Investment is a complex phenomenon. It is rightly said, “In investing what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” Many perceive investment as saving because earning a profit is not their priority. Usually, people invest in an open eye dream that their investment will always give them profits at a minimum risk factor. Unfortunately, this dream does not last long as soon as you enter the reality of investments. There is no such ideal situation which offers high returns and low risk as mostly there are situations where there are high returns with high risk or low returns with low risk. So, it completely depends on the person, whether he is a risk hugger or a risk averter.
Investments are absolutely essential to secure and enjoy a comfortable future. Investments can provide an extra income; help fund your retirement or can even pull you out of financial distress. Hence, if you want to grow your wealth with the aim to meet your financial goals and increase your purchasing power over a specific period of time, investment is the best answer.
Usually, people hire an exclusive financial planning company for their investment planning and financial strategies tailored to fit their requirements. However, some would not consider the financial planning company and would go analyzing the risk themselves. They use the DIY approach to allocate their funds in various businesses in the form of investments. Few conservative investors who are close to their retirement will definitely prefer less risky investments with less timeframe. As a matter of fact, if you are looking to increase your monitory funds even then you can opt for low-risk investment plans or you can have iron gut’s courage and go for a riskier but greater returns investment plans. Here are the seven most amazing tips on the best investment options for the year 2019.
Stock Markets
This is one of the trickiest investment options but at the same time the one with the biggest returns. For this type of investment, it is important that you should be keeping up with stock market twists and turns. This might not seem a good time to invest in stocks but if you are doing a long-haul investment and have a long-time period to wait until the stocks rise up again you are good to invest in the stocks.
Experts and researchers say that “Emotions can hinder a good investment plan in different market scenarios, whether you are experiencing the market that is going up or a bear market where the market is facing its lows”. Also, if you don’t feel comfortable to buy an individual stock, and do not intend to face a riskier investment, you can invest in global low-cost stocks.
You can also invest in a traditional IRA to be able to reduce your taxable income, only if you meet the income requirements.
Peer-to-Peer Lending
It is a newly-introduced opportunity for your excess funds. It is known as peer-to-peer lending. There are many platforms that provide the facility to invest in lending money to individuals like a bank does, with the interest being charged by you instead. There is a lending club that allows you to invest in providing others the loan and charge interest exactly the way, banks do. Returns can vary, according to the risk factor involved why you choose the individual to fund. It can go from 6% and above.
The lending club allows you to spread your investment over hundreds and thousands of loan seekers. This way you are not putting all your eggs into one basket. Both clubs make it easy for individuals to get started. The minimum amount for investing in prosper is $25, whereas, the lending club requires at least $1,000 investment to get started. The lending club does not offer primary market investment for a few States, these states are allowed to invest in the secondary market such as FolioFN.
Real Estate
Just like the opinions on the stock markets, the opinions on real estate is very much the same. People believe that the real estate market is totally not worth it to invest in. Prices just keep on blooming up. But this thinking is due to the people living in a bubble. However, many people who have invested in real estate do not seem to be worried. If you think that buying a property is not worth your investment, you can always buy real estate investment trusts. Real estate investment trusts make it easier for you to get involved in the real estate market and you do not even have to go through the troubles which usual landlords go through. There are many websites related to real estate crowdfunding which can help you invest in real estate shares, for example, fundrise.com, realtymogul.com, and rich uncles. Unfortunately, if the real estate investing platform is going through a downfall, you can take that person’s financial crisis into your advantage.
Debts Payment
Do not get too involved in investing that you do not keep track of your debts. Your net worth is including your liabilities, apart from your assets. Remember that paying off your debts on time is a good characteristic that can leave a good impression for you. So, invest all you want but do not forget that your downfall can also occur because of your debts. If you have high-interest credit card debt, it is very vital and beneficial for you to make out a plan to get rid of those debts as soon as possible. Unfortunately, people do not do this. New Jersey wealth advisor Ronn Yaish from balanced financial life claims that too many people prioritize minimum payments over larger payments like debts because they suggest that they’ll worry about the larger payments later. But the more you delay it the chances of you paying that large payment will decrease gradually. The good side is that if you pay your debt, it will be a smart way to guarantee you getting your money back no matter how the stock market is fluctuating. An expert points out that the higher the interest saved, the better position you are in. According to Montenegro paying off debt can reduce your liabilities and monthly bill along with improving your credit card score. A better credit card score can assure you future secured loans with reasonable rates and terms.
Certificates of Deposits
Certificates of deposit are issued by banks with a generally higher interest rate as compared to savings accounts. These are federally insured and controlled Deposits that mature with a specific time frame, ranging from several weeks to several years. Because these are specific time-framed deposits, they cannot be withdrawn before maturity without paying a penalty for early withdrawal. The financial institution pays you the interest amount at the set number of intervals. As they mature, you will be able to receive the principal amount plus the accumulated interest of your investment. Normally the interest percentage set at the moment is 3% of the invested amount.
Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds and Securities
Treasury inflation-protected securities, treasury notes, treasury bonds, TIPS, and treasury bills are issued by the United States treasury. The bills stretch up to a year, the notes are for up to 10 years and the bonds mature after 30 years. TIPS’ value totally depends on the fluctuation of inflation. TIPS are securities with a principal value. You should probably invest in this because all of these treasuries are marketable securities and they can be sold and bought through mutual funds. However, if you sell these treasuries before they mature there is a chance of you losing your principal as it has a very fluctuating value due to the interest rates, but if you keep them you would not lose any money.
Corporate Bonds
With so many bonds around in the market, there are corporate bonds that are issued by companies. They have different ratings as high, medium or low quality. The low-quality bonds are known as junk bonds but that does not mean that they are not high-yield corporate bonds. The market value of a bond fluctuates with the interest rates changing in the market. Corporate bonds have high-interest rate risk and also the default risk as well. The best way to invest in corporate bonds is to select the bonds that are maturing in the next few years. Long term bonds are more volatile to the change in interest rates. It is also advisable to select high-quality bonds of the companies that have a good reputation and are in the top list of their market.
