looking to invest - etrade? matchbook?

[ewitty]

After a string of good luck with sportsbetting, I have reached a point where I have some money I'm ready to lock away longterm (anywhere from 1 to 5 years). Problem is, I don't know what to do with it. The interest rates offered on ING seem depressingly low to me, but then the money is currently sitting in a bank account earning no interest at all. I don't really want to "gamble" with this money per se, but I do have some tolerance for risk provided I fully understand what's going on.

I keep seeing ads for etrade, which is day trading if I'm not mistaken. I don't really know anything about the stock market, and I'm not prepared to lose a ton of money learning. At the same time, I don't want to just pay a financial advisor to take care of this for me. I'm a control freak. Plus I hate paying commissions for something I feel I could do myself.

I was thinking of putting the money on Matchbook to create some liquidity, thus essentially becoming a bookmaker. I feel I understand sports betting, at least to some degree, so the learning curve wouldn't be as high. However, I don't know if I'm getting in over my head here either.

I honestly don't know what to do. I would like to yield at least 5% per year, but depending on the risk involved I want to aim even higher than that. Although this is a lot of money to me, it's not a crazy amount of money in relative terms (about the price of a new Mazda 3).

What do you guys do to make your savings work for you? ING Direct is offering 3% on a 5-year GIC, which seems unacceptably low to me. Also, the money is in US dollars and I'd like to keep the investments in that currency because it's a terrible time to convert to Canadian Dollars.

Thoughts?

 

[Defying]

If you are looking for an outside the box idea, I would say peer to peer lending...

I believe the two largest sites for this are lendingclub and prosper

I have heard pretty good things about it. They say the average is a 9% return. From what I hear, the problem is when lenders try to go to high risk to get 25%+

Look into this, do your own homework, but I have heard good things...

I am glad someone is making money! Good Luck

 

[Brock]

Open a personal IRA. Recommend Scottrade.
You can put up to $5000 a year away $6000
if your over 50. You don't get taxed on any
int rest made from the stock. You can't withdraw
until your 59 1/2 but it's a great investment.
I would buy a stock like pwe or another natural
gas and oil stock. PWE gives a monthly dividend
of 15%. 1000 shares yields about $120 a month
dividend US. Stock is trading at $13.00 a share.
$13,000 would be a good start.

 

[ewitty]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm in Canada so I should mention that anything I do needs to be legal here.

 

[DarkStar]

BHI (Baker Hughes) is a nice stock with a solid dividend...& affordable

 

[tatehill2000]

match,,,,

very simple 2 make 5%

tater

 

[ensign_lee]

Try tradeking if you're going to go the equities route. E*Trade is so expensive.

Here's a good analogy.

E*Trade is to Tradeking as BetCris is to Matchbook (in terms of juice). Make sense?

 

[ewitty]

match,,,,

very simple 2 make 5%

tater

Could you explain?

 

[ewitty]

Try tradeking if you're going to go the equities route. E*Trade is so expensive.

Here's a good analogy.

E*Trade is to Tradeking as BetCris is to Matchbook (in terms of juice). Make sense?

Thanks a lot, I will look into tradeking. I wish there was a Dummies guide to this. There probably is, but I'm too dumb to understand it.

 

[stomie]

The catch with etrade is unless you have $10000 invested with them they are going to hit you with a $35 fee per quarter year. Also trades can be found cheaper than their $13 a trade.

Find some dividend stocks that pay 5 to 10% yearly. PFE, POM, etc.