Stocks are up significantly from their low in March of this year. Of course, they still haven’t clawed their way back to the level we saw in 2007. However, you have to ask yourself if stocks are the best place to put your money right now.
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Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the player to listen while you read [6:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download___
Treasuries – bonds issued by our government – have also had quite a run as investors have fled to safety. If interest rates go down, the value of the underlying note goes up. Interest rates are incredibly low right now. How much lower can they go?
Even if you hold it in cash, savings accounts are paying a paltry amount of interest right now. It would take you about 144 years to double your money on a 1-year CD, given the best rates posted on Bankrate.com. We don’t know about you, but we’re not sure we’ll live that long!
We’re looking at generalities here. You should discuss your specific situation with your financial planner. But our point is that it’s hard to look into the future right now and see an obvious place to put your money.
As we were talking about this, we realized there are some good places to put your money, even now.
Your own debt
If you have any debt, you can earn a decent return by paying it down. Let’s say you have a car loan on which you’re paying 6% interest. You can earn a guaranteed 6% per year return by paying it off. That’s pretty hard to beat right now.
Of course, if you have credit card debt, your returns may be as high as 30%!
Durable goods
You can still get a good deal on durable goods. Think cars, appliances and those sorts of things.
Some dealers are still hungry, although not as much as they were six months to a year ago. So you may be able to strike a good deal by buying a little bit prematurely.
Non-perishables
Think canned goods, household supplies and such. If you see something that you regularly use priced at half its normal cost – and you know it doesn’t go on sale very often – you can get a good return by stocking up.
Energy-efficiency
This is one of the few outlays you can make that will pay you back month-after-month. For example, if you have inefficient windows, you can seal up your home better by replacing them.
Energy prices are relatively low right now compared to what we will probably see in the years ahead. So getting a good deal now may very well give you a decent return.
These are good places to invest. But we haven’t discussed the best place to invest right now.
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Yourself
Invest in yourself! It’s the best place to invest now. Does that surprise you?
You may invest in more education that you know will make you more marketable in the future. Your investment of time and money may pay handsome dividends.
You may make a lateral move to beef up your resume or invest a little extra time to learn a new skill related to your current work.
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That’s how I learned to do audio production. When I was in the early years of my career in radio, after I got done with my on-air shift, I would go into the production room – where the commercials were being made – and soak up all the information I could get. The only investment on my part was my time, but I have to tell you, it continues paying dividends to this day!
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If it weren’t for that, The Bigg Success Show may have never happened!
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You may want to dip your toes in the entrepreneurial waters, even just part time.
- First, you may invest time – and perhaps some money – to hone up the skills required to run a business.
- Then, you may invest money in samples of the product you want to sell and test it with potential customers.
- Next, you may make a small investment in the infrastructure of the business (e.g. a web site) to see if you can attract enough customers to make it worth your while.
- By keeping your costs low while you test a concept, you’ll be able to keep testing them until you find one that makes you money.
Invest in yourself – it’s the best investment you can make right now. Let’s face it – it’s the best investment you can ever make at any time because it leads to bigg success!
What are you doing to invest in yourself?
Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.
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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00525-112409.mp3
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(Image in today's post by svilen001)
Bigg success is life on your own terms. There are five elements of bigg success – money, time, growth, work and play. Today we’ll focus on money.
