Never take advice from someone who has nothing to lose if you fail. Having said that here is my input.
I did exactly the same thing and lost it all despite having read over 200 books on investing.. Whatever you think you know, im sure Ive got you beat. (why is this always the magic number? everyone starts with $5k) I made up to $20k on my $5k in my first trade and proceeded to lose it all over several months by overtrading which was between 2-5 trades a month (I traded options which was the only realistic thing you can do with that small amount).
Here is my advice, put it in one of those investment products your friend who works at Northwest mutual or some bogus fund is selling. yes its crap but youll get like 3-10% a year and can have it managed by someone else - it isnt going anywhere. Then create an account at TD ameritrade, download think or swim software and watch their videos and videos on youtube. All the technical/fundamental analysis you can get your hands on. Read some books too like Market Wizards, Trading for a Living, etc.
Now your goal is to make $$ so with the paper trading account trade for 1 year before putting any real $$ in. Over 5-10 years Youll notice in actuality there are only about 3-5 MAJOR trades in the year, the one stop shop where you turn your $5k into 20k+ without being stupid and hedging the downside. If youre patient enough and ride 2 of those major trades youll make more $$ in 1 year than most people you know.
But youre not there yet because your young and dont have the patience to wait, you want to make money every week. Hell you might not even know what to look for. So paper trade. If in 6 months you have more than you started with put $1,000 into your real account and you can trade that, but continue to paper trade as well. If you lost even .01 during that 6 months you start again another 6 months from scratch. If you're truly capable of making $$ online due to instinct, adaptability and learning technicals/fundamentals you will grow your account fairly quick in no time and not only will all your $ be in your real account, but your real account will be multiplying.
I had the worst thing that can happen to someone. The midas touch, almost every investment I made was up $1k within minutes of placing the trade. It got to the point where I couldnt accept anything less than $1k and that was my undoing. Eventually the noise got to me and I am not re-learning to trade while ignoring the noise. You havent started trading or made your first $10k yet so youll probably be extremely cautious and smart on your first few trades and have great success but then eventually - gradually, the noise will kick in, and all the skills you used to pick trades will be jumbled by forces like greed, fear, invincibility, other people telling you what to invest in, misinformation, etc.
I personally think youll ignore my advice, but if you follow my advice I think youll go 6 months successfully, put $1k into the real market, come out with around $200 after 6 months and back to paper trading. Youll probably lose all of it by the time you graduate.
A lot of these guys gave great advice and I tend to agree with them. Having started a business as well, I recommend that over investing. Businesses when successful grow so fast you cant keep up. Few investments can possibly give you that kind of return and the skills you learn with hands on experience cannot be learned elsewhere. You are making the best investment you can make, an investment in yourself. Even if the business fails, you wont regret it because the skills and "proving to yourself" are worth it. Read the books "The Education of Millionaires" as well as "So good they cant ignore you." Those 2 books should really put in perspective for you how best to invest your time money the way successful people do.
I did exactly the same thing and lost it all despite having read over 200 books on investing.. Whatever you think you know, im sure Ive got you beat. (why is this always the magic number? everyone starts with $5k) I made up to $20k on my $5k in my first trade and proceeded to lose it all over several months by overtrading which was between 2-5 trades a month (I traded options which was the only realistic thing you can do with that small amount).
Here is my advice, put it in one of those investment products your friend who works at Northwest mutual or some bogus fund is selling. yes its crap but youll get like 3-10% a year and can have it managed by someone else - it isnt going anywhere. Then create an account at TD ameritrade, download think or swim software and watch their videos and videos on youtube. All the technical/fundamental analysis you can get your hands on. Read some books too like Market Wizards, Trading for a Living, etc.
Now your goal is to make $$ so with the paper trading account trade for 1 year before putting any real $$ in. Over 5-10 years Youll notice in actuality there are only about 3-5 MAJOR trades in the year, the one stop shop where you turn your $5k into 20k+ without being stupid and hedging the downside. If youre patient enough and ride 2 of those major trades youll make more $$ in 1 year than most people you know.
But youre not there yet because your young and dont have the patience to wait, you want to make money every week. Hell you might not even know what to look for. So paper trade. If in 6 months you have more than you started with put $1,000 into your real account and you can trade that, but continue to paper trade as well. If you lost even .01 during that 6 months you start again another 6 months from scratch. If you're truly capable of making $$ online due to instinct, adaptability and learning technicals/fundamentals you will grow your account fairly quick in no time and not only will all your $ be in your real account, but your real account will be multiplying.
I had the worst thing that can happen to someone. The midas touch, almost every investment I made was up $1k within minutes of placing the trade. It got to the point where I couldnt accept anything less than $1k and that was my undoing. Eventually the noise got to me and I am not re-learning to trade while ignoring the noise. You havent started trading or made your first $10k yet so youll probably be extremely cautious and smart on your first few trades and have great success but then eventually - gradually, the noise will kick in, and all the skills you used to pick trades will be jumbled by forces like greed, fear, invincibility, other people telling you what to invest in, misinformation, etc.
I personally think youll ignore my advice, but if you follow my advice I think youll go 6 months successfully, put $1k into the real market, come out with around $200 after 6 months and back to paper trading. Youll probably lose all of it by the time you graduate.
A lot of these guys gave great advice and I tend to agree with them. Having started a business as well, I recommend that over investing. Businesses when successful grow so fast you cant keep up. Few investments can possibly give you that kind of return and the skills you learn with hands on experience cannot be learned elsewhere. You are making the best investment you can make, an investment in yourself. Even if the business fails, you wont regret it because the skills and "proving to yourself" are worth it. Read the books "The Education of Millionaires" as well as "So good they cant ignore you." Those 2 books should really put in perspective for you how best to invest your time money the way successful people do.