Investing

I have developed an interest over the past 5 years in the stock market (probably a by-product of working in Clayton for a period of time), and have always thought that I might someday want to do a little investing. Now, I don't have any sort of massive wealth to "play" with, so I am very hesitant to place my hard earned dollar into someone else's hands/company.

One thing that I have done though, is to set up my 401(k) and deposit a percentage of my paycheck into it every pay period. It is my opinion that any person under the age of 30 that has the opportunity to invest in a 401(k) or similar retirement plan, should do so. After all, we will probably never get to see very little (if anything) from Social Security by the time we get to that point. So start putting aside some money now and place it in some relatively safe investments to grow over time.

I have been putting aside a relatively aggressive percentage so far (considering my paycheck and expenses), but I feel that it is a very important and worthwhile investment. My company allows for us to choose where our money is invested, with a dozen or so options to choose from. I have set up my investing to be around 25% fixed growth interest, 30% long-term low to moderate risk stocks and the remainder to a more high-risk sector. So far, my return on investment has been around 10%, so I am very pleased with that.

I still have an interest in the stock market, so I have begun to play an online game.
You are given money to start with, and the idea is to learn how to investigate and invest in stocks that will prove benficial to you and your portfolio. I've only been playing for a week, but I've already earned a 10% growth rate, and am hoping to turn that into 25% by this week's end. If you want to "play" with the stock market and keep your real money safe, go to StocksQuest.