Investments do not necessarily require a huge amount of capital. Even a small amount of money can, over time, noticeably improve the investor’s financial situation.
The article provides several options on how to invest $5000. The proposed financial instruments vary in volatility and will suit people with different goals, timeframes and risk tolerance.
Table of Contents
Pay Off High-Interest Debts Before you start investing
One of the easiest ways how to invest 5000 dollars wisely is to pay off your high interest debts. This is primarily credit card debt and consumer loans.
The average annual return for the broad market is 8-10%. Credit card rates can exceed 20% per annum. There is a high probability that by paying off the debt, a beginning investor will save more money on interest payments than the money he or she would have earned on exchange-traded assets.
Moreover, investments always involve risk. And the “income” received due to early loan repayment with a high interest rate is absolutely risk-free. Therefore, when one doesn’t have the opportunity to switch to more favorable terms with low rates, paying off debt is one of the best ways to invest free money.
What’s the way to invest 5000 dollars?
There are many options on how to invest 5000 dollars. There are 8 popular ways to manage this amount followed by their advantages and disadvantages. Which option to choose depends on your individual situation – your investment horizon and risk tolerance.
Create a Diversified Portfolio Using Buckets
The multiple investment basket strategy boils down to a person dividing his/her capital into 3 parts:
- An emergency fund to be used in case of illness, job loss, etc. The money is invested in instruments allowing it to be returned at any time without any loss.
- Medium-term savings in a standard taxable account. These are good for saving to make a down payment on a house, etc.
- Retirement accounts.
The advantage of this approach is that the investor can use strategies with different risk levels for different baskets. A healthy emergency fund is the amount needed for 3-6 months of a person’s life. Thanks to its availability, a person will face no need to sell his assets during drawdown periods.
The disadvantage of this solution is that it will be more difficult for an investor to create a diversified long-term portfolio for one-third of the $5000.
Diversify Instantly with Mutual Funds
Mutual funds are a collective investment instrument. Management companies pool investors’ money and invest it in a set of assets defined by the fund’s strategy. These can be stocks, bonds, precious metals or a combination of all of them.
When buying securities of a mutual fund of stocks, a person indirectly invests in a large number of companies at once. In case one of them has problems and the quotations go down, it will not affect the investor’s capital as much as if he invested in only 1-2 companies.
There are index funds among mutual funds. Many of these types of pools, however, are actively managed. This means that the fund is headed by experienced investors who are trying to get returns higher than the market average.
The price of mutual fund stocks depends on the value of their net assets and changes once a day. These securities can be bought online. However, one should contact a dealer or a management company.
Advantages of investing in mutual funds:
- simplicity of diversification;
- professional capital management;
- tax advantages of holding an asset for the long term ( with the fund itself being able to utilize short-term strategies);
- lower risk than buying individual stocks;
- possibility to completely avoid the need to rebalance the portfolio when applying to target date funds or mixed funds.
Mixed mutual funds do not invest in one asset class, but in several at once. The manager constantly maintains an allocation that is consistent with the established investment strategy.
Target date funds also have different financial instruments in their net assets. But their ratio varies. At the very beginning of the fund’s existence, the focus is placed on risky assets – primarily equities. As the capital repayment period approaches, the manager increases the share of bonds.
Mutual funds also have several disadvantages. The key one is the management fee, which can exceed 1%. There are also additional commissions when buying and selling stocks (but they are waived by many funds).
At the same time, it is not guaranteed that the strategy used will bring high income. Statistics prove that a very small number of actively managed funds succeed in steadily “overtaking” the market over a horizon of decades.
One type of mutual fund is REITs (real estate investment trusts). The majority of their stocks are traded on the stock exchange.
The net assets of such funds are either real estate (residential buildings, offices, retail premises, warehouses and data centers) or mortgage-backed securities.
REIT stocks are a good answer to the question of how to invest $5,000 wisely for someone planning a dividend strategy. Under U.S. law, REITs are required to distribute 90% of their profits to shareholders. Quotes of such securities rarely demonstrate rapid growth.
Diversify by Investing in ETFs
This is another collective investment vehicle. Like mutual funds, the net assets of most ETFs are a diversified set of stocks or bonds. But there are some significant differences:
- almost all ETFs are passively managed funds that track a particular index without attempts to beat market returns;
- the expense ratio of an ETF is usually lower than that of a mutual fund investing in similar assets;
- transactions in ETF stocks take place on a stock exchange; a brokerage account is required to purchase the securities;
- ETFs pay dividends but, unlike mutual funds, do not distribute capital appreciation to shareholders;
- ETFs have no minimum investment threshold and no additional commissions on purchases and sales (except for brokerage commissions).
