Well I am not kidding! I have had a Putnam mutual fund for about 5 years now and it is going no where. Actually I am down a few hundred bucks. I think 5 years is enough time for an investment like this with no return. I am thinking about dumping it and putting that money plus some more into something else. Any ideas? It isn't much money just $2k, I am in college and kind of broke so thats the best I can do for now.

I want somthing with aggressive growth I am not worried about losing.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Hattie it's a shame we all didn't know about the rising price of oil years ago. I wouldn't be looking at alternatives for fuel right now. I know how you feel when I wasn't much older than you I invested in precious metal, silver to be exact. I'm still waiting for a decent return on my investment. Luckily I had and still have a cash reserve to carry me through the wait. Maybe it will go up when I die.

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1983 300-D turbo
1985 300-D turbo
1959 Harley Panhead chopper
1929 Ford coupe restored
I hang out with Boneheaddoctor at Schuman Automotive OBK#5
All liberals are mattoids but not all mattoids are liberal.

My dad does that, but with gold and platinum too. I think its mostly like having instead of a bank account, except its not a guaranteed interest and it might be positive or negative. I'm interested too in this post, I gotta get into investing pretty soon.

Trust me when I tell you this. It comes from many years of sorry stories about the market.

Take all of your money and invest it in the following fund family:

http://www.rydexfunds.com/

The Rydex Titan 500 fund will give you 2 X the return of the S&P 500.

Over the last 30 years, the S&P returned an average of 11% per year. In theory, this fund will return an average of 22% per year.

Naturally, in down markets, the fund will lose 2X what the S&P 500 loses. Don't worry about it. At your age, you will be a millionaire with ease if you just invest in this one fund and don't try to outsmart the market.

This fund family has other funds that will track other indexes such as the Nasdaq, as well.

But, the S&P is your safest bet.

If you look at any mutual fund in existance, it is virtually impossible to beat 2X the S&P 500 return over a 10 year period.

Brian we're listening and you can keep on talking. I will be consulting with my broker next week.

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1983 300-D turbo
1985 300-D turbo
1959 Harley Panhead chopper
1929 Ford coupe restored
I hang out with Boneheaddoctor at Schuman Automotive OBK#5
All liberals are mattoids but not all mattoids are liberal.

I like the S&P,safe for the neophyte,very good advice.

You've got to be in it for the long haul,don't be foolish and wish for short returns.

My brother in law manages a private hedge fund, mostly tech and pharm driven,so I channel most of my excess interest accrued from rentals,securities,antique sales etc,into that which returns generally 35% per annum.

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Check out www.moneyletter.com. They track mutual fund performance and make portfolio recommendations at several different risk levels. The return on their "Moderate" portfolio for the past year is 17.9%, 59.5% for the past 3 years. I have subscribed for about 15 years and have been quite happy with the results. Although with only a $2000 investment, the subscription price might not be worth it.
As far as mutual funds go, Baron Partners has done well lately. Up 43.5% for the past 12 months. You can buy their funds on their web site. It's been one of the top funds in the Moneyletter list for a while.
Most funds these days have $2500 minimum initial investment for non-retirement accounts.

I'd like to see the return in that hedge fund in the years 2001 and 2002.

That's the fundamental problem with all of these funds. They can do very well in one year, or two years, or even three years, but, eventually, their philosophy becomes opposite to the market and they cannot realize anywhere near those returns.

So, the returns turn negative in a big way.

Nobody beats 2X the S&P for a 10 year period.

You've got a point which cannot be controverted,however the whole deal of a private hedge fund is careful,up to the minute analysis which involves immediate liquidation of any corp. that tanks.

However before any capital is invested in these entities a representative will thoroughly investigate them,even fly down and scrutinize the figures,books and capabilities and other impressions gathered personally,and based upon that knowledge it's either a yea or nay proposition.

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I've always been interested in these hedge funds, but, never trusted them worth a damn because you never know who you are dealing with and where your money is going.

There have been several of them that lost every penny of assets, as you are probably aware. Got heavily leveraged into securities that tanked. Bye-bye all money.

The returns are surely tempting, however.

Is this restricted to "legal" investment opportunities?

Just like your Mercedes if you want it done right you need to do it yourself.
Of course taking my car to the dealer will not result in financial disaster.
Having someone else take care of your money might.

Even 2 Nobel winners couldn't keep this hedge fund from tanking.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-052es.html

Spiral

I'm not sure if you're joking or serious, but if you click here: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pm?s=RYTNX

Where are the gains you're talking about?

The fund got started just before the market tanked. So, the fund tanked by 2X the market return. The red numbers reflect this large drop.

But, you need to look at the returns over a longer time frame. The fund returns 2X the S&P by using derivatives. Some funds can do better in shorter time periods. This fund will beat them all over a 10 year time period.

You certainly do when you are 50% underwater after 5 years in a bull real estate market and energy market. It is not only a right to time the market it is a duty.