Everybody wants to double their money through a minimal amount of effort. You might have come into some inheritance, received a large bonus or redundancy payment or simply have savings to invest.
So, what do you do with that money? There are plenty of investment vehicles out there into which you can sink sums ranging from the big to the small into, all of which offer differing risks and potential returns on that initial investment.
These can range from the property market to the stock exchange to paying off your own debts – yes, that really is an investment.
To get you started, here are four investments that can help your money grow.
Property
Property remains one of the safest investments you can make, if for a costly initial outlay. While tax changes and rising fears over affordability are threatening to cut the UK’s buy-to-let market by one fifth over the next two years, there are other ways you can make money through property than by purchasing a house or flat with the sole intention of renting it out. One way is by finding dilapidated properties, renovating them and then selling them on for a profit at a later date.
Foreign Currency
Whether you are on the minimum wage or a Pediatrician Salary, you can invest in foreign currency. The premise behind it is simple – you will be predicting the buying power of one currency against another. Exchange rates are particularly volatile at times of uncertainty or when a major political event is taking place. Take Brexit for example – Britain’s vote to leave the European Union plunged the pound to a 31-year low. If you’d predicted that happening and bought Euros or Dollars the day before the vote, suddenly they are worth a lot more when you convert them back into pounds and you’ve grown your investment.
Cryptocurrencies
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year, then you’ll have heard of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin bubble saw the value of a bitcoin grow by around 1,200 percent, giving those who invested modern sums even a year ago a massive growth in their investment. The bubble may have since burst but Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency out there. Litecoin, Monero, Neo, Cardano, Ripple and Iota (check out the iota prognose here) are just some of the cryptocurrencies that experts reckon are worth keeping an eye on.
Pay off your debts
Doesn’t seem like a way to grow your money does it, paying off your debts? It certainly won’t turn your 10,000 into 20,000 in the way that more traditional investments tend to do. Yet it also happens to be the easiest and most risk free way of investing your money. By paying off what you owe, you are increasing your spending power at a later date. If you’ve got 3,000 on that credit card, pay it off now and next time you’ve got money in the bank you’ll be able to spend it on what you like rather than using it to pay off that debt that has been hanging over you for some time.
