I think the only way you can turn $2500 into $7500 or better is by being a day trader which is a much higher risk. To me it's more enjoyable though...but requires a lot of dedication, kind of reminds me of playing Texas Hold'em. You might even get turned on by getting a copy of walstreet journal delivered to your door every morning. I did...lol, smoke a cigar in the evening...made me kind of feel rich and famous...haha.

Anyways, I get the most out of day trading but personally I think you increase your ability to make more, with more. The goal with day trading is to buy a lot when a stock is preferably gowing up and sell as it's still going up. Make sense?

Practice first before trying to day trade....it's easy to lose it ALL real fast! But, if you know what you are doing then you can make some nice money as well. I would feel more comfortable with starting with $7500 though...because you will lose some of it even if you are a good day trader but the idea is to spread it around and still have enough to cover the trade cost and the occassional loss.

I did a lot of practicing here:http://wallstreetsurvivor.com/
(it's fun and you can compete with friends, family and others online, it's all ficticious but based on the actual stock market, there is a small delay so that skews your outcome a bit but the concept can still be applied)

Also, I'm not a financial advisor in any way shape or form, I have day traded and really don't know what I'm doing. So make sure YOU do before trying to day trade. I only recommended day trading because you said you want to triple your money in a years time and day trading is the only way I know to do that but it comes with high risks. I know several people that have lost a lot of moolah day trading. That isn't really investing...that's more gambling than anything.

You could also practice moving your cash around. Take a large sum and move it from accounts that are paying high interest. That only works well on large sums of money though.