Investing: The Art Of Making Your Money Work For You

There is a lot to know about investing. It all depends on what type of investing you are interested in as well. There are many different types of investment options out there. So what is investing, specifically?

When you invest, you are paying in a certain amount of money that you expect to grow with time. Most investments are considered long term investments meaning you will not get your money back right away but if you leave your money in, it can multiply dramatically over time. Types of Investing: Real Estate Investing, Bonds, Stock Investing, Mutual Funds, 401K. With stock investing, many of the younger investors see the market as a way to get rich quick. They are quick to sell off the stock that they have when it goes up or if they see it go down a little, they get nervous and sell it off. If they hold the investment and ride it out, they are much more likely to see it grow.

If you are going to be investing, the key to success is asset allocation. You need to vary your assets by investing in more than one type. So just how do you do this exactly? Well, you need to know what the 4 major types are first.

(1) U.S. Stocks are one. They are represented by the S&P 500 Index (2) Foreign Stocks is another; represented by EAFE Index (Europe, Australia and Far East) (3) Real estate, represented by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts Equity Index (4) Commodities;represented by the Goldman Sachs.

The key to a growing portfolio is finding a balance between the ups and downs of these many assets. For example, if one year stocks seem to be down, real estate or commodities may be up. So if you are ready to get started with investing, what do you need to know? First, you need to decide how much money you have to invest safely.

If you decide to invest in mutual funds, you will be asked if you want a high, medium or low risk stock. If you invest in high, there is of course, more risk involved but if it is successful, you will see much higher returns. If you go with a low risk, you will not lose as much if it doesn't work out but you will not gain large amounts if it is successful. It's really all about how much money you have and how much you feel comfortable with risking.

Whatever you choose, there is really no reason not to invest. There are so many opportunities that can be tried with little investment and little risk of loss. If you are considering it,it is easy to learn a little more about it to form your decisions of which way to go and then invest your money and watch it grow! The money you invest may return money for your college, kid's college, retirement, to buy a house or whatever your needs are. There's no reason not to get started today.

The author has discovered that wealthy people have a different thought process around money and finances. She has been helping people to achieve their financial goals for over 10 years.

Margaret Marabella is founder of Fun Investing an excellent resource site dedicated to information on investing

---

Get Wealthy With the Rule of 72

When it comes time to retire how many people would... Read More

Looking For a Safe Investment? Try a Certificate of Deposit

If you are looking for a safe investment and you... Read More

How to Invest Overseas - Intelligently!

In recent months, many advisors have talked a lot about... Read More

Bearish or Bullish?

If you are interested in stock investing and the stock... Read More

Risk and Reward

If you are doing your own investing in the stock... Read More

Direcway & Wildblue Set to Square Off this Fall?

There is a cat fight brewing between Direcway LLC, Starband... Read More

Makin The Sauce

Let's face it, you're on a roll. After getting down... Read More

Asset Allocation: Critical to Your Investment Success

Asset allocation is a critical component of investing success. Both... Read More

Rules for Simplified Employee Pension Plans better known as a SEP Plans

A SEP is a special type of IRA. Under a... Read More

Approaches to Investing

Here is a small summary of the three major approaches... Read More

Creating a Financial Future - Putting Your Plan Into Action Part 1

This column has previously discussed "picturing the future that we... Read More

Delist My Corporation Please

It use to be said that once a company was... Read More

Trading Tips No 4: Technical Analysis The Holy Grail Syndrome

Everyone knows that the Holy Grail of investing and trading... Read More

When Its Too Late to Save for Retirement

You are 55 years old (or somewhere around there) and... Read More

The Three Legged Stool

My paternal grandparents were born near Lake Como, Italy. My... Read More

Value Investing

By definition, value investing is the process of selecting stocks... Read More

How to Buy to Let

Find out everything you need to know about buy to... Read More

Retire Dollar Smart

Jim Miller is a registered investment advisor. This means that... Read More

The Arrow-Debreu Contingent Claims Model of Investment

Throughout the discussion of speculation and stability, we emphasized that... Read More

The Basics of Tax-Free UK Financial Spread Betting

Financial Spread Betting (or Trading) offers a tax free method... Read More

Wit and Wisdom on Money, Wall Street and Success - Part #4

Can you concisely summarize your investment philosophy in a few... Read More

Creating Momentum with Options - Pro and Cons of At-the-money, In-the-money, and Out-of-the-money

To create momentum in your options trading you need to... Read More

High Volatility Investments

Penny stocks and options are high volatility investments that attract... Read More

Trading For A Living - Part 2

In part 1 of this article I started to look... Read More

Begging Your Trust in Africa

The syntax is tortured, the grammar mutilated, but the message... Read More

Retirement Is A Scary Proposition If Youre Without A Plan, And Running Out Of Time

Of the 75 million baby boomers nearing retirement today, many... Read More

Coca-Cola - A Value Stock?

There has been much talk lately about Coca-Cola and its... Read More

Your Worst Enemy To Successful Investing - The Media

How do you make your investment decisions and where do... Read More

Mutual Fund Returns May Not Be As They Seem!

Arthur Levitt, during his tenure at the SEC, experienced many... Read More

When NOT to Invest

Unfortunately, many investors who are seduced by the lure of... Read More

Getting Started In Investing

Are you ready to open your pathway to financial independence?Well... Read More

Which IRA Is Best For You?

An Ira is one of the greatest ways to save... Read More

Investigate Before You Invest

"Through wisdom is a house built. And by understanding it... Read More