$1000 -> $more than 1000???

[Tobes]

Bartman your gimmick continues to suck.

But yeah, Zacchaeus has the right idea here, just make sure not to indulge in your own goods too often. Also loaning money with a small interest rate, say a dollar or a small percentage a week, is a good way to build up money and you can make a sizeable profit in a relatively safe way. (Of course you need to loan discreetly to avoid getting screwed over by people who refuse to pay you back.)

 

[Zacchaeus]

Do this and say its for a homeless charity to both double your demand and gain teacher consent.

If it's for an organization, that makes it partially or completely legal, I'm not too sure. Well there are 2 reasons what I did was illegal: A) I wasn't paying taxes on the profit, B) I didn't have a business license. So I'm not sure if it nullifies just the first one or the second too

Also, you should not do B&Es to steal your supply. Use costco and/or sams. The profits won't be as high, but still.

Yes, Sams is very good (for this sole occasion)

Oh and Bartman shut the fuck up

Edit: Tobes kind of beat me to my own post, including telling Bartman how he fails

 

[RPenry09]

Another one for the CD option bro! That would make a nice down payment on a car in a few years! OR Use it to go to the nearest VGC. OR Give it to me!

 

[Veedrock]

Well, since you're still in high school, you can do what I did which earned me $200 my freshman year and it costs very little but I'm just putting this here because you're being wise with money. Warning: It's illegal, so don't do it in front of business teachers or anything like that, and if your school still doesn't want you doing it, you should be fine to continue doing so before and after school hours.

1. Buy an up-and-coming candy (like a new Wrigley's 5 Gum or Skittles flavor [I used Crazy Core Skittles]) IN BULK. The more you buy the cheaper it is usually
2. Sell it at a convenient price that earns profit (I sold at $1)
3. Buy more
4. Profit

And it gets you slight popularity and whatnot. But the majority here says that setting up a CD is a good idea, so I don't doubt that they're right. But, adding a few hundred bucks to the CD would also improve interest

If it's for an organization, that makes it partially or completely legal, I'm not too sure. Well there are 2 reasons what I did was illegal: A) I wasn't paying taxes on the profit, B) I didn't have a business license. So I'm not sure if it nullifies just the first one or the second too

Could you expand on the legality of this? While I understand that you're supposed to pay taxes, the profit is well below the minimum income levels where he'd actually lose money to taxes (ie he'd get a full refund even if he did pay), and nobody is going to audit somebody 15-16 over such a minimal amount. And why exactly is a business license necessary for such a small scale operation? You said you only earned $200 from it.

This is for my own curiousity, I'm not trying to insinuate you're incorrect (obviously you have experience with this, and the subject is hardly my strong point).

 

[WaterBomb]

People suggesting CDs should really look into them first. CDs do not tend to offer very attractive interest rates because they are fixed. You think he wants to tie up $1000 for 2 and a half years only to end up with $1075? CDs are definitely not the option for the OP, if he actually wants to make any money worth noting. Even the bulk candy suggestion is better than CDs at the moment.

I will reiterate my previous point - if you're looking to make a noticeable amount of money off a grand, you have to invest aggressively. Yes this comes with much higher risk so make sure you are properly advised, but this is the only way you're going to net anything substantial.

 

[Zacchaeus]

Could you expand on the legality of this? While I understand that you're supposed to pay taxes, the profit is well below the minimum income levels where he'd actually lose money to taxes (ie he'd get a full refund even if he did pay), and nobody is going to audit somebody 15-16 over such a minimal amount. And why exactly is a business license necessary for such a small scale operation? You said you only earned $200 from it.

This is for my own curiousity, I'm not trying to insinuate you're incorrect (obviously you have experience with this, and the subject is hardly my strong point).

I don't think it's so much of "We will audit you, a 15 year old, for not paying taces on $200", but more "We want you to know that it's illegal so you can't continue doing such things in the future where you will most likely have more opportunities for much more profit". And apparently if you want to sell something that isn't for a charity or club/organization of some sort but for your own gain, you need a license. I'm saying apparently and this is all to the best of my knowledge because like you said, it's experience.

