Hi there, this question is a loaded one... Not the typical investing type question found here on Clarity - but... Since I do invest heavily, I will try to give you my two cents on the subject.
I'm not a licensed advisor and this is purely conversational and by means a professional recommendation.

things to know:
1. penny stocks are typically not a good idea.
2. penny stocks can be stocks sold each to even $2-3 each... not necessarily pennies.
3. also if you want to make money, don't go for the get rich quick schemes, that never pans out....
4. Good companies aren't valued by their ticker price but their value as a company and that is calculated using their market cap, their debt, & outstanding number of shares. Compared to what the EPS vs price is how you should help determine if a stock is worth buying for potential flipping.
5. that takes me to this; flipping game and holding is a completely different strategy.
6. when flipping, if a stock drops you may not want to buy more (depending on the historical legitimacy of the company) you may want to buy more at dropped prices to margin out the losses and be able to sell quicker than just letting the negative 'losses' rise up to where you bought them initially and then sell. Sometimes buying low when you're on negative is a good thing - but only with certain companies.
7. if you chose the right companies, #6, will always be a buy option if low.. because it means your good company is 'on sale' - only thing that is affected is how soon you'd be able to sell.
8. Stop asking for penny stock companies, because you will never get the best choice that way. also is not a good long term strategy to gamble your money based on what strangers tell you to buy and spend your own hard earned money on. If it goes sour, is that person going to pay you back? Not even professional financial advisors guarantee - so don't ask strangers for actual companies. Ask for specific knowledge instead.
9. Stick to companies for industries you actually, honestly understand. If you buy a lot of them, or see your GF buying a lot of that and don't see the demand waining down...
10. Consider this: Because your buying decision should always be based on value, not price. the ticker price is irrelevant. Theoretically speaking, is the same whether you have $1000 and buy a thousand $1 shares or buy 3 @ $330 each share. what is important is their stability and their potential profit margin based on value vs ticker price not how many shares you own. Historically speaking, the less the ticker price is the more dangerous it is. Don't look at penny stocks because you only have a bit of money, look at industries first, then companies, then value. Don't start your search based on ticker price first. That's a sure fire way to have some expensive lessons.

I'm not a financial advisor, but have about 10 years investing, MBA and have a few groups where I contribute my stock info as well. If you ever need any marketing or real estate help don't hesitate to message me. Otherwise, I hope I was a bit helpful :)

For $ 500 you can't get that much in the next 5-10 years, deposit money in the bank and you will get a decent secure interest rate of $ 500 which would create some modest income for you.

Penny stocks are like options. The longer you hold them, the less likely they will pan out in the end. They need a specific catalyst for them to go up. Usually it is some sort of hype. But over time as the company uses up its money, it has less and less of a chance of surviving or having any meangingful activity.

If you are looking for a speculation - that is what penny stocks are - with a longer time frame, look at cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin or ethereum. They are still speculative and can go to nothing, but at least time is on your side, as interest in blockchain grows and governments print enormous amounts of money.

I'd stay far away from penny stocks and invest that $500 into a domain name that you can easily flip for 10x the amount you pay. Won't take a lot of work and provides HUGE profit margins.

Mark my words, sell your dollars for Bitcoin and forget about it. Don't invest in alternate currencies, only Bitcoin.