I have come upon a bit of money that I need to invest. With the uncertainty of late, I have some concerns in the stock market. Really have never been in this position before, and wnat some advice. Where should it go...

I sure hope you didn't steal my 401k rollover check that I mailed out yesterday, it's for a similar amount. [:)]

I too have around $10,000 to invest and looking for any insight people can give.  Mine has to be invested in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds.

how old are you?
how long can you stay invested?
how much can you afford to lose?
were you around for the market crash of 1987?

Well, they stopped making real estate. ;)

General Dynamics, Land Systems Division might be picking up a few orders soon.

HoldHard

Any company that sells video conferencing systems. Any company that sells security systems,(corporate). Any defense contractor not tied to the airplane industry.

Video conferencing.Less people are going to fly to meetings now, that's a fact.

Security systems. More large companies will need to update their security systems for the current threat of infiltration by ner'do'wells.

Defense contractors. You figure it out.

Give it to me. I will invest it in firearms I believe will go up in value. I will store them in my safe, test them periodically, and clean them after testing. When you decide to cash in your investment, I will sell them and send you your money.

1919A4    [50]

1- 37 y/o

2- 20 - 30 years

3- All of it.

4- I was just out in the job market for a few years. No stocks then.

Gun-fan, you might consider an area where you already have familiarity - GUNS.  In the semi-auto area you really should seek out pre-ban, NIB rifles.  
An investment that I like better is the full-auto (select-fire) weapons that are fully transferrable on a Form 4.  Here you can almost eliminate cosmetic defects and buy 85% or better with excellent internals.  Buy firearms that were factory made full-autos as they hold their value better than "sear" guns.  The exception is to buy one FN FNC, folding stock and 16" barrel and have that weapon converted.  Upon conversion you'll have a $1,000 plus profit in hand.  I'm an old ArmaLite collector and therefore prejudiced but I would buy a couple of AR-18's and maybe an AR-10 if you can find one on a Form 4.  Machine guns are increasing in value as semi's are decreasing.
Hope this helps.

There are some good points brought up in this discussion:

1. What are your goals for the money: long term, short term, retirement, etc?

2. What sort of risk are you able to handle?  One of the biggest failings of the individual investor is that they allow emotion to rule how they invest.

For long term investing, a good growth mutual fund would be something to look at.  Go to the local library and inquire if they have the Morningstar reports. At this time, value funds may perform better than growth funds in the short term, due to the massive sell off that the market has had, however, long term growth with a value emphasis will do better over time.

A balanced fund (invests in both stocks and bonds) tends to be more conservative, however will have less return potential.  Usually these are used by investors that are getting closer to their goals (such as retirement).

With the amount of money that you have, individual stocks can be a good thing, as long as you have a buy-and-hold mentality.  Currently, companies that deal with America's defense and infrastructure should be looked at hard for values.

Do your reseach (What Works on Wall Street has a ton of good information in it, but is rather a boring read), invest wisely, and then try not to allow your emotions to override your logic.

Note:  I am no longer an investment advisor and I would suggest that you speak to one if you would like more information.

Sweep, I've heard war-bonds are being discussed but wonder if that money removed from the economy might have a negative effect.  Obviously a decision for those smarter than me.

25

Can't touch it for at least 40 years, retirement account.

Wouldn't like to lose any of it.  All my other investments are down 50%.  But I'm willing to take some risk with it.  As above, I've got 40 years before I can touch it.

I'm looking for specific companies or mutual funds to invest in.  So far GE has been mentioned in several threads for defense contracts.

ok, you are young enough to handle some risk, and you are realistic about losses. IMHO, it is too late to buy defense related equities, all that was done at 09:30 monday. for the short term, i would look at some "consumer cyclical" stocks: the super markets, the pharmacies, any industry that is vital, even in emergencies.

others made the good point of avoiding airline or air-anything related stocks, look at trucks and trains instead. super-high tech and surveillence stocks are good for the long haul too.

with all that said, i do work on wall street, but i cannot legally advise you, so take this FRIENDLY advice only if you choose.

a few more things, i would NEVER buy a share of stock, EVER...that's just me, and my partner, and most people i know here. land is the way, people have needed land since the beginning of time, and will need it forever. GUNS are a far better investment IMHO, and yes, there will DEFINATELY be war bonds!

hope this helps!

$10,000 won't buy much land, but I was thinking of buying a small plot. 1/2 - 1 acre & putting a used mobile home on it and renting it. I could probably do that fro 10k & get $300-350 a month out of it. Anybody done this?
Scott

my cousin does the income-property thing, and he is doing ok with it. luckilly, he lives near an area with 13 correctional facilities within a 50 mile radius, so quality renters (CO's) are plentiful. you could increase your income potential if you buy land closer to a city, or a large industry, again, land is FOREVER. - good luck!

Couple things about real estate and renting.  First, it is somewhat illiquid, so your money would be tied up for quite a while.  Not saying that you could not get some money out of it in case of emergencies, but it is more difficult to do so.

Additionally, there is a liability aspect of renting property.  I would research what could occur and how to protect yourself before embarking on that path.

Transferable Class III weapons sounds like the way to go.  I'd have more confidence in them to in price in value than stocks, bonds, commodities or real estate.  Plus, you can take it/them out shooting and have a blast.  But if you're going to shoot, I'd suggest getting into reloading too if you haven't already. [:)]

God Bless Texas

Sounds fun. I do reload & have for years. Only problem is that SC is not a class III state. No funsies with my investments here. I do agree with FattyM4 on stocks though. This is part of a correction. No one really bought anything off the internet. We just used the .COM's to check specs & prices, then bought from a brick & mortar. The other stocks were just inflated to look like other areas were keeping up with Tech's IMHO. I think I'll go with land, wholesale cars & guns.

Buy American Airlines stocks.
And Boeing stocks.
Both companies are gonna go way down, but will recover. Buy low sell high!