Chapter 9

Understanding Your Investment Choices

In This Chapter

arrow Playing it “safe”: Bank and money-market accounts and bonds

arrow Growing your wealth: Stocks, real estate, and small business

arrow Eyeballing oddball investments: Precious metals, annuities, and collectibles

Which vehicle you choose for your investment journey depends on where you’re going, how fast you want to get there, and what risks you’re willing to take. If you haven’t yet read Chapter 8, you may want to do so now. In it, I cover a number of investment concepts, such as the difference between lending and ownership investments, which will enhance your ability to choose among the common investment vehicles I discuss in this chapter.

Slow and Steady Investments

Everyone should have some money in stable, safe investment vehicles, including money that you’ve earmarked for your short-term bills, both expected and unexpected. Likewise, if you’re saving money for a home purchase within the next few years, you certainly don’t want to risk that money on the roller coaster of the stock market.

The investment options that follow are appropriate for money you don’t want to put at great risk.

Transaction/checking accounts

Transaction/checking ...

Get Personal Finance For Dummies, 7th Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.