You are about to read the list of the best investment options available.
I know it is not easy to understand which investment is suitable for you and which is not.
So I have dared to assess each asset class for your convenience but please don’t call it “investment advice” because it is not.
Are you ready to read what is the best investment ever?
Come with me…
Table of Contents
How to rank investments?
Well, it’s impossible because, as you can imagine, the differences between the assets and the tools are huge.
So since it is impossible then …I want to do it right now.
I have classified each investment/tool according to 3 elements:
- easy to do
- risk
- return
Each criterion has a score ranging from 1 to 10. The higher the score, the better it is for the investment (and for me).
Beware:
A risk score of 5 would be a zero risk investment. A risk score of 1 means very high risk.
A return score of 1 is NOT good. A 5 grade instead means it is potentially a very good investment.
An “Easy to do” score of 5 means …”easy to do” (what else?)
| Type of investment/asset | Return | Risk | Easy to do | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Startups | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Gold | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Rental income | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Stock picking | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Dividend stocks | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Savings account | 1 | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| Government bonds | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| P2P loans | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| Social trading | 3 | 3 | 5 | 11 |
| Real Estate Crowdfunding | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| Automatic advisors | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| Mutual funds | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
Before we go on, I have to tell you that one of the best investments people start online and never regret is: DCA with roboadvisors. Moneyfarm Roboadvisor is one of the best tool I know.
Here are the best investments ever (ranked)
STARTUPS
If you like danger then investing in startups is suitable for you!
Another name for this asset is “private equity“.
Who It’s For: Advanced investors who can take risks.
Time required: Some months to understand how it works. A few weeks to find the right companies.
How to invest in Startups now?
Have a look at angel.co and seedrs.com these two are the most popular and have a good reputation.
Low to zero liquidity, dilution and lower than expected returns are some of the limits.
Popular alternatives: Some P2B lending companies can serve something partially similar. Websites like Flender, Crowdestate and October allow you to invest in real companies even non-startups with high returns.
GOLD
The reasons for investing in gold have remained the same throughout history:
- protection against inflation
- safety shield
- liquidity
- diversification
This doesn’t mean investing in gold is always a good idea.
Gold does not pay any dividend and it is not a very interesting asset for small investors.
Who It’s For: Large investors or sophisticated investors with need of diversification.
Time required: A few minutes to buy gold online. A few hours to do it through a bank.
How to invest in gold today?
There are mainly two ways to invest in gold.
The first is to do it online and the other is to do it through a bank.
To invest in gold online I can do it through instruments that keep the physical gold for me or digital tools such as ETFs/ETCs.
The most popular site to buy gold online at a fair price is Bullionvault.
Popular alternatives: There aren’t real alternatives to gold, since it is quite unique. Silver is often bought together with gold. Bitcoin is said to be the next gold (if you believe it).
Rental income
Investing in real estate is a “classic” investment and also quite easy to understand.
Just buy a property and rent it.
All you need is that at the end of the year the balance between income and expenditure is positive even after taxes.
This last point is not understood by most investors unfortunately.
Traditional real estate generally pays little, is heavily taxed and is not liquid.
Who It’s For: Traditional investors who do not know how to invest in any other way.
Time required: Months to learn how not to make costly mistakes. Weeks to find the right real estate. More weeks to close a deal.
How to invest in rental income today?
The first thing is market research. Do not take anything for granted collect information also from the most popular real estate websites in your region.
One thing I must never forget is that there are many ways to invest in real estate, not just one.
Popular alternatives: Real estate crowdfunding
Stock picking
It’s quite normal desiring to earn a lot of money with stock picking and indeed, even if it’s difficult, it’s really possible.
The point is that before starting “stock picking D-I-Y” you should learn how to do it, then do some simulations and then invest to make money (or at least not to lose too much money).
I have added stock picking to this list of tools to invest today especially for its accessibility and liquidity.
Who It’s For: Advanced investors, ready to invest time and take risks in the short term.
Time required: Learning to do stock picking properly requires months of study and testing. To copy other traders, however, you need to put pride aside and just wait and see.
How to invest in stocks today?
- Study how to do it
- Choose good stocks
- pick a broker
- ..copy other investors
- control emotions
- reinvest profits
Stocks are an easy asset to liquidate. I can sell my shares and mutual funds almost instantly.
The most promising and popular stocks today can be:
Cloudflare, Nvidia, Amazon, Shopify, Tesla, Peloton, Crispr, Square, Zendesk, Zoom, PayPal, Sorrento Therapeutics, Apple, AMD and CRM.
Add your best ones in the comments below.
