Student Investment options

Investment options? If by feasible you mean you don't want to lose any money, then none really. But, you could save the money in CDs.

I was going to suggest you save and then start an IRA (Some require a starting balance of $1000) but since you want to do short term and be able to withdrawl that wont really work. With rates so low dont have many options.

Maybe find a local bank or credit union that has a good checking account that draws interest if you use x number of debit card transactions, Automatic deposit, Bill Pay etc. I get 4% from my local bank in a program like this.

CD's will get you about 1-1.5% for 1 year.

The problem with those is that you pay penalties for early withdraw and I don't think you can continuously add money. I saw an ad on Sallie Mae for a 1.15% mma: banking.salliemae.com
You have 6 transactions per month and can write checks, transfer to other bank accounts. Not sure about the fees and such.

LiquidRetro probably has the best idea. Create an account where you put allof your money, get 3-4% on it as long as you have something like 1 direct deposit and 12 check card transactions.

I'd say an index ETF, especially if you can trade them for free.

penny stocks.

pay off credit card debts,car loans etc

Quote from cavan : pay off credit card debts,car loans etc

How is that investing?

Quote from XReflection : How is that investing?

if you are in debt, and most students are, why would you want to invest?? most likely the interest that you pay on your debts (and the credit cards are the worst) will be higher than what you will be making out of your 'investments'... just sayin

Quote from chaimvital : if you are in debt, and most students are, why would you want to invest?? most likely the interest that you pay on your debts (and the credit cards are the worst) will be higher than what you will be making out of your 'investments'... just sayin

There is not indication that the OP has significant debt. Even if they did, sometimes starting early with investing is a good way to get experience. I know that I dabble in investing a bit, even though I have student loans. Credit cards are a non issue because I pay them off in full anyway.

Thanks for the replies everyone. No debt at the moment, always pay off credit cards on time and trying to make the best use of the extra money I have right now. I was actually looking for two different investment options for the two scenarios (1 & 2). Anyhow...

A. Any recommendation on how to look for credit unions? Where to start and what to look out for?

B. For option 1 in the original post, what if I withdraw only once; the fully amont after 2 or 3 years? Does that increase the number of options?

Quote from shootkey : Thanks for the replies everyone. No debt at the moment, always pay off credit cards on time and trying to make the best use of the extra money I have right now. I was actually looking for two different investment options for the two scenarios (1 & 2). Anyhow... A. Any recommendation on how to look for credit unions? Where to start and what to look out for? B. For option 1 in the original post, what if I withdraw only once; the fully amont after 2 or 3 years? Does that increase the number of options?

A. http://www.findacreditunion.com/

B. Not really. If your window was closer to at least 5 to 10 years, then yes, it would increase your investment options.

The dollar is losing value at a greater rate than you can offset with any interest rate. Sure, you might see a very small nominal increase of your $3k after a year, but what you will be able to buy with that money will be less.

So, you either need to expose that amount to more investment risk for the short term or go long on the investment (5 years at least until you don't touch it again). I'd be buying hard assets safe from central planning fraud, personally.

Quote from barnz008 : The dollar is losing value at a greater rate than you can offset with any interest rate. Sure, you might see a very small nominal increase of your $3k after a year, but what you will be able to buy with that money will be less. So, you either need to expose that amount to more investment risk for the short term or go long on the investment (5 years at least until you don't touch it again). I'd be buying hard assets safe from central planning fraud, personally.

"expose that amount to more investment risk for the short term" >> How?