investing question

[FredAkbar]

Hi guys...is anyone here familiar with high-risk, short-term investments in companies like Winmark Corp (winmarknotes.com) and Sten Corp (stennotes.com), as well as Oxford Capital Partners (ocplimited.co.uk)? I can't really find anything online...basically the high interest rates look appealing, but the investments aren't insured and to be honest I don't really understand how they work. I'm currently in college (it's all paid for on a full scholarship) making $1000-2000 per month at a job. I've been looking around lately for good CD deals and putting $1000 here and there, etc., generally 3-4% interest. Are these higher-risk/yield securities worth looking into or is it well-known that people can often lose their money in these things?

 

[jb60606]

you didn't get those out of a newsletter of some sort (or some random recommendation from an unknown/unverified source), did you?

I know Sten corp was a recent "pump & dump" stock. I don't know anything about the other two without looking them up, but if they're micro-cap (Penny stock/Pink sheets), stay away from them unless you have money to lose.

If you just starting out - don't look for proverbial "home-run" stocks... you'll be sorry. Invest in stable companies with room to grow or mutual funds.

It's generally a somewhat dangerous time to be investing, unless you know what you're doing, you're extremely patient, and can stomach short-term loss and an extremely volatile market. I do this for a living, and I'm almost afraid to make any recommendations in what instruments to start with, but I could recommend a little reading material:

 

[FredAkbar]

Yeah that's kind of what I figured. Just to clarify, when I talk about investing with these companies, I mean buying their investment products, not buying stock in them. I don't really want to get into the stock market (other than my 2 shares of Apple ) as I'm not too familiar with it and it's rather volatile.

For example, from stennotes.com:

"STEN's primary business is funding purchases of used cars and trucks by credit challenged retail buyers from independent “buy here/pay here” sales lots in Arizona. This business and the company's other businesses are described in more detail on the Company page and in the prospectus.

A renewable unsecured subordinated note is a promise by STEN to pay principal and interest to the holder when due."

These are the comanies that come up in Google's sponsored links for high interest rates.

 

[jb60606]

Yeah that's kind of what I figured. Just to clarify, when I talk about investing with these companies, I mean buying their investment products, not buying stock in them. I don't really want to get into the stock market (other than my 2 shares of Apple ) as I'm not too familiar with it and it's rather volatile.

For example, from stennotes.com:

"STEN's primary business is funding purchases of used cars and trucks by credit challenged retail buyers from independent “buy here/pay here” sales lots in Arizona. This business and the company's other businesses are described in more detail on the Company page and in the prospectus.

A renewable unsecured subordinated note is a promise by STEN to pay principal and interest to the holder when due."

These are the comanies that come up in Google's sponsored links for high interest rates.

Ahh - sorry, I misunderstood.