Ask HN: What can I do with $1-2k (Australia)

1 points by bluemetal ↗ HN
I'm a young 2nd year CS student at a Melbourne university. I have one or two thousand dollars I would like to play around with. Well not play around with - I don't want to waste this money - I want to invest it. I just want to do it in a way where I learn some new skills or have an interesting experience. Talking to my friends we came up with stocks, gold or some kind of small business. All of which I know sweet all about. So I thought I might ask you guys.

4 comments

[ 0.24 ms ] story [ 21.0 ms ] thread
Honestly? If you haven't got a sound idea on how to invest it, I would say leave it in the bank and accrue interest until you've got a decent idea on what to do with it, otherwise you run a high risk of essentially blowing it.

If you're still adamant about blowing your cash, might as well spend it on something tangible like towards a new macbook pro or something.

I have all the material possessions I can really think of, in fact I enjoy getting rid of things when I can. I want an experience and a reason to learn new skills. I won't just blindly run into any investment, I'd just like some advice on where to start learning for a not-so-large amount of money.

Edit: This is hardly a small amount of money for me. I don't mean to sound nonchalant

That's fair enough. Again, honestly? I'd say still stick it in the bank and start a web-based business around an app you write. Its extremely cheap to take this route.

Bootstrapping is an incredible rush and it makes you think about what is absolutely necessary in your business, then cut that in half.

It's one of those "living on the edge" kinda feelings, the payoff is worth it.

If I was in your position, that's what I'd do.... but take my advice as much as you can take the advice of any random stranger on the net telling you how to invest your money... with a grain of salt.

Thanks man, always like honest advice even if it's from 'random internet strangers'. That sounds, well, amazing. I had a few ideas a short time ago but I guess I'm not really very confident about my skills yet. But it's going on the whiteboard