7 Investment Ideas When You Don’t Want to Risk the Stock Market

Investing is the only way to build wealth. So if you are interested in money, then it’s something that you should be doing. 

But given what’s been happening in stocks recently, where should people be putting their money? What can they invest in that will make a good return? Let’s take a look.

With inflation running at high levels, holding money in regular savings accounts isn’t advisable. However, today there are inflation-linked accounts that protect your real purchasing power, based on the reported CPI. In other words, if inflation goes up by 10 percent, your account will go up by at least that amount. 

Another idea is to buy short-term government bonds. Here, you loan the government a small amount of money and they guarantee to pay you back the principal plus a guaranteed interest rate. If you’re worried about inflation, you can also get inflation-linked bonds. These guarantee to pay you the money you put in, plus an extra payment for the intervening price rises. Short-term bonds go up to around 5 years. 

Collecting GIA certified loose diamonds is another way you can add to your portfolio. Plus, what’s nice about this type of investment is that it’s not just a piece of paper. You actually get a physical store of value. 

Related to this, we also have gold and silver. These aren’t investments strictly speaking, because they don’t pay any returns. However, they are a good way to keep cash in high inflation environments. And they tend to go up in environments like the present one where growth is low and inflation is going up fast. 

The art market exploded over the last couple of decades. Everyone wanted to own works by some of history’s most famous artists. Companies made derivative products that allowed people to buy tiny slices of a portfolio of artwork and then track the price up higher when they were sold. Returns were often 20 percent per year. Perhaps with a growing number of wealthy people around the world, this type of investment will remain popular. 

If you don’t want to give your money to the government but still want a return on your investment, you might consider lending to companies. Avoid lending to any single firm. If they go bust, then you might not get your money back. But you can invest in a bond fund. These are a combination of many individual bonds and a great way to diversify. 

Another idea is to invest in rental housing. Every month, tenants pay you rental fees and you may make a profit, after accounting for all your expenses. Return on capital invested tends to be quite low, but you may be able to get higher returns in some areas. If the housing market falls next year, there will be opportunities to snap up deals. You can either buy a property outright, but most investors use finance and leverage.