Retirement tips: the best investments options

24 Nov 2016

Retreat by the sea,

Making your savings work for you can be a trying process, not to mention a confusing one. You work extremely hard for your money, and every financial advisor you speak to seems to have a different idea of where you should put your money and the options are ample!

So much so, that all the confusion created may have you lifting floor boards to see which would make the best hiding place for your extra savings. You are probably at a stage now, where you want to put everything in place so that you are able to afford a comfortable retirement later.

The question remains, however, what exactly do you do with your savings now to reap the best possible long-term rewards in retirement? As many of you would have heard before, the ideal investment strategy and some of the best retirement tips centre on a diversified investment portfolio – where your money is spread over a range of investments, of varying risks, and essentially for the ultimate benefit. Not sure where to start when it comes to diversifying your investment portfolio? Here are some of our top suggestions and retirement tips:

Stock up on stocks

Stocks have long been known to be the most profitable and the most volatile. In terms of retirement tips and savings, you should look into your options regarding stocks while putting money in some ‘safer’ investments too. Buying stocks technically mean buying shares in a company. There are two types of stocks; common stocks and preferred stocks. When you do buy stocks, keep in mind that they are greatly affected by many things, including the economy of a country, the success of the company you are interested in as well as the country’s political climate (among others).

Bring in the bonds

While bonds tend to be slightly less risky than stocks, when it comes to our retirement tips, we highly recommend adding some of them into your fold. When you have a bond, you glean high interest rates on money that is loaned to a company, city or government. They tend to be popular due to the fact that they bring in a constant income and are more predictable.

Save safely

One of the best tips for retirement is to ensure that you have some safe investments in your diversified portfolio. This means putting your money into savings accounts, CDs or certificates of deposit, money market accounts or fixed annuities. Speak to a financial advisor to get clarity on each of these and which would be right for you. When it comes to retirement tips, we recommend having at least one ‘emergency’ account where the money is easily accessible. Also, remember it’s better to park your money in one of these ‘safer options’ than to rush into an investment you don’t feel 100% confident about.

Put money into property

One of our top retirement tips when it comes to investments is if you can afford to invest in property, do so and ideally as soon as you can. The thing with property is that besides the fact that it is a tangible, real asset that you can touch (and live in if need be) and it can be used as a source of income (when rented out). If you do decide to go this route, ensure that you do adequate research into the country, the area and be aware of all the costs involved. The best idea would be to tackle it as you would a new business.

The reality is that investments do require effort – when it comes to planning, research and time needed to figure out which options are best for you. But not only that, it may require quite a bit of patience because often they take a while to be worth something – property having the potential to be the exception.

Image Credit: espanarusa.com

If you are looking for more retirement tips, you can contact us for more information about investing in property in Spain, as well as to find out about our Calpe property for sale.