If you have never invested money before, then it will feel quite scary. Where should you invest? What if I lose? What if I don’t understand something? Or miss something? What if I invest in the wrong place?
All these questions and more will be spinning around in your head. The fact of the matter is there is no such thing as a sure thing. All investments come with an element of risk associated with them. If they didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to win big, would you?
You can always play it safe and keep your money in a savings account, but even with the recent increase in interest rates, you are never likely to get the returns you can when you contrast it with investing. Fortune favors the brave, or so they say. Which means you need that element of risk.
However, making hugely risky choices is not the wisest thing to do, especially in these uncertain times. So, what is the best thing to do? While investors are panicking over potentially losing everything, what investments can you make?
Real Estate
People are always going to need somewhere to live, no matter what the political and financial circumstances of the country are. Even with property prices plateauing or dipping slightly, there is huge potential to make a good return on your investment. First of all, you will always be able to find deals.
Foreclosures where a quick sale is needed, for example, are an opportunity for you to get something below the current market rate. If you have any experience or contacts in the home renovations industry, then you can buy a fixer-upper and do it up to a high spec without the huge price tag that is usually associated with it.
There may never have been a better time to buy to let either. Letting your houses out will allow you to make money in the interim while the housing market recovers again if it does dip significantly. In the long run, the housing market is very likely to recover and increase again. As mentioned earlier, the need for houses is not going away.
Why not take a look at some houses for sale and get an idea of what you can purchase with the capital you have? If you do your homework and investigate the market, discover your options and find out what is on offer, there is no reason why you cannot turn a decent profit, even if all the signs are against it.
Bonds
When it comes to bonds, there are two overarching categories, Government Bonds and Corporation Bonds, and both can make fine investments. In terms of risk, though, Government Bonds are the least risky option, but that also means that they are less lucrative too – the interest garnered is far less than you would get with any corporation’s bond.
In a nutshell, a bond is like a form of loan which you lend to the government or organization over a fixed amount of time. The duration of some bonds can be as long as 30 years. Over that period of time, you, the lender, will receive payouts which are of the interest the loan amount has gathered. These interest payments are known as coupons.
Coupons are paid regularly, at times agreed when you lent them out, annually, bi-annually, whatever the contract deems. At the end of the contract time, the bonds mature, and the institution to lend the money to will pay you back the amount they borrowed at the beginning. When it comes to Government Bonds, they are divided into two different types, treasury, otherwise known as federal bonds issued by the central government, and municipal bonds, which the local or state governments will issue.
Corporate bonds are handed out by the individual corporation. As you can see, Government bonds are the least risky option as the likelihood of the government folding during the term of your investment contract is far less likely than a company folding. For this reason, corporate bonds come with a credit rating to assess their risk.
A company with a triple-A rating is clearly seen to be the least risky option. However, there is still no such thing as no risk. So, you need to weigh up your chances against the amount of time you want to invest.
Yourself
One of the best investment types is an investment in yourself. Can you see any industries that need more employees, dentists, doctors, computer programmers, etc.? Maybe you should use your money and pay towards an education that will enable you to embark on one of these much-needed and fairly lucrative careers.
Some people think that they are too old, in their thirties or even forties, but choose the right skill, and there is no reason why you cannot change careers and excel. Another way you can invest in yourself is to create a side hustle that may eventually become a business. Do you have any specialist knowledge in any area?
Maybe you are a comic book enthusiast or a bit of a wine connoisseur. Well, how can you monetize this knowledge? Could you give advice to a collector? Could you write for a specialist magazine? Could you turn your knowledge into a shop where you buy and sell these items? There are many ways you can invest in yourself and grow and develop as well.
Cryptocurrency
The Internet is not going away anytime soon. In fact quite the opposite. We are using the Internet more than ever before. We all have smartphones, so the Internet is constantly at our fingertips. This fact has driven a seismic shift in how buying and selling are conducted.
These days almost 80% of people shop regularly online, and over half of people prefer online shipping to actually physically going into a shop. What this means is that the need for cryptocurrency is only going to increase. Cryptocurrencies and their associated technology are making the process of conducting transactions online. Businesses are finding crypto far easier. This is because digital currencies simplify the transaction process, making it more efficient, transparent, as well as logical.
In fact, blockchain has the ability to allow users to follow a transaction from start to finish. Industries such as logistics are being transformed by it, and that is only the beginning. Over time, more and more businesses and individuals will invest in cryptocurrency. At the moment, cryptocurrency is still in its infancy, which means there is scope for individual investors to turn a profit.
Most people out there will eh aware of how Bitcoin stampede into being one of the most profitable things ever. But Bitcoin is only one type of digital currency. If this form of investment interests you, the best thing you can do is investigate. Digital currencies, due to their unregulated nature, can go either way, so there is a big risk there. So, do your research, speak to advisors and get in before regulation hampers any huge potential gains.
The Stock Market
The stock market is pretty much the first thing anyone thinks of when they think of investing. It has been made famous by wall street and the film industry. But it is for a good reason. If you invest correctly then you can make a lot of money. When you invest in the stock market, you are investing in individual companies.
Ensure you do adequate research of the companies that interest you, never take someone’s word for it. Read as much as you can, press releases, etc., to discover what the future of the company is. The more you know, the more educated your investment will be. Wise Investors always do their homework.