Table of Contents
So you just hit a big casino jackpot, and now you can kiss your money worries away, right? Wrong.
Unless you want to use it all up right away, the next thing you have to work on after a big win is good money management. Investing is one of the wisest ways to grow your gambling winnings. By doing so, you put your earnings to work. The best investments allow your funds to increase in value and outpace inflation.
For starters, investing is, in a way, similar to gambling. Both involve risking funds in the hopes of generating profit. Your goal is to minimize risk while boosting rewards. The good news, though, is that you have more ways to mitigate losses when investing. You can also find a ton of resources to help you find the best investments.
Aside from wealth-building opportunities, investing your gambling winnings also helps you prepare for retirement. By putting your money into the best investments, you can live off your earnings. It’s also a great way to make your gambling winnings last longer. So to find out the best options for you, check out the list below.
What Kind of Investments Make the Most Money?
So you just withdrew your casino winnings, and you find yourself asking, which type of investment is most profitable? With so many options available, choosing the best investments can be daunting.
You have many ways to invest. If you’re conservative, you can start with low-risk options such as saving accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs). But if you’re game to gamble your gambling winnings, you can opt for medium-risk picks like corporate bonds or even go for higher-risk choices like stock index funds.
Needless to worry about getting the best investments because they offer various returns, and you can always find one that fits your risk profile. It’s best to mix the best investments for a safer, diversified, and well-rounded portfolio. As the saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Best Investments for Beginners
Now that you’re getting the idea, you might find yourself asking, “what is the best thing to invest in as a beginner?”
Before you put your gambling winnings in the line, note that even the best investments have their upside and downside. The perfect fit for you depends on your risk tolerance, reasons for investing, level of market understanding, and timetable to avoid capital gains. To get you started, here are six options to help you pick the best investments for you.
Cash and Commodities
As a newcomer to investing, you might feel uncomfortable risking any amount of money. But you don’t have to worry. Cash and commodities are low-risk investments, so they’re a great place to start. The best investments under this category include:
- Precious Metals – Gold is one of the best investments if you believe the world will become more fearful in the future. Since it is a commodity, its value depends on scarcity and fear influenced by environmental changes or political actions. Unless you’re confident that shortage will drive up the price and demand for gold, investing in gold is a bet.
- Cryptocurrency – If you want a newer investment type, then cryptocurrencies might be worth your while. In recent years, coins like Bitcoin have become one of the best investments for many, thanks to their fast and dramatic growth. But since they’re unregulated, digital currencies remain an incredibly risky investment option. There’s also a possibility of government intervention, and they could vanish into thin air anytime.
- Bank Products – Bank products refer to investments offered by your bank. That includes CDs, money market accounts, and savings accounts. A money market account is akin to savings except that it’s riskier and earns higher interest rates. While savings is excellent for short-term and low-risk investors, it can lose value with inflation. Lastly, CDs are a low-risk, low-reward investment. Purchasing one means agreeing to loan your gambling winnings to the bank for a designated time. That allows you to earn higher interest than a regular savings account.
Bonds and Securities
Moving forward, bonds and securities are also among the best investments if you have a conservative risk profile. Bonds are purchasable from governments and private companies. When you buy a bond, you’re essentially loaning your gambling winnings to its seller for a preset period and interest. Both governments and corporations issue bonds to generate funds for projects and operations.
On the other hand, mortgage-backed securities refer to a bond issued by a government agency or private firm. In this investment, you’re also lending your gambling winnings to a bank or government institution. The difference is that a pool of home and other real estate mortgages back your loan.
Investment Funds
Up next, investment funds pool money from multiple investors and then invest them into various assets. Like other investments, they come in different forms:
- Mutual Fund – If you opt to invest in mutual funds, you’ll have a money manager who’ll take care of your gambling winnings. They will do the work to get good returns on your money. Typically, mutual funds consist of a mix of bonds and stocks but are less risky as your funds are in multiple places. You can earn from bond interest and stock dividends. Alternatively, you can sell when the fund value skyrockets with the market.
- Index Fund – Index funds also made it to this best investments list because they diversify your investment across different stocks. Unlike mutual funds, no money manager will oversee your investments. But since index funds require passive management, they involve fewer fees. Therefore, they’re very likely to pay out higher than a mutual fund.
- Exchange-Traded Funds – Finally, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are akin to index funds in that they monitor a popular index and mimic its performance. But what makes them different from index funds is that transactions are on the stock market. Meaning, you’ll pay fewer fees and have better control over the buying price. The growth of your money depends on how good or poor the index performance is.
The Stock Market
When talking about the best investments in the stock market, you have several options. As said earlier, you could put your gambling winnings in stock options, a stock market index, or even individual stocks.
Buying an option in a company means you’re betting that the value of that firm’s stock will rise or fall. It lets you purchase or sell company shares at a set price during a predetermined period sans owning the stock. Stock options are incredibly risky, but you can potentially yield high returns. So if you’re not big on high-risk situations, you might want to cross this off your best investments list.
Meanwhile, acquiring individual stock grants you partial ownership of a company. Meaning, your stock value grows as the company value increases. And as a stock owner, you’ll also get rewards via dividends if the company decides to distribute revenue to its shareholders. Individual stocks are among the best investments because they provide better returns than other investment types.
Real Estate
Ultimately, no best investments list is complete without real estate. Real estate investing comes in many forms. You can flip houses, own farms, or purchase homes, apartments, and commercial buildings. The primary downside if you’re a new investor is that it has a high entry price.
It goes without saying that investing in property costs an arm and a leg. In recent years, however, low-budget investors have been taking advantage of crowd-funded real estate investment opportunities to get started in real estate investing. The main challenge in this type of investment is finding real estate you can buy with a safety margin. But once you get past that, you can make some decent earnings.
Alternatively, if you don’t want the burden of acquiring, managing, or financing real estate yourself, you can put your gambling winnings in Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Like a mutual fund, REIT pools investor money and invests them in various income-generating properties. You can also purchase and sell REITs on the stock market, making them a budget-friendlier investment than property.
In Summation
Every investor has their own motivations and risk profiles. Therefore, it’s totally up to you to decide where you’ll put your gambling winnings. The best investments are those that fit your goals, lifestyle, and timeline best. So make sure to consider those things.
Likewise, it’s also important to ask, “what are some bad investments?” A good rule of thumb is if you’re losing a lot of money without getting anything in return, then, by all means, it’s a bad investment. That is often the case with shedding funds on items that decrease in value over time, such as luxury cars and fancy interiors. Nevertheless, some thorough research can help you find the best investments for you.