Popular alternatives: Invest long term
Interesting reading: Online stock trading
Dividend stocks
One of the best passive investments is to buy shares or ETFs that pay dividends. In the US, the Dividend Aristocrats is a selection of S&P 500 companies that have led to a steady increase in dividend payments over the years.
To invest in dividend stocks you need to know how to create a high dividend portfolio and then to manage it over time. It’s not a fire and forget operation. It is a continuous work.
Who It’s For: Advanced investor who is eager to manage his own investment portfolio.
Time required: Many months to study and learn how to manage a portfolio. Then a few minutes a month for monitoring and planning purposes.
To invest in dividend stocks, you need to know how to create a high dividend portfolio and manage it over time. You’ve probably seen articles comparing The Motley Fool and Zacks. But do they actually work? Which one is right for you? This decent article review of Motley Fool vs Zacks will help you decide!
How to invest in stocks today?
The strategy is to search, purchase and “rotate” stocks.
As a tool you can use marketscreener.com that is in English.
To invest in dividends you need a broker (as cheap and efficient as possible) and a some patience to withstand the volatility of the markets.
Savings account
The savings accounts has been a good way to invest in security until last millennium.
All you have to do is deposit the money, wait a few months or years and earn interest almost without taking any risk.
Too bad they don’t pay any interest anymore in first word countries.
The only savings accounts that pay high interest are those in exotic currencies, so they often make no much sense to those who own euros or dollars.
Who It’s For: Very prudent investors at the end of their life cycle or investors who need instant cash.
Time required: Almost zero.
How to invest in bank savings accounts today?
There are tons od savings account available online. To apply for one it is enough to fill some forms, send documents and move money.
Government bonds
A government bond is a very relaxing type of investment. You loan money to a government in return for an fixed interest rate. Governments use to issue bonds when they need funds (anytime).
Government bonds are like corporate bonds, except that they are issued by the a specific government, not by a private company. Basically they are really like ordinary bonds but usually considered safer because countries are less prone to default compared to private companies.
Some of the best things about government bonds are extremely high liquidity and a wide array of durations to choose from.
Who It’s For: Ultra-prudent investors with limited expectations. Most investors do use bonds to diversify and lower the risk of the portfolio.
Time required: Zero time needed.
How to invest in government bonds today?
Any bank will be able to sell government bonds. Any online broker will be able to serve these bonds.
P2P loans
Peer to peer lending (P2P) was invented in 2005.
The principle is to lend money to people asking for loans, the borrowers. In peer to peer lending you don’t get to know the borrowers and you don’t need to. The best P2P lending companies do the filtering work for us, serving the loans to investors in an ordinated way.
Common sense would lead one to think that it is suicidal to lend money to strangers, right?
They would never pay the money back!
Believe it or not, it works! I’ve been investing in P2P lending for 5 years and so far, it’s going very well. So far, I haven’t suffered any losses and the interest is over 10% per year.
The key is to invest in the right sites today and distribute the capital over thousands of loans. This greatly reduces the probability of loss and maximises profits.
Who It’s For: Advanced investors who want to start earning money right away. Investors who are aware of potential risks and limit this way of investing to a limited part of their global portfolio.
Time required: Few seconds to register on the best P2P platforms. Few minutes to set the automations. Few minutes per year to check that everything is working.
How to invest in peer to peer lending today?
In the early days P2P loan investing wasn’t easy. Now everything is very simple but the more it will get regulated the less profitable it will become.
To overcome investor mistrust, the best P2P loan companies had to offer transparency, welcome bonuses and high returns.
I prefer P2Ps that have been on the market for many years and with a clean track record.
Some P2Ps offer fully automated investment solutions. This means that it’s enough to move money there and setup a system that will automatically pick, buy and manage the loans for me. In most cases it is possible to tell the system to reinvest all the profits immediately.
It is wise to understand what you are doing before you start and, if in doubt, do not invest. Some time ago I prepared my own comparing P2P lending table and a page where I made a list of my best P2P lending sites.
The fact that the returns are very high and that it is easy to invest should not make you think there is no risk. The money is not guaranteed at all so I prefer to allocate only part of my money in this way.
Social trading
The idea behind social trading is foolproof.
It’s about copying those who invest better than we do. So they do the work and we just copy their moves.
How does copytrading work?
- I register on some social trading platform
- I go through the list of the investors
- Filter those that have been profitable for the longest time
- I tell the system to copy their moves with 200€ or 10.000€ or whatever I want
Since then the system replicates the moves of the investor I copy into my portfolio i will gain if he gains.
Does the trader I am copying buy Amazon shares? The same happens in my portfolio without the need of any action or decision by me.
The result? I make money if the copier makes money.
Of course I only copy the best ones, I don’t copy the bad ones or those who make too much buy and sell.
To know who the best traders are, just follow a simple selection process, nothing complicated.
