Which one should you do?
Are you confused or unable to make a decision between saving your money or investing it somewhere? We will try to make it a little easy for you. Well, the answer depends on what your focus is on and where you’re standing monetarily. This brief guide will help you to make a plan on building up your savings and also explore the best possible ways to invest money. Choosing between them, however, is a little more complicated than you might think.
The difference
Putting money in a different account, is called saving. You can save up for using it later in time to get something you want in particular, like a vacation, buying a car, to cope up with an unexpected emergency, for your retirement or more. It usually involves you cutting corners on your normal expenses and putting that money aside and accumulating it inside a separate savings account in a bank or as cash at home in a deposit box.
On the other hand, investing involves using your money in an efficient manner and making it grow by buying assets that are predicted to grow in value with time. You can invest in the stock market, bonds, options, forex, and more. You can also become an angel investor if you want to be the first one investing in a new start-up company. There are several ways to start investing, so do not get stuck on the list above, but use google to find out more ways of investing your money.
Right time to save
If you have nothing saved at all, then your foremost priority must be to start saving. It is extremely necessary to have backup funds that can cover your expenses for at least 3 months in case you, unexpectedly, lose your job or have a major expense you didn’t see coming your way. You can use saved up funds to cover it instead of getting loans, hiking up your credit card debt or falling behind on bills. In addition to catering for an emergency, savings can also help you with things you might want to purchase in the near future, like a limited edition car, the latest electronic gadgets, retirement, start a business or buy the home you always wanted to buy. In cases like these, it is better to save money rather than investing it because the market can be highly volatile in the short term. The frequent fluctuations can end up making you lose much of your capital in a short time span. You must consider saving when you know you will need the saved-up funds in a short time period or to get quick access to them.
When to invest
Investing must be on your table if you already have the money saved to deal with an emergency. The average interest offered on the savings account is very small on average. So, it may be ideal to invest a certain amount of your money rather than keeping it saved because it will really cost you in terms of purchasing power lost for all the years that capital remains inactive inside a bank account. Of course, investment has its own risks but as long as you make calculated, research-based and careful decisions, it can offer you a great growth rate. Contact a certified investment advisor for more info in case you are on the fence about which way to go.