Most ETFs track a particular stock or bond index. It is not possible to find exchange traded funds that will free the investor from rebalancing. For a good diversification, a portfolio of at least 3-4 ETFs will need to be created and its status will need to be monitored regularly.
The profitability of such investments depends on many factors, including the underlying index, investment period, and market situation.
For example, from January 2016 to February 2021, quotes of the SPY ETF, which tracks the S&P 500 index, doubled. Having invested in its shares, an investor would double his capital in 5 years, and that’s without taking dividends into account.
At the same time, a stock of this fund costs about the same amount now as in August 2021. So, investing in this fund, the investor would not earn on the growth of quotations. He would only receive dividend yield, which does not even reach 2% per year. This figure is lower than the current rates on savings certificates.
That is why beginners are recommended to resort to diversification and dollar price averaging strategy.
The advantages and disadvantages of investing in index funds compared to individual stocks are summarized in the table below.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Easy diversification with minimal investments | Low performance (even if a stock starts making losses, it will remain in the fund until it is removed from the copied index) |
| Access to assets that are difficult to invest in directly (e.g. foreign equities) | Management fee (for an index fund on the S&P 500 it will be less than 0.1%, for an ETF on any industry – can reach 0.5% or more) |
| Less risk than investing in a single company |
Invest in High-Quality Dividend Stocks
This is one of the most popular answers to the question of what to invest 5000 dollars in. This amount will be enough to independently put together an industry-diversified set of stocks that consistently pay dividends.
This investment allows passive income. This is free money that can be spent or reinvested. In addition, the capital will increase due to the growth of stock prices.
The index of “dividend aristocrats” will help to choose the right securities. It includes companies that have been paying shareholders for at least 25 years, regularly increasing the amount of remuneration. Here is the list of the top 10 companies included in the index.
| Top 10 Constituents By Index Weight (AS OF JUNE 30, 2023) | ||
| CONSTITUENT | SYMBOL | SECTOR* |
| Albemarle Corp | ALB | Materials |
| Pentair PLC | PNR | Industrials |
| Cardinal Health Inc | САН | Health Care |
| W.W. Grainger Inc | GWW | Industrials |
| Stanley Black & Decker | SWK | Industrials |
| S&P Global Inc | SPGI | Financials |
| Sherwin-Williams Co | SHW | Materials |
| Nordson Corp | NDSN | Industrials |
| Ecolab Inc | ECL | Materials |
| Brown & Brown Inc | BRO | Financials |
The main advantage of investing in individual stocks is the ability to select the best companies and quickly eliminate from the portfolio those that no longer meet the requirements.
Disadvantages of investing in individual stocks:
- higher time costs for choosing issuers and rebalancing the portfolio;
- lower degree of diversification;
- risk that the company will change its dividend policy.
Trade stocks
Active trading and short-term strategies often seem like an attractive way to increase capital quickly. But statistically, passive investors are more likely to achieve financial stability over the long term.
If a beginner on the stock market wants to try his hand at trading, it is advisable to limit the amount of money allocated for this purpose. A frequent recommendation of financial advisors is to risk no more than 10% of one’s capital.
The main disadvantages of an active strategy:
- high risks of losing money on unsuccessful deals, especially if leverage is used;
- significant time spent on market analysis.
The advantage is the ability to make quick profits on short-term price fluctuations and make money during a falling market.
Add a low-risk Bond to your portfolio
Government bonds are considered to be the safest type of securities. They are debt obligations of the US Treasury. Investing in them provides a number of advantages:
- minimal risk (the price of the bond may decrease on the secondary market, but the paper will be redeemed at par on the appointed date);
- stable fixed income (for issues with coupon payments);
- possibility to choose a bond with a maturity date close to the planned date of investment return.
In addition to government bonds, there are municipal and corporate ones. The level of investment risk depends on the issuer’s credit rating. The lower the latter, the higher the probability of losing the invested money. However, the risk is compensated by a higher yield.
Disadvantages of investing in bonds:
- low yields, especially on government bonds;
- the risk of rising interest rates.
