Is it even worth trying to invest $15K?

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Yes, absolutely.

I'd probably take something like 10% of it and go ahead and enjoy spending that, you can get some cool stuff for 1.5k that you can enjoy right now.

How you want to invest the bulk of it depends on your plans, but don't forget that things like a reliable car or a computer you might need for future schooling are also "investments" of sorts into your future.

I'm not so knowledgeable about all the different sorts of investments out there, so maybe someone else can help out there. Knowing what your medium-long term goals are will help them fine-tune their advice though. Are you planning on any sort of post-secondary education or job training?

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Index fund. Just stuff it in an index fund with a Roth IRA if you don't have any debt to pay off. Ignore it for as long as you can and treat it as your emergency "get out of jail free card" for when life sucker punches you later on. It happens to everyone, so having this in savings for maybe decades first is gonna be worth it.

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I invested a lot less. Go ahead. Long-term investment usually pay off if you don't need the money

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Holy shit yes. Compound interest is a hell of a thing.

Find a financial advisor that is a fiduciary, not just some rando on a bus ad or trying to do Bitcoin yourself or using a buddy’s friend or whatever. A fiduciary is legally obligated to work in your best interest, even if it means they lose money themselves.

I would also recommend using someone not related to you or in your social life at all. It’s someone you meet with once a year and their only job is to make you money as fast as possible because they get paid based on how much their clients invest.

Then you can just watch the line go up.

And if you can, make a monthly contribution to that account as well. Even like $50 a month makes a huge difference over the 40-50 years you’ll be investing.

https://www.calculator.net/interest-calculator.html

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I put 5k in an index 7 years ago, now it's 8.5k. average return for indexes is better than trying to do it yourself (gambling). Usually around 7%.

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How much liquidity do you want? How much volatility can you endure?

High yield savings account
CD
Index fund
retirement fund
stocks
crypto
gambling

I personally would put it into a simple bank app like SoFi and split it up from there

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Put $5K in a blue chip stocks or vanguard etf

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Yes, absolutely.

This flow chart is helpful

https://imgur.com/personal-income-spending-flowchart-united-states-lSoUQr2

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Sounds like you don't need it, consider giving it to a charity that can actually do some good with it.

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My suggestion is put it into the S&P pretty good returns

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I started with like 3k a few years ago, and even with the stupid mistakes I made while learning, it's had significant growth.

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The short answer is: any amount of money is 'worth' investing.

$10k at 6% for 40 years is $100k. That might let you retire a couple years early. Conventional wisdom, among people, let's say 40+ years old, is going to focus on retirement, wishing they'd started saving earlier, and the incredible power of 40 years compound interest.

At 19, though? You've probably got college and the potential for student debt coming up. Your first car. The down payment on a house. All of those things can be considered "investment," too. They might have much better benefit to you, both in the short term and the long term. Or, if your BIL is ready to drop $15k as 'pocket money,' maybe you have enough family support that none of those things will be a concern. Hell, maybe you have enough family support that working a job from which to retire isn't even a concern.

This is a marshmallow problem. Do you want to buy a car, take a fantastic trip somewhere, or just gamble like a big shot right now, or would you rather have less college debt, buy a nicer house, sooner, or retire earlier? Nobody else can tell you what you'll enjoy more.

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No sense paying off debts early if their interest rate is lower than the profit you would get by investing. This is dependent on timescale though.

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I don't have any big purchases in mind. My sister got me an apartment and car last year for my 18th birthday with her husband's money. We're Swedish (he's Chinese and my sister lives with him in China) - so free university for me; I don’t have any debt or anything like that. Sister has retired our parents and is supporting our family financially. But this is the first time he gave me money directly.

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Yes, you should invest money in things you believe will have valuable in the future.
Don't invest in large lump sums. Dollar cost averaging is a preferable strategy.
Paying off high interest debt or variable rate debt is a smart thing to do before investing money.

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My take:

Is it even worth trying to invest $15K?

Yes and no. What i mean with that is that investing can mean a variety of things from investing in stocks/etfs to investing in yourself, your education and new experiences. Also while $15k is substantial and if put into a broad market fund and not touched until retirement will grow into a substantial sum, if you are on track to getting a good education and wellpaying job you are going to make this many times over during your carreer. To the point where you might enjoy the luxury of being in a position similar to your generous brother-in-law, for whom $15k is "pocket money".

The goal of investing is not just to put as much money as possible into your retirement account at all cost, but to smooth out your lifetime earnings over your whole life. Since you will earn most of that in your 30-60s that ofc means setting aside a good chunk for retirement after, but it is just as valid to spend some during your teens and 20s, where you equally will have lower income.

