what is a easy investment?

Answer 1

First you have to remember that an investment is about gaining worth, not just money. Two big eaters of worth are taxes and inflation. That means that any product that offers under 6% yield per year and under right now is not an investment because after inflation and taxes, you will actually be losing value even though you will have more money. That rules out real estate in most areas, all but the riskest bonds, money markets etc. Right now that leaves stocks and commodities as the only things that are breaking that 6% barrier. Since you mentioned easy, that rules out commodities leaving just stocks. In this catagory you can call up a mutual fund company (or go through a 401K) and buy an index of stocks such as the SP 500, SP 400, Russell 2000 and Wilshire 5,000. Now there will be good times and bad times, but over the long term they should outperform everything else.

Answer 2

The easiest is mutual funds. They are made up of many stocks and bonds so you don't have to pick individual things. They are managed by experts. And they have track records so you can see how well they've done in the past.

If you go to a non-commission brokerage (like Charles Schwab) they have pamphlets on investing in mutual funds. You can pick funds that specialize in certain things, like technology, manufacturing, energy, telecom, etc. etc. if you want to bet on one particular segment of the market. There are stock funds and bond funds, so you can balance your investments (if stocks go down, bonds usually go up, so if you own some of each you're covered). Plus with a non-commission brokerage, the broker doesn't work on commission so he's not constantly calling you to try to get you to buy things.

If you company has a 401k plan, that's also very easy. They take up to 10% out of your paycheck and you don't have to make the habit of putting money away. They go directly into mutual funds, and you can pick high or low risk. After a few years you have thousands and thousands of dollars! And you don't have to pay taxes on your income, at least not right away (you do when you take the money out).

But not having to pay taxes makes it a lot simpler at tax time. If you invest in stocks or bonds on your own, and you make money, you have to pay taxes quarterly on whatever you make. If you make a lot of transactions, this can be a real hassle. If you have a 401k or an IRA, or if you just buy mutual funds and hold onto them for the long term, you eliminate a lot of that hassle.