The aim of investing is to grow your wealth, and there are quite a number of ways to go about it. Most types of investments are accessible to everyone regardless of age, career or income and your investment options go far beyond just stocks as you will discover below.

Wise investors know that they should diversify their portfolio and not keep all their eggs in a single basket, so they learn about other kinds of investments and use their understanding to determine the best personal investment plans for themselves and make money from it. It’s a good thing that there are many options to pick from that suit different needs.
Every kind of investment has its advantages and disadvantages so you need to make your choice of the best personal investment plans based on your level of understanding of the market, timeframe, risk tolerance, and the reason you are investing in the first place.
So, here are the five best personal investment plans you should consider for your investment strategy.
- Cash and Commodities
These are basically low-risk investments and with low risks comes low rewards. Even though it may be a good place to start, you may not get much out of some of them.
Silver, gold and crude oil are commodities that you could invest in. The price of gold is based on scarcity and fear, which can be brought about by environmental changes or even political action. These could cause it to fluctuate a lot. When there is a lot of fear and scarcity, the price of gold tends to rise, but when there is a lack of scarcity and no fear, the price goes down.
Banks offer bank products like money market accounts and savings accounts that usually earn higher interest rates than the regular kinds of savings accounts in return for higher balance requirements.
Certificate deposit (CD) is a low risk investment bank product which can be bought. When you buy a CD, you agree to loan the bank a sum of money for a period of time and interest. It’s a safe investment but it’s usually not worth it.
- Bonds and Securities
These are both low-risk investments. Bonds can be bought from individual companies, city and state governments, and the government of the USA, while mortgage-backed securities are a kind of bonds usually issued by private firms and an agency of the American government. Mortgage-backed securities pay out principal and interest to investors monthly, however, they are more complex so beginners should avoid it. With bonds, you loan money to the firm or agency that you bought it from for a specified amount of interest and time.
- Investment Funds
An investment fund consists of a pool of money contributed by many investors. The funds are then invested into different things like bonds, stocks, and other kinds of assets. Examples are index funds, mutual funds, and ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds).
Index funds diversify your investment across several stocks. As opposed to mutual funds that are managed by a money manager, index funds are passively managed and are not operated by a money manager. Because of this, less fees are involved so there is the potential for slightly higher returns than with a mutual fund. Your returns here depend on how well the index that your fund is tracking does.
A mutual fund is managed by a money manager that invests your money on your behalf in order to get a good return on investment. They usually consist of a mixture of bonds and stocks, with less risk because the money is spread across many bonds and stocks. You get your returns from bond interest and stock dividends, or by selling when the value of the fund goes up with the market.
Exchange-Traded Funds are bought and sold on the stock market and work by tracking a popular index and copying its performance. You have greater control over the price that you buy them at and you will pay fewer fees because ETFs are traded on the stock market. What you get as returns depends on whether the index that you invest in performs well or not.
- The Stock Market
Stocks are basically shares of ownership in a specific company. So when you buy the stocks of an individual company, you become a partial owner of the company. You need to pick companies with a track record of success or one with potential because when the company makes money, you make money too. With the stock market, you could invest with stock options, individual stocks, or in a stock market index.
- Retirement Plans
You could make use of an IRA or a 401K to set money aside and invest for your retirement. For 401Ks, there are a limited number of investment options. Most are mutual funds so your money will be in the hands of a money manager. However, with an IRA, you have more control of how your money is invested, so you could earn more if you invest correctly.