What would be a good investment?

I just turn 18 and working for minimum wage and I don't need a get rich scheme just something that will be productive.

Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Most folks have a dificult time buying a properly balanced portfoilio of stocks on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

Sources:

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planni...
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetalloca...
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin...
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics

Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://personal.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/...
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebOb...
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx

Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)

stocks. especially solar stocks, green energy stocks, electric car stocks, etc.. hope this helps

Good for you. It's very wise to start looking into this while you're young.

That being said, the best investment would be to get a good education in how to invest. I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who post questions here and are willing to risk their money based on other people's suggestions. Remember, there's no requirement that anyone who posts here have any expertise on the subject. I can tell you an investment that might be totally inappropriate for you or it might be the dumbest investment in history. ("Buy Iraqi dinars!")

I suggest picking up a couple of books on personal finance and beginning investing. Look for a class at your local community college or adult ed program. People who "invest" without knowing what they're doing usually lose money. Lots of it. Knowledge is the difference between sucessful investing and gambling.

Good luck!

Right now a good place to invest is a savings account get a little emergency find going. You want to get 6 months worth of bills saved. The whole time you are doing that, learn about investments look at the following: stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. I personally like no-load mutual funds, but that is my preferance based on my risk tolerance. A few things you need to establish is how much risk you are willing to take, and how much you can put towards investing. Also look at your goals, are you looking to save for retirement or make some short term gains? It is great that you are looking at doing this now the more money you get working for you now the sooner you can acheive financial independence.

the stockmarket in australia is booming ,coal iron ore sales to china is growing fast ,buy stock in any of thes and u cant go wrong

You need money in order to invest. Start by saving all you can and in the meantime learning about investing.

an online venture like http://www.airlinetraveltogoa.com would be right. As I am on it.