How to Invest Safely

Safely Invest, Safe Investments

Investing safely is a very essential goal for many individuals. Luckily there are many safe investments in the market for you to research and invest in. You can put money into safe investments.

Although they won't give you as high returns as investing in stocks or securities, they will give you solid returns and your principal (the amount of money you put in) is almost always FDIC insured or rarely decreases.

If you want to invest money in safe investments, read on.

Things You'll Need

• brokerage firm account
• bank account

Instructions

1. The first thing you want to do is invest your money in a savings account, money market or checking account. These are safe, insured ways to save money. Also, you can find savings account that have relatively high interest rates compared to the national average. Use www.bankrate.com to find them. They offer online accounts as well. I will include a list below.

   Savings and checking accounts are a great way to safely invest your money in banks.

2. A CD is another great way to save money. CD's, or certificate of deposits, place your money in an account for an agreed upon amount of time, such as 3 months to up to 5 years, and pays a higher rate than a savings account. However, if you withdraw money from it, there is a big penalty. Make sure its not that much money that you will need it during that amount of time.

3. The next option is the government. The government always offers low to no risk investment options. These are safe investments in bonds and securities with short-term or long-term maturation periods (when the investment "matures" and pays out) but you can often withdraw the funds prematurely with a penalty if needed. Treasurydirect.gov is a great site to invest in US goverment investments. They are always safe and stable investments and the chances that the government will default on its payments is not a realistic possibility.

4. Another option would be to invest in the best safe mutual funds through a brokerage firm. Brokerage firms offer different mutual funds that do not invest in stocks, securities, or other high-risk investments. Here are a couple of low risk options.

5. One of, if not the safest mutual fund is a money market mutual fund. This mutual fund invests its money in savings accounts, CDs and money market accounts at banks. The principal in a money market mutual fund is now insured by the FDIC after the recent economic crisis. Therefore, you can never lose your principal (the amount of money you put in). They usually pay higher than the average for savings accounts.

6. Another relatively safe but more risky investment is a bond mutual fund. These usually invest in local, state and federal bonds and securities. They are not FDIC insured and are subject to the interest rate and credit risks of the market but the risk is dilluted by the amount of investors in the fund. They usually pay higher than money market and savings accounts as well.

Tips & Warnings

• The market is volatile.

• Make sure you research any investment before you invest.

Resources

• Bankrate.com
• Treasury Direct