College Junior needing help with investing

I don't see any exposure to energy in there. Might be something to consider given that everyone who drives a car is naturally already short oil. Until you own more oil company profits than you spend on gasoline, you've probably got a bit of a comparative advantage on the risk when it comes to owning energy relative to the rest of the market. Maybe an oil stock (particularly one that pays dividends) has a place in your portfolio.

the problem with your portfolio is no hedge its all tied to stocks

For a college student not currently working in finance, I think that's OK- particularly for the IRA. The money is small potatos compared to what he'd be able to save up after working at a F500 company for a year or so. I think 20-somethings should aim for 80% equity exposure, but if you're a college kid with all of your potential earnings ahead of you and no need (yet) for an emergency savings fund since Mom and Dad are covering the rent, you can afford to be a little more aggressive.

If this is his tuition/expense money he's playing around with, that's another story.

This is money I've saved up. I have mommy and daddy and part-time job for other things. I do have a $2000 CD at the bank...

I'm looking for long-term 3-5 year pure equity opportunities.

thanks illini...I will do some research on that.

TGIF, this is a great start! most of my friends at our age are in CC debt and in a "pure" spending phase!

yeah, it is a bit too deep in stocks ... hedge a bit .... you are on the right track tho.

I'm not looking into hedging because I already have 2k in a CD at the bank and ~2k bonds I got from inheritance. this is just my own vanguard portfolio for pure equity. I'm 20 and I work part-time, my tuition is dirt cheap...so risk is not that big of a factor for me.

anyone have opinions on DRIPs for long-term investments?

Ditch your CD and get some Commodity exposure.

TGIF,

You own basically all index funds. Bravo has a point that you may want to have exposure to commodities. Rather than owning all index funds maybe put half into a few individual stocks that are blue chips with decent dividends. I would avoid bonds at these record low levels.

thanks ben and bravo...

I'm planning on doing 40%-50% blue chips on my portfolio and tossing the STAR fund in my IRA and using the cash for commodities..maybe oil and steel..

would it be wise to reinvest the gains I have made (~2k) on my portfolio and invest in blue chips?

That works. I'd advise against putting it into an oil fund like USO, those are geared more towards trading. I'd choose an oil company stock ie - BP. They are reinstating the dividend soon and the money that set aside for claims was almost twice what was needed. XOM is nice too if you like exposure to nat gas, they bought XTO.

How about selling any indexes?

Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund Investor Shares Vanguard REIT Index Fund Investor Shares Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund Investor Shares

There is a $3,000 min on them. So I would have to sell one or two.