Without knowing your specific circumstances, here is what i would do, assuming you are otherwise financially healthy (otherwise paying off debt and stuff is likely more important):

Take a substantial sum, maybe $5k and put it into a broad market, low fee fund. Depending on your preference that can be one following an index tracking the total market, the developed world or the S&P500. You will have plenty of time accumulating more wealth once you land a good job, but from a psychological pov there is a difference of looking at historical data and coming to the conclusion that investing is worth it, vs having actual skin in the game and seeing the ups and downs affect your own money. If you feel like it, pick 1-3 stocks of companies you believe in long term and buy a few shares, but set yourself a hard limit of maybe 10-20% relative to what you put into the diversified fund. However you should see this as a risky bet and mentally mark it as 0, maybe you'll get lucky and hit the next nvidia, but likely not. This is an investment with a time horizon of at least 10-15+ years (a time frame which is historically enough to ride out market downturns,) so do so only if you expect to not need the money for at least that long.
Take another chunk, maybe 2-3k and spend it on sensible "luxury" purchases that you otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford. With that i mean maybe you get a new laptop that you could also use during university (if that is where you are headed) or otherwise a good pc setup, a nice bike, some better quality gear for your hobbies, maybe some good clothes etc. . Still try to get good price/performance, but opt for something that lasts.
If you have the time, then travel. Taking a few thousand and spending it e.g. traveling a month or more all accross europe, asia or south america might be a once in a lifetime experience worth many times over what you spend. Maybe you end up getting to know new friends or even a partner, maybe you get to know something new about yourself, you'll learn about different cultures and so on, which might end up changing what you want to become and where you want to live.
Does your brother-in-law have any interest or hobbies that you know of? Or maybe you yourself have some interesting idea that he might also enjoy. If you can think of something good i might take a few hundred $ and ask him whether he would like to do some unique experience with you for a day or a weekend. If both of you are thrillseekers you could do something like skydiving, as an example. If he's a car person, maybe there is a opportunity to go to a race track and drive a few rounds in a cool car. If he's a sports person, go to see a game together.
Maybe take a few hundred and spend it "irresponsibly" just having fun. Go to concerts, in the cinema, eat a huge pile of ice cream. idk whatever you can think of. Or maybe do something nice to someone else by including them in those things or getting them a way larger gift that you'd overwise have done.
Whatever is left, which should be a few k into readily accessible saving (if there's something that also pays a bit of interest even better), because there most certainly will come times that you unexpectedly need some of the money. For example when you need it as deposit for renting a new place.

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Does free university also mean free housing and meals? If not then you might still want to set some aside for university or invest some in some account that lets you easily access the money if you need it in the coming years. Beyond that the rest of the advice in here applies: take some amount for something fun or useful, pay off/down any debt you might have, and invest the rest. You’re young so I assume you don’t have much debt. Investing with a long-term mindset can work fantastically for you at this age. Obviously there’s a lot of short-term uncertainty in the world today, but if it’s money you don’t need now, the long-term risk/reward or cost/benefit leans heavily towards investing what you can now.

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Someone else posted about making an investment and I think, as an elder millennial, this is the right answer. However, they took a prudish and boring take on the matter, one which will almost assuredly back fire as youl get bored of it sitting in an IRA and probably lose it trying to "invest" your self in the rigged casino which is the stock market. Just, having been 19 myself once, I do remember what it's like to have that kind of psychology. I strongly DONT recommend this form of investment for that age group, because it's just not a good fit for most 19 year old personalities, and what matters the most is finding a good fit between your personality and what you want to do.

But you can expand your vision on what it means to "invest" that money.

15k is enough to start a small business. Not a big business mind you, but something. A pool cleaning business can be run out of the back of a used car or small truck. People also require the services of power washing, and while a high quality power washer isn't cheap, it's also not monumentally expensive either. Landscaping also fits this billet. 6k in tools, a 9k truck, and you've got a business that can sustain you. It also teaches you to manage yourself, your time, your customers and potentially other people as employees.

Another way to invest this money would be to buy land. I don't know where you live, but you can buy 15k parcels of land in plenty of places: https://www.zillow.com/pahoa-hi/ . You could buy a lot, and go live the jungle life off the grid. Or build a cam ground for your family to visit. Or buy a yurt and live in it. Or buy it and do nothing and sell it later. Or buy it and build a house. Or whatever your hearts desire.

Owning a bit of land that you can develop into your own vision can be highly motivated, and there is still plenty of it if you know where to look. Places like Arizona, and new Mexico also have some really amazing deals for land. And don't be afraid to look internationally. 15 k can get you into some interesting places in South America, Africa, Europe (Italy in particular) and Asia. This could be the start of a whole new adventure! And one that ends with you still owning a piece of land you could then sell at a later date as your goals and motivation changes.

Speaking of adventures.. 15k isn't infinite money, but with a frugal mindset and a spirit of adventure, you could easily travel the world for around a year on that much money. But ding dong, how is that an investment? By spending the time to travel or have meaningful personal experiences you are investing in yourself to find out who you really are. Having clarity and really finding out who you are, these things develop the kind of character that prevents you from making bad decisions down the line. Spending the time to find out what really motivated you, to develop friends from all over the world, to build stories and an identity that will last you a lifetime: these have a strong return on investment. And no one has ever said, "boy I sure do regret those years of my youth I spent tramping around the world when I was young and beautiful".

So yes. Invest the money. Don't waste it on groceries or a car that's going to need gas and insurance and maintenance. Go big. Use it all for one thing, to express one idea. But also, consider a bigger vision of what that idea can be. There is no need to only listen to accountants who only ever plan in living for the brief period of their lives after they reach 65 years old.

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This. I was going to throw out some advice in support of investing, but this is better than my plan of sharing anecdotes of my investing adventures.

Find a fiduciary, explore your options and do what makes the most sense and feels comfortable to you.

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Holy shit yes. This is a peak 19 y/o question, and I say this with no disrespect intended.

I'm in my 30s now and I really wish I had invested 15k when I was 19. I would be sitting a whole let better than I am now.

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Is it even worth trying to invest $15K?