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Best Investment Plans Available To College Students

The most important thing you need to know right off the bat is that investing means long-term. You never want to think short-term when it comes to investments. When you go that route, you can’t win. If you lose money, you chase the losses and find yourself in bigger trouble. If you make money, you get greedy and go for another short-term win, but when you do that, you eventually lose and end up chasing the losses. You’re much better off investing for the long haul. This leads to no emotion and long-term gains. Below are the Best Investment Plans Available To College Students.

1. Mutual Funds

A mutual fund is a large basket of stocks that are relatively equally weighted for diversification and protection. Mutual funds will not make you rich. They are more of a defensive investment where the goal is long-term wealth accumulation.

If you search for a a mutual fund, it’s imperative that you compare the fees. Most mutual funds come with low fees, but this isn’t always the case. You want to find a mutual fund with a low fee and a strong historical performance. The historical performance is important because a fund manager can make changes to the stocks within the fund. If they have proven that they can adjust to changing times, it’s a good sign.

2. Bonds

Bonds are different than stocks. You’re not investing in a company like you would with a stock. Instead, you’re lending money to a company or the government in exchange for more money coming back to you in the future. It’s recommended that you stick with investment-grade bonds. They don’t yield as much but they’re safe. The safest investment are U.S. Treasury Bonds.

The other option is junk bonds, but these are riskier because they could fail. Junk bonds come in the form of Fallen Angels and Rising Stars. Fallen Angels were once investment-grade but they now have poor credit quality. Rising Stars are seeing their cred quality improve, but they still have poor credit quality.

3. Certificate of Deposit

A Certificate of Deposit is also known as a CD. They offer higher interest than a savings account but you can’t withdraw your money for a set amount of time. This could be 6, 12, 18, or 24 months. The longer the investment, the more you should expect to earn in interest. It won’t be a lot, but it will help.

4. Robo-Adviser

Look up Betterment and Wealthfront. These are services that will invest for you in exchange for a 0.25% annual fee of your invested assets. You don’t have to do anything, and you can start with as little as $20. This is the ideal option if you don’t know anything about investing and don’t with to know. You just want to set it and forget it.

5. S&P Index Fund

You can invest in the S&P 500 with an ETF. One of the best-performing S&P 500 ETFs is VOO, which is a Vanguard Index Fund. This ETF has an annual return of 11.73% since its inception in 2010 and it has an expense ratio of just 0.03%, which is exceptionally low.

In regards to sector diversification, VOO’s three biggest weightings are in Communication Services (11.0%), Consumer Discretionary (10.6%), and Consumer Staples (7.1%). VOO’s top three holdings are Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN).

All of the above investment plans are on the safer side. They are focused on long-term returns. In essence, they are more focused on investing than gambling. It’s always better to invest than it is to gamble. When you invest, you keep your money. When you gamble, you don’t.