I have $30,000.00 in a savings account. Where is the best,safe place to put this money with a big return ???

Answer 1

There really is no "safe" place to put the money and get a "big" return. Generally, the two are on complete opposites of the spectrum. Be safe=low return, risky=possible high return

Answer 2

As many will say, low risk and big returns don't typically go hand in hand. The safest bet I have seen for very good returns are the online savings accounts. Right now you can get a return in the range of 4.5-4.75%, maybe higher. I'm not endorsing any of these but some examples include ING Direct, HSBC, Emigrant Direct, etc.

Your account is insured for the amounts you are talking about, and it's easily accessible. If you can afford to have the money tied up for significant amounts of time, 6 months to much longer, you may want to consider a CD.

If higher returns are your priority, then you will most likely have to settle for more risk. Even with 30,000, diversification would help mitigate your risk if you are going to invest the money. One option I'd suggest is one or more exchange traded funds, investing the money with a company you can setup a DRIP with and pay minimal fees. Some companies like Buy and Hold, and ShareBuilder allow you to buy partial shares and dividend reinvest for free. For example, you could invest some of that money in DVY (an ETF that holds dividend paying stocks) and setup a free DRIP. If you happened to buy at the wrong time, it wouldn't matter so much because you would not have put 30,000 into something all at once, and you would be reinvesting the dividends over time.

Anyway, there are a lot of questions that any good financial planner would ask you before giving any advice. How soon do you need the money? What do you want or need it for? What is your comfort level with certain investments/risk? What is your idea of a big return? Providing some of that information will probably help others give you better answers than mine!

Answer 3

Life Settlement investments. It's an emerging investment market that has received some good reviews and my understanding is that Warren Buffet has his hand in it as well.

In a nutshell, there are people who want to cash on on their life insurance policies without surrendering it to the issuing life insurance company. So they can sell it as a security on a secondary market. Essentially, you would be buying the ownership of the policy and beneficiary rights. So let's say someone has a $500,000 policy and the surrender value is approximately $130,000. You could offer to buy it for $250,000 and they could get twice the money than surrending it or letting it lapse for nothing. In return, you would collect the full policy value when they passed away.

Pros: Risk is based on the financial strength of the ISSUING insurance company. Return is fixed and you will know in advance.

Cons: The only real variable is time for the policy to mature.

Of course, not everyone has that kind of money to throw around buying policies. So you can look into companies that sell "fractional interest" in a policy that is available.The benefit in working with such a company is that they screen all the policies and select the ones that are more likely to mature quickly and yield the highest returns. I work for such a company. If you are interested, I'd be more than happy to answer any of your questions regarding this kind of investment. Please email me for more information.

Answer 4

The highest return on savings vehicles would be a CD.

Divide the $30k by 5, giving you $6000 each.

Put:
$6000 in a one-year CD
$6000 in a two-year CD
$6000 in a three-year CD
$6000 in a four-year CD
$6000 in a five-year CD

When each year is up (and if you don't need the money), roll the total (principle plus earnings) into another five-year CD.

This allows you to have access to some of your money once per year, but gets you the higer return of longer term CDs.

If you want a higher return, you'll need to look at investing. Just make sure your advisor is paid a flat-fee, not a commission based on your investments (that tends to sway their advice).

Answer 5

"Safe" or prudent?

Diversify.

Savings Account is not the place to keep it. Buy a CD.

Consider some equities and metals in a diversified portfolio.

Buy a percentage in Growth and Income Funds, and New Economy funds, or European or Pacific Growth funds.

The best investment long term is real estate. Own a home, own a rental, own land.

Answer 6

Well Vegas gives 50 to 1 odds on some games :)

But really, a savings account is really safe but not too good of return on your money. I suggest Savings Bonds or buying real-estate!

Answer 7

There isn't usually a big return without a big risk involved. Diversify and put a portion in a money market account, another portion in an intrest bearing CD, put some into a 401K....

With real estate being what it is, you could buy a home that will appreciate in value.....

Answer 8

Do your homework.
Start at your local bank and ask for an investment banker to see what they reccommend.
Next go to local investers like Wakovia and such.
Insurance companies are real good at investing with a good return.
After all this weigh you options both good and bad. Usually the higher the return the higher the risk.
Be sure and check histories of any investment before actually making the investment.

Answer 9

Until you find your "big return" put your money in EmigrantDirect.com. It is an online money market account with no minimum balance required. The current APR is 4.65%. Not to bad considering that stocks are not doing well.

Answer 10

I have a savings account it would do GREAT in!

Haha. Seriously, there are 10000 places and things you could invest in and do with it.

Try this news site, they give you some safe options:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/24/uttm/main1534840.shtml