When buying a bond with a long maturity, an investor should take into account the fact that if rates rise, the price of the security he owns will fall. He will only be able to sell it at a loss. If he continues to hold the asset, he will miss the opportunity to invest the money invested in it at a more favorable interest rate.
Invest in International Bonds With Higher Yields
Interest rates in the US are quite low. It is possible to find bonds with higher yields in emerging markets. The main advantages of such a decision are higher investment returns and increased portfolio diversification across countries and currencies.
But higher yields involve higher risk. The main disadvantages of investing in international assets:
- Currency risk. There is a possibility that the exchange rate of the currency in which the high-yield bond is denominated will fall so much that it will not be covered by a higher interest rate.
- Country risk. An investor could lose his or her investment in the event of political, military conflict, etc.
- More complicated access to the asset. One should choose a broker that gives access to foreign exchanges directly, or use ETFs and mutual funds that invest in international bonds.
Take a Risk With Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is now considered to be the most risky asset. Therefore, this way of investing money is suitable only for a person with a high risk tolerance. It is recommended to invest no more than 5-10% of capital in tokens.
This asset has many disadvantages:
- high probability of losing capital due to the volatility of the cryptocurrency market;
- insufficient market liquidity, especially in the case of “shitcoins”;
- regulatory risks;
- storage difficulties;
- lack of guarantees of investment safety (an investor can lose his or her cryptocurrency wallet password, and someone who stores money on an exchange can become a victim of account hacking);
- lack of real value of the asset.
The main advantage of cryptocurrency is its high potential profitability. For example, over the last 6 months, bitcoin has risen in value by almost 50%.
But the opposite situation is also possible. In May 2022, one of the most popular tokens LUNA lost more than 96% of its capitalisation in a matter of hours.
Give your retirement savings a boost
The stock market has short-term ups and downs. But in the long term, the “magic” of compound interest works for a well-diversified portfolio.
That’s why funding or building a retirement account is the best option for how to invest $5,000. And if a person uses a traditional 401 (k) or IRA, he or she will reduce his or her current year’s tax liability thanks to this investment.
The money deposited in the account will grow tax free. You will only have to pay it when you withdraw the money after retirement (at age 59.5 at the earliest).
Roth 401(k) and Roth IRAs are suitable for low-income people who pay little tax. This type of programme is completely tax-free on the income earned in the retirement account.
| Advantages of investing through a retirement account | Disadvantages of using retirement plans |
| Tax benefits | Limit on early withdrawal of funds |
| Additional contributions to an employer sponsored retirement plan | There are limits on the maximum amount of money you can deposit per year ($22,500 for a 401(k) and $6,500 for an IRA if the investor is under age 50) |
| Secure financial situation when you are elderly | Restrictions on available tools on some corporate programmes |
It is recommended to start your retirement planning with your employer’s corporate plan. The reason for this is that many companies support their employees’ retirement co-funding plan and top up their 401(k) accounts with the same amount that the individual contributed. This way one can “free” 5% of their annual income or more.
If a person still has money left over after reaching the maximum employer match, he or she can contribute it to an individual retirement account.
Fund a Health Savings Account
An HSA is another type of tax-advantaged target-date investment account. By funding it, a person reduces his or her taxable income. The income received due to the investment is also tax-free.
Disadvantages of a health savings account:
- low deposit limits ($3850 in 2023 for a single person);
- restrictions on how you can use your capital (tax credits are only available if the money is used to pay for health expenses).
Take Advantage of High-Yield Savings Accounts
This is the most conservative answer to the question of how to invest 5000 dollars. This investment option is more suitable for short-term tasks.
A high yield savings account can be used to accumulate the necessary amount for immediate goals, as a temporary “parking” of money in the absence of good ideas for earning money on the stock market, or as a way to store an emergency fund.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Higher interest rates than regular accounts | Low returns compared to equities and other risky assets |
| Possibility to withdraw money early without penalties and commissions | Rates often do not cover the rate of inflation |
| Guaranteed safety of the money invested (if the bank participates in the federal insurance programme and only for amounts up to $250 thousand). | The most favorable rates are offered by online banks, whose customers may encounter difficulties with cash deposits and withdrawals |
| Guaranteed profitability |
Certificates of deposit are considered an alternative to a high-yield savings account. They give an even higher yield. But penalties may be charged for early withdrawal.
Another option is money market accounts. Rates on them are lower, but such programmes offer greater flexibility in the use of your finances and sometimes give additional bonuses when a debit card is linked to them.
