How To Turn $100 Into $1,000 in 2023
If you’re an underfunded investor with only a hundred bucks or so to put in play, you can grow that money slowly over time through traditional investing — but you’d better be patient. Another option, for the less patient perhaps, would be to take some big risks up front to try to turn that $100 into a respectable pile of seed money much quicker.
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Your hundo would certainly be a whole lot more useful with an extra zero, but if turning a C-note into a G were some easy task, no one would have to work.
“First, you need to understand that turning $100 into $1,000 requires a whopping 1,000% return,” said Omer Reiner, a licensed realtor and president of Florida Cash Home Buyers. “Even some of the world’s most successful companies still take years to return 1,000%. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible. You just need to take much riskier bets.”
Let’s explore those possibilities, shall we?
Consider Your Options — Options Trading, That Is
Right now, there’s a stock out there somewhere that will earn its investors 1,000% in the relatively near future. All you have to do is guess which one it is and buy it at just the right time.
Or you could take your $100 to where the casino wing of the stock market begins, where options traders risk large-scale losses in the pursuit of gargantuan gains. Instead of buying or selling securities like stocks, options traders buy contracts that give them the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell shares sometime in the future based on how they think the security will perform.
While this kind of investing can deliver bigger, faster returns, options trading is much more complex than buying and holding an ETF — and this high-stakes corner of the stock market is notorious for handing out losses that compound at a terrifying pace.
“Stock options are very, very risky, but they allow you to turn a small amount of money into a lot,” said Reiner.
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Gather Your Friends and Attack as a Team
Credit cards, banks and brokerages offer juicy bonuses to new customers, but they can only cash in once — unless more than one customer gets organized. Consider a rolling membership transfer pool, one of the most unique and least risky quick-cash ideas that you’ll find.
“The concept is relatively simple,” said Brad Biren, an elder law attorney in Des Moines, Iowa, and founder of IQMOP.com. “You and your friends pool your money and open bank accounts with promotional returns like $300 if you open an account and do these five things within the first month. There is no law against working together to extract the greatest value from the greatest number of promotional bank accounts.”
Biren continued, “One could pool their money among six friends, open six accounts, two at each branch, and earn money in promotions. People used to do this in the 1970s with bank accounts to get free toasters and other giveaways because banks were limited in what they could give away.”
The Best Idea of All: Invest It in Yourself
Going on a red-hot options run is a fast — and highly improbable — way to turn $100 into $1,000. By investing that $100 in your future, on the other hand, you might be able to turn it into $1,000 many times over down the road.
“It’s highly unlikely that you’ll find a nine-bagger investment, so focus more on the utility you can get out of that $100,” said Grigory Lukin, a former Amazon financial analyst who retired at 34 and is now a blogger at Let’s Retire Young.
Although he expected his advice to sound “patronizing and weird,” Lukin gave the example of a $2 investment in floss saving thousands of dollars in dental care down the road.
“Buy books on personal finance to learn more,” said Lukin, who recommended authors like Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferriss. “Invest whatever money you have into your knowledge and skillset. Turn that cash into a force multiplier as your new skills — and super-healthy gums — will help you crush the competition and get far ahead in life.”
Steffa Mantilla, a certified financial education instructor and founder of the personal finance website Money Tamer, agrees with that sentiment.
“If you’re underfunded and have $100, use that money to get a certification or skill that can advance your career,” Mantilla said. “There are no reliable get-rich-quick schemes, so instead of wasting that $100, leverage it for a skillset that can get you paid a whole lot more in a job.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How To Turn $100 Into $1,000 in 2023
