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[akela]

Apart from having a TIAA-CREF account, I've never had anything to do with stocks, but with the market as low as it is right now, it seems to me that this is the time to start investing.  My savings are not very large, and the most I can spend on buying shares in $1,000.  On the one hand, it's certainly tempting, but on the other it seems to me that (assuming the best possible scenario,) a return on $1,000 may not be big enough to justify the trouble.  Also, I can ill afford to lose such an amount.  What would you do in my shoes?

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

[mozman]

If you can't afford to lose money, don't invest in the stock market.  No return is guaranteed, especially right now.

mm

[normative_]

Don't.

Only invest money that you don't need to see for a while and that you can spread out over a number of investments. And even then, wait. The market is still headed downward. If you insist on taking a risk, choose bonds over stocks with maturities running a couple of years. And hope the companies involved stay afloat.

There aren't many things you can do with your savings at the moment, unfortunately. Even commodities (speculative, but the only thing making money the last year) are headed downward now.

[wegie]

I'd stick the money in a high interest bank account in a very safe bank (Citi, BoA) and forget about even looking at the stock market until after the US election.

If I only had $1,000 to play with, and I was sure I needed some exposure to stocks (and I'd want to know what the weightings are on your TIA-CREF account before deciding that), I'd start by buying a broadly based index fund like the VFINX some time after Christmas.

[normative_]

I'd stick the money in a high interest bank account in a very safe bank (Citi, BoA) and forget about even looking at the stock market until after the US election.

If I only had $1,000 to play with, and I was sure I needed some exposure to stocks (and I'd want to know what the weightings are on your TIA-CREF account before deciding that), I'd start by buying a broadly based index fund like the VFINX some time after Christmas.

As usual, Wegie's more practical than I. And she's right. I second the motion.

[wegie]

<blushes modestly>

I'm afraid that eight years of living with a risk manager does in the end rather rub off on one :-)

[prytania3]

If I had only a thousand dollars to spend, I would go with options, but options are tricky business, and if you can't afford to lose the money don't do it.

Also, I think the market is going lower. Cramer predicts Dow 7700.

[akela]

Thank you mozman, normative, wegie and Prytania for your good advice!  My entire TIAA-CREF portfolio is in the Social Choice plan, which is pretty conservative.  I'll hold off on buying anything for now, and maybe will reconsider if/when the market falls even lower.

[harry]

If you're willing to take some related advice, however, I'll just note that it's generally a bad idea to be concentrated ("weighted") so heavily in one particular fund, even if it is a blended fund like SC. Some diversification might be in order.

That being said, there aren't a lot of great choices right now as per TIAA-CREF's recent results chart:
http://tinyurl.com/2mok38

[bigsky]

If you're willing to take some related advice, however, I'll just note that it's generally a bad idea to be concentrated ("weighted") so heavily in one particular fund, even if it is a blended fund like SC. Some diversification might be in order.

That being said, there aren't a lot of great choices right now as per TIAA-CREF's recent results chart:
http://tinyurl.com/2mok38

Yikes, did you really need to post that?!

[wegie]

If I had only a thousand dollars to spend, I would go with options, but options are tricky business, and if you can't afford to lose the money don't do it.

Yeah, but you know what you're doing Pry. The OP specifically stated that they hadn't done anything except their TIAA-CREF account up to now.

Also, I think the market is going lower. Cramer predicts Dow 7700.

I don't think it's going that low, but below 9,000 is very easily possible before we see the bottom.

I'll also echo what Harry said. Unless your pension fund doesn't give you a choice <insert frustrated howls of somebody in the UK universities pension fund here>, it's never a good idea to a) be entirely in one fund or b) be entirely in one asset class.

[prytania3]

If I had only a thousand dollars to spend, I would go with options, but options are tricky business, and if you can't afford to lose the money don't do it.

Yeah, but you know what you're doing Pry. The OP specifically stated that they hadn't done anything except their TIAA-CREF account up to now.

Also, I think the market is going lower. Cramer predicts Dow 7700.

I don't think it's going that low, but below 9,000 is very easily possible before we see the bottom.

I'll also echo what Harry said. Unless your pension fund doesn't give you a choice <insert frustrated howls of somebody in the UK universities pension fund here>, it's never a good idea to a) be entirely in one fund or b) be entirely in one asset class.

9000? It's already at 8600.

[wegie]

9000? It's already at 8600.

My bad, Pry! When I went out this evening it was still happily bopping around at about 9,200 and looking quite calm!

[prytania3]

Nikkei is down 8.26%

[pedanterast]

$1,000 is not sufficient to begin investing in equities.  $5,000 might be.  However, since we are moving into a long-term global depression the likes of which most of us have never seen in our lifetimes, I recommend blowing the money on booze, dope, and hookers.