Fund a 529 Plan for Your Child’s (or Other Relative’s) College Education
A 529 plan is a targeted plan that allows you to save for education. It can be opened even before the baby is born.
A 529 plan conditions vary greatly from state to state. In most states, the amount contributed to the account is exempt from local income tax. However, federal tax is still required to be paid.
A 529 plan can be of 2 types:
- prepaid – when depositing money to it, a person simply pays in advance for a certain period of training at the current price;
- investment – funds can be invested in different stock market instruments in order to multiply them.
In the second case, the accumulated capital can be used not only to pay for the tuition itself, but also for related expenses – accommodation, buying books, etc.
If money is withdrawn from the account to pay for education, the income received is exempt from tax. In case of early non-purpose withdrawal of capital, the investor will face a fine.
There are no limits on the maximum amount you can contribute to a 529 plan. But it is recommended that a maximum of $17,000 be contributed to the account by each parent in 2023. If this amount is exceeded, gift tax must be paid.
The advantage of a 529 plan is the tax benefits and the ability to provide children with a good start in life in the form of a quality education. The disadvantage is the confusing terms, which differ for each state.
Where to invest 5000 right now for Quick Return? 5 options with higher risks
Often younger investors prefer riskier investments to get a chance to achieve financial independence as soon as possible. Below are 5 of the best ways to invest 5000 that offer a chance for high returns.
Copy Trading
Copy-trading is a service that allows beginners to copy the trades of experienced investors. To use this tool, one needs to register on the platform providing this service and select an expert who will manage the account.
All transactions made by him will be automatically copied on the client’s account. When choosing one, it is necessary to pay attention to the trader’s experience, his previous results and the aggressiveness of his investment strategy.
Also, some experienced traders provide “trading signals”. Having received this information, a person can decide for himself whether to repeat the expert’s deal.
| Advantages of copy trading | Disadvantages of copy trading |
| Minimizing time spent on trading | Difficulties in finding a reliable platform and trader |
| Opportunity to make quick profits during periods of high volatility | Even an experienced trader can make mistakes and eventually lose his deposit. The trader is not responsible for the safety of the capital entrusted to him or her |
| The opportunity to take advantage of the benefits that come with the expert’s knowledge | Trader’s remuneration is a fixed amount that is paid even in case of a loss and a percentage of profit that reduces the final return |
Copy trading is most popular on forex, cryptocurrency exchanges.
Use a Robo Advisor
A robo advisor is a programme that can completely take over the portfolio management. It determines the initial asset allocation, maintains it over time, reinvests dividends and coupon payments.
The level of risk tolerance is initially determined by the investor. In order to get a chance at the highest possible returns, one should use aggressive strategies.
Advantages of a robo advisor:
- usage costs are noticeably lower than human financial planner fees (approximately 0.25% of asset value per year, when an expert might charge 1-2%);
- saving time on searching for assets independently;
- avoiding mistakes as a result of the “human factor”.
The main disadvantage is the limited possibilities to personalize the strategy. Unlike a human advisor, such a programme will not help you allocate your personal finances between accounts designed to achieve different goals.
High-Return Funds
The riskier the investment instruments that make up the net assets of a mutual fund or ETF, the greater its potential return. High-yield funds can invest in alternative assets, stocks with high dividend yields or use leverage to maximize returns.
The disadvantage of such funds is a high risk of falling stock prices and losing some of your invested capital.
Crypto Trading
As already mentioned, cryptocurrency is one of the most volatile investment assets. It is possible to make money on it not only with the help of passive strategies, but also by active trading.
The main advantage of such a decision is the opportunity to get a quick and significant profit. But one should keep in mind several disadvantages:
- high risks of capital loss;
- lack of stable passive income;
- probability of encountering fraud, especially in p2p trading.
To make truly regular profits with trading, one needs to be well versed in technical analysis and understand the peculiarities of the cryptocurrency market, which means spending a lot of time learning and finding trades.
Penny Stocks
A penny stock is a stock that costs less than $5. Most often they belong to small capitalization companies or startups.
There are almost no such securities on centralized exchanges. Transactions with them are made on the OTC market Pink Sheets, OTC or OTCQX. This means that such companies are subject to lower requirements in terms of reporting and business transparency.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Opportunity to make a quick profit due to high volatility of stocks | High risk of capital loss |
| Chances of investing in the future “Apple” in the first stages of business development | Difficulties with correct valuation of the company due to lack of information |
| Low asset liquidity | |
| High dependence of quotations on insider manipulations |
An alternative to penny stocks, which allows to earn money on small and mid-capitalisation companies, is investing in ETFs tracking the Russell 2000 index. Due to the wide diversification, the risk of such investments is minimal compared to buying securities of individual issuers.
