Investment ideas

Investment ideas

Having one’s hard earned money invested profitably is a daunting prospect for many people. There are many options available in the market for investors, with each having its own unique characteristics. Investors put their money to risk after carefully assessing these characteristics and choosing the investment ideas that suits their needs best.

2016 is a year that didn’t start off that well and you might consider it more appropriate to hide your money in the closet than to invest it anywhere. Many of you would also take into consideration relying on professionals for providing expert opinion regarding which investments to make. Because the fact is that any money that isn’t invested is practically useless, therefore, we have some investment ideas for you that might help and the best part is they generally work well in all conditions good or bad!

Investment Idea 1;

Invest your money in GOLD. While this might be a very obvious course for some of you but there are reasons for gold to be an ideal choice when it comes to low risk investments.

First of all, the prices of gold are relatively unaffected by fluctuations in currency value. This is an asset whose worth generally rises in the long term. This makes it a better alternative to stock which is very volatile and can face a sudden and potentially irrecoverable plunge in prices! Secondly, gold is a liquid asset which means it can easily be converted into money if you require some “Cash in Hand” urgently.

However, gold is difficult to store if purchased in large quantities and it may be wise to invest in a locker/safe in order to protect your investment.

Investment Idea 2;

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS are another suitable option to consider if you are looking for both profitable and low risk investments. They are usually included in a portfolio of investments to reduce the overall risk but they can also be invested in separately to generate significant returns.

Real estate can make you some real cash, let’s see how!

If you own a property that is rented, you can benefit from annual rental increments that can add to your income every year. This means that as inflation rises each year, the value of your property and the rental income you receive from it both rise proportionally. In addition to this, the returns from a real estate investment can be increased by physically enhancing the property and its appearance. This might involve adding extra rooms, maintaining the present condition of your property or repairing anything broken such as leaked pipes

However, there are some disadvantages of investing in real estate. A property is not a very liquid asset which means it cannot be easily sold without incurring significant transaction costs. Also the maintenance of a real estate property is an expensive venture that can cut back on any profits you have already earned from it.

Investment Idea 3;

TREASURY BONDS or BILLS are another form of investment that is considered relatively risk free and secure. This is mainly because they are issued by the government and the returns from them are predictable. The way they work is that you simply purchase a treasury bond/bill from brokers or the treasury itself. The bonds have a maturity date until which you receive a specific percentage of interest. When the maturity date expires, you get your principal amount back.

Treasury bonds have many advantages. In addition to being a secure form of investment like we already discussed, they also provide tax benefits to their holders in that they are exempt from local income tax and state tax. They are short-term investments which implies that they are not held for long periods of time which can be ideal for people of old age and any other individuals who does not want their money tied up for the long haul.

As we all must be familiar with, “the higher the risk, the higher the return” principle, the downside to treasury bills is that since they are less risky, they provide less returns. Therefore, if you are someone who is in search of tremendous returns, you probably shouldn’t go down this road!

Investment Idea 4;

Another option for all of you looking to invest their money in is STOCK. This refers to shares of various companies that are available to be bought and sold on the stock exchange. Stocks are considered quite a “High Paying” form of investment as compared to others. They are also a means of purchasing a piece of ownership in the company you are investing in, however small it may be. This qualifies you to vote on certain matters of the company which gives you some say on how things are governed in an organization that has your money.

However, with stocks, you are at a bigger risk of losing your money. This is because every high-return investment requires you to have a good risk appetite (as mentioned earlier!). Also stock investments are dreaded by many people due to their complexity and time commitment involved. It requires a lot of research and analysis to find the most suitable entity to invest in. One solution is to hire professionals to do this tiresome job for you but that requires some additional investment of money in the form of these professionals’ fee.

To sum it all up, finding the perfect course of action when it comes to investment is a time taking and complicated job. A quick fix can be to benefit from all the professional help that is available out there but that can be quite expensive for some people. We would suggest to start from the basics and test the waters before committing a huge amount of money. Another option is to invest in a portfolio which includes different forms of investments so that the overall risk can be managed effectively.

We hope that this article was useful in providing some insight into the arduous and challenging world of investments. We also wish you all the luck in your journey of unravelling the ideal course of investment for you!