. I have $0 debt right and also low living expenses where I live in Mexico (<$2k a month), my parents are in a small amount of debt to me right now and will be paying that off to me whenever they're doing better again, I gave them no time limit as the $ amount was small enough it didn't matter to me.

I know absolutely nothing about investing/trading/anything and with going for double elite, I don't have time myself to learn these things. I have $25k available to invest now, and would likely have another $50k to add by the end of the year.

Any tips appreciated, will be working on reading through this thread today/tomorrow and start to learn some very basic info on this subject.

Thx,

Josh

how long is long-term? If you're willing to stow away funds for retirement, I would contribute to a SEP IRA and/or Roth.

Age: 24
Country you live in: USA
Income: 61k
Amount available for investing: 5k
Risk Tolerance: med-high
Timeframe for investment: retirement (40+years)

Looking to invest some money for retirement. Let's say I was interesting in putting my first 5k directly into an S&P 500 index fund. Does a 2 or 3x leveraged ETF make sense for my time horizon and risk tolerance? Is there any reason not to do this for other investments I'm interested in (e.g. buy a leveraged bond fund, or a leveraged ETF fund etc.)

Leveraged ETFs are not appropriate for long term investing. They are meant for very short term trades. Here's an explanation of why.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/3092...leveraged-etfs

The best thing, as is normally the case, is a Vanguard Target Fund.

My retirement steps in order...

1) Any 401k contribution your employer matches
2a) Max out 401k, if it has decent options/lower expenses
2b) $5k to Roth IRA...I just go with Target Retirement Year YYYY (depends on your preferences) from Vanguard. You can make 2011 contribution until Apr 17, 2012 and then make another $5k for 2012 until tax deadline 2013
2c) Add to 401k if it's a crappier plan

Although Leveraged ETFs suck, using leverage to invest in ETFs is OK, right (since you're not re-balancing your portfolio every day)?

If you want to use leverage to buy ETFs, that is obviously fundamentally different that buying leveraged ETFs. Whether or not that is a good idea depends on a lot of different things. Using leverage is, of course, very high risk.

OK, that's what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure.

Thanks for linking the article. It was very helpful.

Have some super noob questions for you guys. I put $3k into a Roth IRA 6 years ago and basically forgot about it. Just found it (it's through 5/3 Securities) and it has climbed to the mighty amount of $3,182.54!

1. Is this pathetic ROI because of the economy or is a Roth IRA through 5/3 Securities significantly worse than other Roth IRAs?

2. If yes to the second part, what Roth IRAs are the best to invest in? I use Scottrade for some investments, can I just start one through them so everything is consolidated in one place?

3. I'm getting rid of my 5/3 bank account soon, can I transfer what I have in that Roth IRA to another Roth IRA or are they permanent?

Thanks!

what fund is it in @ 5/3 securities? what is the expense ratio?

the market really hasn't moved in the last 6 yrs

A Roth IRA is not a specific investment. It is a type of account. You decide how to invest the money once it's in the IRA. It sounds like you just had the money sitting in a money market account earning interest. You should be able to invest that money in mutual funds (not just a money market).

And, yes, you can transfer the Roth money to another firm. Have the firm where you want the money to contact 5/3 to initiate the transfer.

the mutual fund is QFTAQ? im assuming this is just a symbol but googling it comes up with nothing, idk.

cant find the expense ratio anywhere, doesnt help this 5/3 securities user interface is complete sh*t. any idea where i would find this?

i would consider a mutual fund that a) you don't know what it is and b) doesn't have a stock ticker to be a red flag.

when i moved my roth from fidelity to vanguard, fidelity charged a $100 custodial transfer fee. small potatoes, especially for you since it will mean moving from a vendor i've never heard of to a more mainstream one (which will offer mutual funds that you can find with internet search tools).

yea just tell Scottrade you want to move your IRA to them...ask them if any fees

$100 on a million dollar portfolio is nothing, Tyler.

Fifth Thirds is actually a pretty big regional bank/financne company out of OH. It's really not obscure or anything if you live in the midwest/NE. They're all over the place.

Nonetheless, it's probably a good idea to have a better handle on your investments and no reason to have just $3,000 in one isolated account.

Also, I think the ticker symbol is just the one they use to designate cash. I googled the symbol and it just came right back to Fifth Thirds homepage. I would be willing to bet it's just in cash, not an actual fund.

oh, right. i didn't make the connection between "that bank whose name i make fun of whenever i see it" to "investment account cited by poster in thread".

and i think your guess about the ticker being a "placeholder" for their internal cash/money market is probably right. vanguard does something similar with cash in the account which has not been used to buy things.

also if my account were worth $1M, i might have described the xfer fee as "fingerling potatoes" or even "grains of rice" .