Types of investments

There are many different types of investments. I will not be covering all of them for I do not know probably even half of what's out there. People tend to start with long term diversification. As time goes by, realization of retirement goals may or may not be met. My goal is to inform the reader that online commodity trading can be very costly if approached without all of the knowledge and tools that are available. If an individual HAS the knowledge and tools, it can also lead to windfall profits without the risk.

So let's start with some of the safe investments. I will give a short description of some of these and will provide links to some of the websites that have more information if you so desire.

The first to come to my mind are "Government Securities" or "Treasuries". These types of investments are considered to be extremely secure because they are backed by the government. The following website describes all of the different types of treasuries available: http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/ 

Another almost risk free investment are "Municipal Bonds". These are issued by Cities, Counties and States. For more information this site is very useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_bond

A real obvious choice is of course is collectibles. Go through Grandpa and Grandma's attic or cellar and see what you can find. My Grandfather had a 1947 Studebaker sitting in one of his sheds for as long as I can remember. The motor was froze up, upholstery was junk, paint was gone but the body was perfect. Told him I'd give him $50.00 for it. For YEARS I tried to buy that car. But alas...he finally sold it for scrap. Probably got $55.00 for it. I never asked. Should have upped my offer.

Life insurance is good for peace of mind for you and your loved ones.

Mutual Funds are good for diversification depending on how aggressive you want to be. Again, Wikipedia has great information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_fund

Now let's up the ante a little bit and throw some not quite so safe investments out there. I put "Common Stock" into that category. Unless you are positive that the company you are investing in is going to be profitable, or if you are going to trade the stocks yourself, you may be in for a letdown. The most common philosophy is "Buy low, sell high". If it were only that easy. Many of the same maneuvers I will cover in Commodity trading can be used in every day stock trading.

So let's cover trading commodities. High risk indeed, if you don't know what you're doing. Many people consider Commodity trading is like a trip to Vegas. Costs money to get there and when you DO arrive, you lose whatever you had and possibly more, without the fun. But there are safe ways to invest in commodities or as most people prefer, the all encompassing term: Futures or Futures Contracts. There are many different avenues of approach when looking at Futures contracts. A portion of this falls into Forex investing. There are Index futures and one of my favorites, Options futures. All of these and more will be discussed and studied in future posts.

We now have covered just a few of the many different types of investments. We touched on safe investments and some not so safe investments. If any of the readers want more information on ANY or MORE of the topics I touched on, please let me know. I will be covering online commodity trading, futures contracts, Forex trading and options on futures in the near "Future".