Investments

There is a lot of information out in the wide world on investing and investment strategies. This post is not designed to even scratch the surface of this information. Instead, it’s designed to get you thinking.

Investing makes your money work for you, especially if you have time. The graph below (from the Self Reliance Personal Finance manual) illustrates this.

The type of investments you may want to make are based on a risk vs return relationship. How much risk you can afford to take requires an analysis of your whole financial picture, including predicting how much you will need for retirement. It can be helpful to have a professional financial advisor help guide you. If you are unsure of where to go, trusted advisors in your area can be found using Dave Ramsey’s Smartvestor tool. Personally, I use Pacific Capitol Resource Group. Both of these options include free consultations to see if you are a good match with the recommended advisor.

A word of caution and warning – investing is often an area that scammers like to use. Please be aware of a few red flags:

The following illustration and glossary (from the Self Reliance Personal Finance manual) define some of the most common areas of investment and how they match up in term of risk vs return.