If you are overwhelmed by the complexity of investments that leaves you undecided on the composition of your portfolio, start by asking yourself how much money you have in your savings fund.
I have less than a thousand dollars in my savings fund
Congratulations! This is a great beginning because from this humble base you will be leapfrogging your savings into a higher income bracket through stocks and many other investment avenues. With a smaller capital outlay it is always better to go for CDs (certificates of deposit) and stock market index funds that are potentially better income earners, offering relatively greater security than direct stock exposure.
I have accumulated $10,000 that I can divert to investments
At this level earmark around 30% for pushing into CDs and money market funds besides retaining a small sum in cash. You have fulfilled the minimum investment ceilings that can gain you exposure to mutual funds (mainly stock options) and bond funds (mainly bonds and other debt securities).
What if I have $25,000 and above in investible savings?
Follow your dream companies and start investing in the stock market directly. Restrict your exposure to stocks to around 15% of your savings. At this stage you can invest in more shares of the brightest companies and maintain decent shares in other good performers.
Investments crossing $100,000
You can increase stock holdings by another fifteen points to a maximum limit of 30% of your investible funds. Follow your key performers and watch the market closely. You can also consider moving more cash into bonds and within bonds to corporate bonds for stability and slightly higher returns.
Investible funds exceeding a million dollars
If you diligently follow the investment guidelines we have outlined here which are actually pretty conservative you could land up with a substantial corpus of investible funds. At this stage of your ascent the sky is virtually the limit to what you can do with your money. You can target the high performing stocks rather aggressively and boost earnings substantially. At this level you would be trading in higher volumes and even small price shifts will impact you more, delivering good results and bad. You could also consider investing in startups as a venture capitalist, and carve out more profit margins in the short term. You could also buy and sell properties and make a mark in real estate.
How age determines your portfolio mix
Thus far we have discussed how the quantum of investible funds can be leveraged to diversify your investment portfolio, but age can also be a decisive factor.
When you are young and capable of working hard for money you tend to be more tolerant of higher risks but the same can’t be said when you are approaching retirement. If you three to four years away from retirement it would be wiser to have at least five years post retirement expenses stashed away in safer money market funds and CDs. If you want to know how much money that involves, simply calculate the expenses post retirement required for a comfortable life and work backwards to save that amount. Remember that around this time you would be selling all those long term investments that must have worked out well for you and you can enjoy a happier retirement minus money worries. Your days as an investor have finally paid off!
How do you boost investments in the shortest time?
You could consider availing a cash loan for title. The pink slip loan could possibly be the fastest way to unlock 60% of the equity in your Honda car. The car pink slip or car title can be used as collateral for the installment loan in California. Surprisingly, this volume of cash comes to your rescue through an auto equity loan even if you have bad credit. The car equity loan will spare you the blushes by stipulating lower payment schedules that will ensure you don’t default. This is definitely the fastest way to boost an investment without touching the emergency fund, while the salary takes care of loan repayment in the short term.