The screen below presents information on the 5 cheapest stocks included in the Russell 2000 Index.
Think About the Level of Risk You’re Comfortable With
Investing always involves risks. The higher the volatility of the asset chosen for investment, the higher its potential profitability. But at the same time, the probability of capital loss or at least “paper loss” in case of a long-term strategy that does not involve margin trading increases.
Therefore, before opening a brokerage account and making the first investments, a person should evaluate his ability to put up with the money loss from the psychological point of view. The ability to see the “drawdown” of the portfolio value and continue to follow one’s strategy is called risk tolerance.
Investors overestimating their psychological stability often end their “career” on the stock exchange at the first correction, selling assets “at the bottom” of quotations.
Investment advisors offer their clients to assess their risk tolerance with the help of a questionnaire. There are three types of investors:
- Low risk tolerance. Such an individual would be better off limiting his or her investments to high-yield savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and treasuries.
- Medium risk tolerance. This is the portrait of a classic investor who is suited to a well-diversified portfolio that includes stocks and bonds of large companies from various industries, as well as gold investments.
- High risk tolerance. These are usually younger people seeking to get rich quickly. They are inclined to an aggressive investment style, are ready to engage in trading and invest in companies like Virgin Galactic, cryptocurrencies, etc.
There is another concept – the ability to accept risk. In this case, it is not about the investor’s psychology, but about his objective situation:
- time horizon;
- income level.
The longer the period until the financial goal is reached, the more risk a person can afford to take. This is because in case of failure he will have time to compensate for the loss.
The higher the investor’s income and the amount he puts aside, the more diversification a person can afford. This means that his ability to accept risk also increases. Even if part of the capital is completely lost, this will be compensated by profits from other assets.
Trade-Up to Better Choices as Your Investment Pot Grows
If $5000 is the investor’s entire capital, it is a wise move to choose a maximum of 2-3 of the investment options listed above. This amount is enough to create a diversified portfolio of ETFs or mutual funds and even individual stocks and bonds. But it is definitely too small to cover all the existing investment instruments. As your capital increases and you gain experience, you can add new types of assets to your portfolio.
A common recommendation of financial advisors is to begin investing with fairly conservative instruments (e.g. government bonds or dividend aristocrat stocks).
In this way, a person will be able to practically evaluate his/her reaction to temporary drawdowns in the value of the investment portfolio and more consciously approach the choice of risky assets.
Summary
Each of the asset classes has its own advantages and disadvantages, and without understanding them one cannot talk about smart investing. The best way to invest 5000 dollars is to choose the investment instrument that meets his or her financial goals and risk tolerance to the maximum extent possible.
Therefore, the first step is to determine your investment horizon and tolerance for capital losses. Then, you should decide what type of account would be most appropriate – standard taxable account, IRA, etc. Once this is done, you should only move on to buying various investment assets – bonds, stocks of individual companies, ETFs, etc.
FAQ
How to make a profit from 5k?
This amount will be enough for almost any way of earning passive income. If a person is interested in a guaranteed result, he or she can make money on bank deposits, certificates of deposit and bonds. If the goal is to maximize profits, it is better to pay attention to trading in high beta stocks or cryptocurrency.
What to invest 5000 dollars in wisely?
Government bonds, ETFs or mutual funds tracking the S&P 500 index, dividend aristocrat stocks are considered the smartest investments for a beginner.
How can I invest $5,000 dollars for a quick return?
The fastest way to make money is to trade volatile assets, such as cryptocurrency. But you should remember that this involves a high risk of losing money.
If I invest $5000 in bitcoin today how much is it worth?
At the time of writing, $5000 corresponds to 0.16024 BTC. This can be considered a good investment considering that bitcoin is now far from its all-time high, and the cryptocurrency market is becoming more and more popular every day.
How can I double $5000 dollars?
Virtually any class of investment assets can help double the amount invested. The only question is the ratio between the time it takes and the risk level.
For example, using a bank deposit at 3% per annum, it would take more than 23 years to double the deposit (without additional investments). How quickly this can be done with individual stocks (and whether it can be done at all) depends on the investor’s ability to choose companies.
