Top methods for how to multiply your money. For those who want to adopt a more cautious approach and don’t want all of their money going into the stock market, Patrick Connolly, a certified financial planner at Chase de Vere, rates Investec Cautious Managed fund. This fund spreads risks by investing into other asset classes alongside shares, such as government bonds, gold and cash. Mr Modray says the Vanguard LifeStrategy* range of funds offer a cheap and convenient way of investing your money across global stock markets and fixed-interest investments such as government and corporate bonds. There are five options, ranging from 20% stock market exposure to 100%, so they should suit most needs.

While large short-term profits can often entice market neophytes, long-term investing is essential to greater success. And while active trading short-term trading can make money, this involves greater risk than buy-and-hold strategies. Many great companies are household names, but many good investments lack brand awareness. Furthermore, thousands of smaller companies have the potential to become the blue-chip names of tomorrow. In fact, small-caps stocks have historically shown greater returns than their large-cap counterparts. From 1926 to 2001, small-cap stocks in the U.S. returned an average of 12.27% while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) returned 10.53%. This is not to suggest that you should devote your entire portfolio to small-cap stocks. But there are many great companies beyond those in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).

Funding your retirement is one of the best investments that you can make to ensure the financial future of you and your family. It’s important to plan for your retirement whether you have just finished high school at 18 or are about to enter your 60’s. It is never too early to start putting money away for your retirement. If you are planning on living a comfortable retirement based on Social Security; forget about it! According to USA Today, the average Social Security benefit paid out to retirees is a paltry $1,324 per month, which amounts to just $16,424 per year. Read more details at Why you need a retirement plan.

Not many small investors begin their investment journey with US Treasury securities, but you can. You’ll never get rich with these securities, but it is an excellent place to park your money—and earn some interest—until you are ready to go into higher risk/higher return investments. Treasury securities, also known as savings bonds, are easy to buy through the US Treasury’s bond portal Treasury Direct. There you can buy fixed-income US government securities with maturities of anywhere from 30 days to 30 years in denominations as low as $100. You can also use Treasury Direct to buy Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS. These not only pay interest, but they also make periodic principal adjustments to account for inflation based on changes in the consumer price index.

According to Buffett, the secret to getting a better return on investment is to buy a stock and forget about it. He believes in having a buy-and-hold mentality and insists on holding stocks for decades. There are two principles behind this: (1) if you buy a stock for less than it’s true worth, the stock’s price will eventually converge with it’s intrinsic value; and (2) if you buy a wonderful business, the value of that business will compound and increase exponentially the longer you hold on to it. So, the patient investor will ultimately be rewarded if they hold on to their stocks for a longer time. For Buffett, time is the friend of a wonderful business. “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes.” He says that if you constantly buy and sell stocks, it’ll take away a significant percentage of your returns in the form of trading commissions and taxes. So, it’s better to buy great stocks and holding them for a long time.

About MultiplyMyMoney : I have more than 12 years of experience as an independent and personal financial and investment consultant. I used to run a financial blog called BuylikeBuffett which provided insight on investing, saving, money management, and all things finance. I am also the author of Your Financial Playbook: A Guide To Navigating The World Of Personal Finance a financial guide written to inform the beginning investor about the basics of the market. I decided to start a new site because I receive a great number of questions about financial topics on a daily basis. I figure that this would be a great way to answer those questions and increase financial literacy. I also figured it would be a good platform to write articles on everything from teaching how to get rich, explaining the basics of cryptocurrency, to detailing ways of rebuilding your credit score. I was the founder and president of New Horizons Financial Management, LLC, and was a registered investment advisor. New Horizons was an independent investment advisory asset management and personal financial consulting firm offering investment advisory services to high net worth individuals. Read more details at Multiply My Money.