Long story short, I had a good run, my keyboarding teacher (who is in charge of the business leaders club) didn't like that I was selling stuff in her class and one day decided to tell me what was what (because apparently it had been bugging her for some time without really telling me) and sent me to the office for it but I just got a slap on the wrist, and in the office they pretty much told me the same things

 

[Ballad]

I find it interesting that I have always thought of even $20 as a lot of money while everyone's considering 1k to be nothing

I must be cheaper than a homeless guy haha

 

[evan]

Why are people suggesting CDs? Have none of you been paying attention to recent trends in the industry? CDs are way down.

You want a real growth industry? Invest in VINYL.

 

[jwoozie]

As far as CDs go is 0.40% anywhere near good?
I go to the local community college and live at home, I get a fairly solid financial aid check and I'm not the type to spend money. Whenever I get a good amount of money I put it straight in the bank. So I was thinking that opening a CD would be great for me since I'm just going to sit on my money anyway, so I might as well get a better interest rate than my savings account.

I can open one for a minimum of $500 at .4% interest for 6 months, that would get me $700 at maturation, I could then roll that $700 into another 6 month CD or maybe even a year long one with a higher interest rate.

 

[CaptKirby]

Find someone who will let you bet it all on a coin flip, because you are not going to find some way to magically double your money right away like you seem to think.

 

[Toothache]

Invest in silver. The only way is up for precious metals as the fiat currencies continue to wane.

Oh and make sure you get some physical silver. Just investing in silver stock is a bad move, since there is more people moving there than there is actually in reserves.

 

[EconBiscuit]

Invest in my up and coming business?

For every $1k you give, i'll give you back $2 a day for the 1st year. $0.75 for the 2nd year and nothing the 3rd year (without a re-investment). It's like a constant stream of revenue.

 

[WaterBomb]

As far as CDs go is 0.40% anywhere near good?
I go to the local community college and live at home, I get a fairly solid financial aid check and I'm not the type to spend money. Whenever I get a good amount of money I put it straight in the bank. So I was thinking that opening a CD would be great for me since I'm just going to sit on my money anyway, so I might as well get a better interest rate than my savings account.

I can open one for a minimum of $500 at .4% interest for 6 months, that would get me $700 at maturation, I could then roll that $700 into another 6 month CD or maybe even a year long one with a higher interest rate.

Think for a second about what 0.40% equates to. 0.4% of $500 is $2. TWO DOLLARS. Basically that means that, in exchange for putting $500 away and not being able to touch it, you get $2 in interest every 6 months (increasing by a few pennies each time due to compounding). I don't know where you get $700 from, but 0.4% is an awful interest rate. That's barely more than the 0.25% you get from a standard savings account.

If you people aren't going to listen to me, listen to evan. He said the same thing. CDs ARE NOT A GOOD IDEA RIGHT NOW. CDs and Mutual Funds have plummeted so hard it's not even funny, and if you want to actually MAKE money on an investment you MUST outpace inflation. I'm not sure, but I believe inflation right now is around 3.5 to 4%, maybe a bit less (can someone confirm this?) This means you need to be earning at least 4% interest per year on your investment to come out ahead. To my knowledge, the only current fixed rate investments that can outpace inflation are annuities, which are also a terrible idea for someone your age due to them completely locking up your money for 10+ years.

I will repeat myself one final time, and then I will leave this thread. The only way you are going to make noticeable money is through aggressive investing, not anything with a "fixed" rate.

 

[Ballad]

Find someone who will let you bet it all on a coin flip, because you are not going to find some way to magically double your money right away like you seem to think.

I didn't know that I asked how to double my money instantly, CK

Considering I thought $1k was a lot I pretty much would be happy making $100 a week which should be virtually nothing apparently. Shit I wouldn't even complain about $300 a month - less than most of you probably make in a week at any kind of job.

I'd just get a job if I could get hired anywhere but it's kinda illegal right now.

,-,

 

[Brammi]

^ I think someone missed evans joke.

EDIT 2x ^

 

[McGrrr]

Invest in silver.

Not this!

