Knowing where to put your money is a hard thing to do, especially in a day and age where there are so many options. To add to this, there are discrepancies about almost any choice that you make, and always alternatives which are recommended to be better, safer, and more secure for your finances. But if you don’t know where to start, how will you know where you’ll finish? It’s all about knowing what’s available to you and being able to utilise this knowledge to your advantage. Go with what suits you and your lifestyle the best.
Bonds
Bonds are essentially an IOU. The place that you give it to (usually a bank or a government subsidiary) takes it as an investment on their part, and maybe will give you a couple of percent interest over the set term that you have lent it to them for. It’s not something that will give you a life-changing amount of money back, but it can be a safe option for the future. Depending on where you live, there may be a chance for your bonds to be involved in a lottery; for example, in the United Kingdom, the premium bonds introduced by Harold MacMillan give the chance to win something back in a prize draw, although the odds are high.
Structured Settlement
For those who have been thinking “How should I use my structured settlement?”, the answer is simple – any way you want to. A regular stream of money that isn’t coming from a working source is more usually best put to cover household bills and insurances. However, for those who are wanting to invest their regular payments instead of a lump sum, there are ways and means to do this. As it is a constant (if you have set it out for a number of years, you have more stability), you know exactly how much you’re working with. There is the opportunity to sell your settlements to companies who are wanting to invest it into their own products or business. This gives you liquid capital, and the chance to use it towards things like financial agreements, such as car finance and mortgages, and use it to offset against any business plans of your own.
Stocks
A bit of a risky one if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, but those who have a flutter on the stocks usually remain doing so for years to come. It certainly has a thrill factor to it; you are liable to lose quite a lot of what you have invested, so it is best to go with an advisor or somebody who knows what they are doing and has a track record of doing well on the markets before you start to dabble. Purchasing stocks in big companies is the less risky of things to do, but they can be expensive and not offer much return if the company has been running on a plateau for a couple of years. Only risk if you can afford to lose the money.