Who It’s For: Investors who think they are losing important earning opportunities because they don’t know how to invest.
Time required: A few seconds to register and a few minutes to find out who to copy.
How to invest in social trading today?
It’s very easy, but that doesn’t make it the best investment ever.
It is easy to do but there is risk, like everywhere else.
The most popular and best known social trading site allows free membership. Then always for free they allow you to make investment simulations without any real money.
The workflow is:
- register
- deposit
- choose the right traders to copy
- start to copy
- reinvest or cash out
Too good to be true?
It depends. There are commissions to pay and you need to know a little bit how to move around to avoid mistakes.
Real Estate Crowdfunding
Today one of my favourite passive income source is real estate crowdfunding.
Real estate crowdfunding allows individuals to buy a percentage of a real estate project.
Who It’s For: Internet users who trust new financial technologies. Investors who have been hit by some past real estate investment gone wrong and now want to start earning money from real estate right away.
Time required: Just a few seconds to register on the crowdlending sites. Few minutes to set the automations. Few minutes per month to monitor that everything is working.
How to invest in real estate crowdfunding today?
My workflow was:
- Choose the platform
- Register
- Pour money (even just 50€)
- Pick some deals
- Invest 50€ or more
- Collect interest when get payed (normally from the first month)
Yes, it’s really that easy, I know because I’ve been doing it and I’ve been collecting 12% annual returns for years now.
I have my favourite platforms to invest in online real estate but I’m always looking for something new.
Unlike other passive investments, with real estate crowdfunding, I often have a physical asset as collateral for the loan or transaction.
Robo-advisors
The worst thing you can do when you start investing is to lose money.
It sounds so stupid but especially at the beginning it is easy and it will prevent you from investing more and to benefit from it.
Now that you know, let’s move on.
If you start investing for the first time, you may not know how to do it, so one possibility is to use ask someone’s to do this for you.
Private financial advisors are expensive, especially if the money to manage is small. This is where digital investing advisors come in.
What does a robo-advisor do?
To make the computer, the robot invest for me properly, it needs data.
Tis is why, as soon as I register, the robo-consultant makes me fill out a short questionnaire. Tis is to understand my investment objectives, my risk tolerance and, based on the answers, it will prepare a personalised plan.
Basically it is a semi-automatic system for low-cost and (mainly) long-term investment.
Anyone who is afraid of making mistakes and keeps the money on the account is the ideal client for robo-consultants.
Who It’s For: Mostly for new investors.
Time required: Few minutes to register and few minutes to answer questions.
How to invest with a robo advisor today?
All I have to do is fill out a questionnaire (maybe call on the phone) and transfer the money I want to invest to my automatic investment account. The platform will create and manage my portfolio. This includes reinvesting dividends and balancing if necessary.
The best roboadvisor in Europe is Moneyfarm (read the review).
What do I get?
A portfolio of both equities and bonds ETF. In short, I can get a financial advisor with low costs.
Interesting alternatives: Dividend investing
Mutual funds
A mutual fund is a type of investment managed by professionals. The fund managers use the money invested by all investors to trade some selected securities.
It sounds fantastic, right?
Unfortunately most funds are expensive and inefficient.
I prefer to use ETFs for my investment. They work differently from funds but cost much less. Truth is today more and more mutual funds are getting cheaper.
With ETFs and funds you can also build the best long-term investment strategies and lower investment risks.
Those who start from scratch generally rely on automated systems to create efficient, balanced and very low-cost ETF portfolios.
I consider this one of the best investments ever.
Who It’s For: Both advanced and new investors.
Time required: It depends on the type of strategy you choose.
How to invest in social trading today?
You need a low-cost broker to prevent commissions from eating into your profits.
If you are a beginner, ETF investing is the safest bet.
Interesting alternatives: Automatic advisors, dividend investing
Invest in art, watches, diamonds, old coins and stamps
Buying cars, watches and diamonds, stamps, old coins as an investment?
Be very careful.
If you have a specific passion and you know how to evaluate and store the goods yourself then perhaps you have some chances of earning money by investing in this stuff.
Are you a wine expert? Okay, then you have some hope of making money with your bottles.
You know it all about classic cars and you’ve already owned a few in the past? Ok. Great.
Are you an art expert? Great!
In all other cases it is rather futile to hope to invest profitably in this way. You’re just going to be cheated or you’ll fall in love with the object rather than its value.
Final outcome: you’ll lose money.
Video of the best investment on YouTube?
🎥 Videos to invest today on YouTube
On YouTube it is dangerous to go and ask certain questions like “what is the best investment ever”. You’ll end up zapping from one video to another, perhaps collecting opinions that are not very authoritative.
