First investment for 18 year old with little to invest

Hi there,

I'm an 18 year old just out of high school looking to make his first investment. I've taken a year off study this year to earn a little dough, and will be going to university next year (four year degree in radiography), so I would say there will be little to no saving going on for the four years after this one. I have no experience in investing, except volutarily contributing to my super (gotta love that co-contribution), so I really am in need of a little direction. I had a peek at the Young Investors thread, but I sort of think that IPs and PPORs and all those other ancronyms are a little out of my league...

Anyway, here is what I've got. Any ideas would be appreciated!

• About $6000 in savings, looking to invest around $5000
• Owe the folks $3000 that I borrowed from them for a $9000 car I bought when I turned 18, haven't paid a cent off it, and they are starting to get a little ****** off they haven't seen any money, so I guess I better get around to paying that off sometime in the next few years...
• About $6000 in super
• Saving about $200 a week for the rest of the year
• No ongoing costs, except fuel (I live on a farm, so this is about $100 a weeks at the moment, and by all accounts, could get a fair bit worse), and going out most weekends (about $100 each week, gotta have a life too)
• Uhh, that's it I guess...

So yeah, I'm probably looking to put in about $5000 over a medium to long term. After this year there will be very little cashflow, so I am thinking that a regular savings plan is out of the question. Obviously there are term deposits and the like, but I'd probably prefer something with a little more spice. Anyway thoughts or ideas would be of great help!

Ta

 

its a tough call mate.

going to uni can be an expensive exercise with all that drinking and having fun. Given you may need access to this cash at any stage over the next 4 years, i would really only suggest a high interest savings account.

But if you don't want to see that money for next 10 -15 years stick it into a geared Australian share fund and add to it when you can.

 

You can get geared share funds from Colonial First State, which is owned by the Commonwealth Bank.

It's your choice. The safest and simplest thing to do is to put the money in a bank savings account.