The purchase commission, insurance and holding costs for keeping precious metals in a vault are too expensive for only a $1000 holding. The problem with holding physical silver yourself is that when you come to selling it, it will have to be assayed. Assaying costs can be $50 or more; do you really want to pay 5% on your investment just to resell it?

I think the people replying here mean well, but the advice being given (other than dump it in a bank) is spurious at best, and downright terrible at worst. You have to consider the following:

1. Transaction costs - to mitigate transaction costs, you will have to be less diversified, thus increasing variance and risk.
2. Time costs - especially with the red herrings being dished out by armchair experts (many examples in this thread). Your best option if you insist on going the equity route is to buy an ETF that tracks a sector/exchange/commodity/currency that you feel strongly about. There is no value in a small investor without a financial background spending time trying to stock pick. Better to just get a job.
3. Tax liability - sup capital gains tax.

As an aside, I am both bearish on the US economy and bearish on the US Dollar.

Oh, I do like the candy black market idea. I used to do a bit of that when I was at school too!

 

[Brammi]

Tbh, the best way you could spend that money is to invest in something that you can use to make more money.

Example: A friend of mine's famile came into alot of money instantly when his father got a redundancy pakage for a year and got another job straight away. He got a decent chunk of it and used it to purchase the camera's and software he needed to start making a video portfolio to help himself get into work in that area as it interests him.

I'm not sure how old you are but doing something like that is smarter than going to extreme measures for little gain.

 

[WaterBomb]

I'd just get a job if I could get hired anywhere but it's kinda illegal right now.

,-,

You can get a job at 15, your hours are just restricted. 14-15 year olds can only work a max of 20 hours a week I think, and they can only work until a certain hour on a school night (it's like 7 or 9pm, not positive).

If you want to make money at an easy job that's pretty fun, try working at a pizza place like Papa Johns. I got my start there and I had a blast, and you learn alot of valuable work lessons. It's a bit less annoying than working at a fast food place. You gotta find the right store with the right atmosphere though. Give it a shot - you'd be amazed at how fun a part time job can actually be if you're doing it for extra cash rather than survival.

 

[alamaster]

Grocery store jobs are good too, they hire at 15, hire lots of cute girls, so you can chat them up while you make moneys. Sweet gig huh

 

[polelover44]

DISCLAIMER: The above disclaimer is false. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try this at home.

 

[PK Gaming]

Seriously just save the money. Buy a 3DS or something.

 

[Force Majeure]

Buy a priestly robe.

Oh, that's a vestment.

 

[Zacchaeus]

-snip-
DISCLAIMER: The above disclaimer is false. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try this at home.

[SARCASM]
Hahaha it's so funny because it has a picture of flan
[/SARCASM]
But unlike what most of these people are saying, nobody will hire you. It is getting insanely hard to get jobs at 16-18 let alone 15, everywhere around where I live always hires a college student before any high school student. The best job you can do is probably to watch somebody's house or pets while they go on vacation, maybe babysit if you're lucky, or mow lawns and other manual labor type of jobs

 

[WaterBomb]

[SARCASM]
Hahaha it's so funny because it has a picture of flan
[/SARCASM]
But unlike what most of these people are saying, nobody will hire you. It is getting insanely hard to get jobs at 16-18 let alone 15, everywhere around where I live always hires a college student before any high school student. The best job you can do is probably to watch somebody's house or pets while they go on vacation, maybe babysit if you're lucky, or mow lawns and other manual labor type of jobs

I dunno where you live, but we constantly were hiring the younger high school kids to be insiders when I ran Papa Johns. You may not get hired at an awesome career job, but you can definitely get hired.

 

[iDunno]

[SARCASM]
Hahaha it's so funny because it has a picture of flan
[/SARCASM]
But unlike what most of these people are saying, nobody will hire you. It is getting insanely hard to get jobs at 16-18 let alone 15, everywhere around where I live always hires a college student before any high school student. The best job you can do is probably to watch somebody's house or pets while they go on vacation, maybe babysit if you're lucky, or mow lawns and other manual labor type of jobs

This is not true; companies are ecstatic to hire younger workers since they are less likely to ask for raises and are more than likely not a part of a union.