So I did the dirty work for you and I chose the best videos on how to invest on Youtube.
Here below there is a fantastic video on what is the best investment ever.
I loved every minute of this video and I am sure you’ll enjoy it too:
One more nice video on where to invest today is this one:
The advice is tailor made for the young investors eager to earn money from day 1.
Invest or wait?
So, you are thinking of starting to invest.
The thing is that you undecided whether to put your money on the market today or not in these turbulent times?
Choose between investing today or waiting and a doubt that grips so many investors. You are not alone.
It is natural to be worried about investing after or during a recession, especially since the stock market has been …a bit volatile lately. But while you may be undecided about launching yourself headlong, there are also some great reasons to do so in full knowledge of the facts.
But that doesn’t mean that investing now is right for everyone.
2 reasons to invest right now:
- There is never a really bad time for long-term investors to start: When you invest in the long term, it doesn’t really matter much when you start.
- Trying to get ahead of the market can be very expensive: It is impossible to predict the markets. Instead of trying to wait to “buy the bottom”, it is better (and safer) to invest continuously.
2 reasons to invest right now:
- You have debts: Even if stocks and funds have, over time, produced a better average return than any other investment with reasonable risk, it is very unlikely that they will produce a higher return on investment than would be obtained by paying a high interest debt. If you have debts, pay those with savings first, then move on to investments.
- You do not have an emergency fund: At any time, but especially in these turbulent times, you need to have an emergency fund because you never know when an illness, loss of job or any financial emergency might occur.
What are the safest and most profitable investments?
So you want safe but also profitable investments. In short, you want to know what the perfect investment is.
Good. I see your point.
Sorry to disappoint you but… no investment is 100% safe.
100% safe investment are a scam.
Due to market fluctuations but also because the economy is very unpredictable, it is difficult to say which is the safest investment. However, there are some assets that can be considered safer than others. Obviously they have different flaws.
That’s why you take with a grain of salt the ranking of the best investments ever that you’ve just read in the table above. Use your head and make your own informed decisions.
These days low-risk investments involve the reasonable expectation that you may simply break even or even suffer a small loss. Conversely, higher risk investments can offer very high reward.
Finding low-risk, high-yield investments is a difficult undertaking. That is why I have drawn up a ranking of the most popular investments. That said, remember that:
…it is more important to diversify than to choose the perfect investment, even if it seems very counterintuitive… Click To TweetIf there is one single thing to take away from this article today, please take this one and share it with your mastermind group.
Invest in Dual Citizenship
In some cases, investing in dual citizenship encompasses some of the options above in the article, like investing in real estate, government bonds, and national funds. The point is how to find right and safest country where to find this opportunity. The Caribbean countries offer the best CBI programs to invest in a second passport and enjoy the benefits of the CARICOM member countries.
The Caribbean citizenship by investment comparison allows you to choose the best country and invest your funds accordingly. One of the main benefits many investors opt for in the Caribbean countries is reduced taxes. Even though dual citizenship doesn’t automatically reduce your taxes, it’s a crucial part of the tax strategy.
For example, US citizens who want to lower their taxes need to claim the FEIE – Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to get an exemption from their earnings.
Real estate profit is another financial and investment benefit investors take advantage of. Besides owning a property in a foreign country, investors can rent or sell the property within 5 years of the purchase and make a profit from it.
Best investments list
- Startup
- Gold
- Rental income
- Stock picking
- Dividend stocks
- Savings accounts
- Government bonds
- Peer to peer lending
- Property Crowdfunding
- Automatic advisors
- ETF – Funds
What I consider the best investments are at the bottom of the list but beware, what is good for me maybe doesn’t fit your needs or risk profile.
Let’s sum up. What is the best investment ever?
To conclude this article on what is the best investment ever, I would like to mention the two elements that are important especially for the newest and inexperienced investor:
- The need to diversify
- Procrastination
The worst mistake when you start investing is to perform a limited search, fall in love for one asset and go all-in. Even if the asset is good, the risk is just too high. Losing money is the worst thing you can do.
Procrastination is another horrible monster.
Those who do not know how to invest and those who do not trust anyone to take a big risk.
The risk is to stay forever waiting for the perfect investment, the opportunity of a lifetime.
This is not how it works. Investing is a process, not a goal.
Investing D-I-Y is by no means impossible and can give a fair amount of satisfaction.
So, what is your best investment?
High return make sense only if related to reasonable risk. For me a good balance of risk/return today is in P2P lending investing. Professional investors can make good money with private equity.
Beginner investors should study first what is suitable for them. Easy investments are savings accounts and government bonds. Another options are digital financial advisors. Check out the best investments.
There is no safe investment. Here is a list of the safest investments ever.
