hey ok here's the deal, I'm a junior in college and have a spare $1g - 1.5g that i would like to start investing. I've talked to a lot of people as well as read a lot of threads on here as well as the stock threads they have over on e46fanatics.

here is the goal:

i want to make some side cash for whatever. i would mainly be investing over the holiday break, next semester, and next summer. so i would say im more in for short term gains than long term. however, i would be investing *some* into longterm.

I've not looked much into Roth IRA but everyone keeps mentioning them, so is it wise to invest the majority of my money in that? because i thought this was more of a longterm investment.

i'm a big fan of watching the stock market and would love to day trade or trade on a short term basis to give me something to do during the day. so obviously i would like to invest some of my money in stocks. i was figuring at least 500 dollars into stocks out of the $1500 i have to start out with. so, just wanting to gain some more opinions/insight into this matter. so do please help me out with some other options i have not listed. how you would invest if you were just starting out and what are some good stock picks? thanks guys


also, regarding stocks specifically, here are a few i've heard about by numerous people on diff forums and seem to be decent for some short term investing. let me know if you think otherwise. i was thinking about picking one or two of them, since a lot of them are tech related and i know i need to diversify the market etc.

Sirius (SIRI) this one is questionable at the moment
Apple (AAPL)
Siebel Sys (SEBL)
Blue Fly (BFLY)
Cogent Inc(COGT)
Elan Corp (ELN)
MacroMedia (MACR)

 

its really hard to make lots of money on 1000-1500 unless you buy shitloads of penny stocks that go up a lot

Put it into a rothIRA...you can always withdraw the initial investment, and its a good way to plan your future

That said most of my investments are vanguard indices...my friend invests a lot into s&p 500...but they wont give you the short-term gains you want