{"id":1733,"date":"2016-10-31T09:09:37","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T09:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newsfin.co.uk\/news\/?p=1733"},"modified":"2016-10-31T09:09:37","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T09:09:37","slug":"time-to-consider-your-investment-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/time-to-consider-your-investment-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to consider your investment options?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helping you reach your long-term financial goals<\/strong>
\nIn the current economic climate, with interest rates still around record lows, investing in the markets could enable you to achieve an inflation-beating return and help you reach your long-term financial goals.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got sufficient money in your cash savings account \u2013 enough to cover you for at least six months\u2019 worth of living expenses \u2013 and you want to see your money grow over the long term, then you should consider investing some of it.<\/p>\n

The right savings or investments for you will depend on how prepared you are taking risks and on your current finances and future goals.<\/p>\n

Before even considering investing your money, you need to be comfortable with the risks involved. The action or process of investing money for profit can take many forms, but most people typically choose from four main types of investment, known as \u2018asset classes\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Cash \u2013 the savings you put in a bank or building society account
\n\u2022 Fixed interest securities (also called \u2018bonds\u2019) \u2013 you loan your money to a company or government
\n\u2022 Shares \u2013 you buy a stake in a company
\n\u2022 Property \u2013 you invest in a physical
\nbuilding, whether commercial or residential<\/p>\n

There are also other higher-risk types of investments available too, including:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Commodities like oil, coffee, corn, rubber or gold
\n\u2022 Foreign currency
\n\u2022 Contracts for difference, where you bet on shares gaining or losing value
\n\u2022 Collectables like art and antique<\/p>\n

Investment returns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Depending on where you put your money, it could be paid in a number of different ways:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Interest (from cash deposits and fixed interest securities)
\n\u2022 Dividends (from shares)
\n\u2022 Rent (from properties)
\n\u2022 The difference between the price you pay and the price you sell for \u2013 capital gains or losses<\/p>\n

Deciding how much risk you are willing to take
\nUnderstanding the risks you\u2019ll encounter when investing and deciding how much risk you are willing to take is fundamental. You might have a long time frame and plenty of cash to fall back on, but if you don\u2019t think you would be comfortable if the markets became volatile a high-risk approach probably isn\u2019t for you.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no such thing as a \u2018no-risk\u2019 investment. You\u2019re always taking on some risk when you invest, but the amount varies between different types
\nof investment.<\/p>\n

Even money you place in secure deposits such as savings accounts risks losing value in real terms (buying power) over time. This is because the interest rate paid won\u2019t always keep up with rising prices (inflation).<\/p>\n

On the other hand, index-linked investments that follow the rate of inflation don\u2019t always follow market interest rates. This means that if inflation falls, you could earn less in interest than you expected.<\/p>\n

Stock market investments may beat inflation and interest rates over time, but you run the risk that prices may
\nbe low at the time you need to sell.<\/p>\n

This could result in a poor return or, if prices are lower than when you bought, losing money.<\/p>\n

Spreading your risk (or \u2018diversifying\u2019) by putting your money into a number of different products and asset classes is one way to reduce risk, so if an investment doesn\u2019t work out as you had planned you\u2019ve still got exposure to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Helping you reach your long-term financial goals In the current economic climate, with interest rates still around record lows, investing in the markets could enable you to achieve an inflation-beating return and help you reach your long-term financial goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1733"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}