patrick.net

I would gamble with it. However I have all my bases covered, 5% fixed affordable mortgage and a nice rainy day fun with a steady job that pays decent. That and I'm young and single, so if I gamble and lose, noone suffers outside of my dream of a big score. I've already made the play, just patiently waiting my desired result, would be nice to have 50k to gamble with but I'll settle for what I have and can afford to lose for now. My gamble is a canadian company on the AMEX ticker symbol QMM

Is the big drop in March 2008 in MO's price because it split into MO and PM?

Any kind of investment is a risk, and it is not considered wise to risk safety nets. So I would not recommend you do anything with it, keep it in savings.

Since you want access to your money in under 2 weeks it is difficult to suggest an investment with a reasonable return. However the first thing I suggest is getting your money out of US dollars. What you make in interest is lost and more through the devaluation of US dollars at the moment. A simple multi currency bank account might be an option. Failing that I suggest forex, much higher returns than a bank account. You can usually get access to your funds in under a month.

http://www.ultimate-wealth-made-easy.com/best-way-to-invest-money.html

In reality he doesn't need access to the money in 2 weeks. That is a fallacy.

He loses his job, and needs 5K for expenses. He puts those on one of his credit cards. The one that just recently closed. Now he has nearly 40 days before he needs to pay that off. Roughly 20-30 days before closing + 20 days to pay the balance. Now he has 40 days to get 5K of the 50K. I'm assuming he would get a final pay check and possibly 2 weeks notice. If not, he would likely have a few thousand in his bank account from his last check. Regardless, holding off for 40-60 days wouldn't be an issue.

Meaning "Instant" is now turned into almost 2 months. If he needed 50K over night, worst case he could use credit cards, or perhaps a line of credit from the bank, or pull out a margin loan. Really he has access to the money at any point, it might cost him a nominal amount to get it, but he has access to it.

Obviously I wouldn't need the whole $50k in two weeks for most emergencies.

forex is a horrible idea. Exchange rates have fluctuated almost as much as the stock market over the last few years.

Not to mention with 50K you would be highly leveraged with forex! You couldn't even buy one lot with that!

Forex is a zero sum game for those who don't realize this. It's like a poker game where everyone chips in $50. If there are 6 players, there will be $300 between them at *ALL* times. One might have $250 while 5 others have $10, but the total will never go up or down. So the best "forex" trader wins.

theoakman says

Gold miners
Potash Companies
Wait for oil to go below $70 and load up on solid companies there.

After Potash of Saskatewan BHP bid price spike, I sold and moved into Potash One, a Canadian stock. Potash One is now getting bought out. I sold again. There seems to be a big move to swoop up Potash companies in the face of rising agricultural commodities and the need for larger crop yields. Potash is the easy route to increase yields. I'm now going to look into a speculative play involve exploration companies for Potash. Potash isn't easy to find, but when you do find it, you find it in ridiculously large quantities due to the geological nature of the formation of Potash deposits. Any company that makes a discovery is going to be a home run. In the meantime, I might as well try to find the next Potash company to be bought out.

If I had to revise my thesis for suggesting how to invest $50k, at this point, I'd go.
20% Physical Silver
10% Physical Gold
20% Precious Metals Mining Stocks
10% Potash Companies
10% Natural Gas Energy Companies
10% Petroleum Companies (Large Cap)
10% Singapore Dividend Paying Stocks
5% Switzerland Dividend Paying Stocks
5% Japanese Stocks (I'm taking Marc Faber's advice on betting on yen depreciation & Japanese equity inflow)

Meanwhile, the reality is, rather than diversify, I continue to sit overweight precious metals/mining stocks.

buy stable and high dividend stocks. like tobacco comanies.

As the Treasury prints money hand over fist and the fiat currencies around the world are being diluted constantly in the historical fashion of currencies that have wound toward unsustainability, have you studied physical metals? When you see what ALL the markets have done over the last decade and compare that to holding physical metals the decision to put that $50k into PARTICULARLY physical bullion silver is a NO BRAINER. Take a little time and read the following article and peruse the website focusing on the fundamentals of where silver is now and where it is headed and WHY. This is NOT a hard decision.

http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/View.aspx?id=245442&q=264546678&qz=3f9465

http://www.24hgold.com/english/home.aspx?mk=1

$50,000 in cash - Take $40,000 and put it into a target date fund from Vanguard, Fidelity or T. Rowe Price, use a small portion for necessity and bills and a small portion for fun.

On second thought, enjoy life while you can, I say spend it on Drugs and Hookers.