Risk tolerance can be psychological as well as simply what your personal financial situation requires. As you’re deciding what to invest in, you’ll want to consider several factors, including your risk tolerance, time horizon, your knowledge of investing, your financial situation and how much you can invest. Bitcoin ETFs are available at any brokerage — and you can typically trade them for no commission, though the funds will charge an expense ratio based on the size of your investment in the fund. You can buy and sell corporate bond funds with any broker that allows you to trade ETFs or mutual funds. Investment-grade medium-term bond funds often reward investors with higher returns than government and municipal bond funds.

Angel Investing

Sound investing begins with getting comfortable with some basic concepts such as asset allocation and risk. Understanding any investment product you’re considering—or already own—is also crucial. We’ll help you understand what questions to ask and how to get a handle on fees and expenses, which affect investment return. In addition, we’ll offer tips on how to choose and successfully work with an investment professional.

The best investments for 2025 allow you to do both, with varying levels of risk and return. The Trump administration is perceived to be crypto-friendly and may make it easier for cryptocurrency to be integrated into financial markets. Like any publicly traded stock, this collection of stocks can move calvenridge review down, too.

Recent Investor Insights

Are you saving for a house down payment in three years or are you looking to use your money in retirement? Time horizon determines what kinds of investments are more appropriate. A Nasdaq-100 index fund offers you immediate diversification, so that your portfolio is not exposed to the failure of any single company. A Nasdaq-100 index fund is a solid selection for stock investors looking for growth and willing to deal with significant volatility. Investors should be able to commit to holding it for at least three to five years. Using dollar-cost averaging to buy into an index fund can help reduce your risk, compared to buying in with a lump sum.

It’s an alternative to investing in bonds, which may offer similar yields, but CDs are not exposed to market risk, so their value does not fluctuate over time. Conservative investors or those nearing retirement may be more comfortable allocating a larger percentage of their portfolios to less-risky investments. These are also great for people saving for both short- and intermediate-term goals.

Check out the Invest e-book.

Owning a REIT index fund can take a lot of the risk out of owning individual REITs, because the fund offers diversification, allowing you to own many REITs inside a single fund. But the fund price will fluctuate, especially as interest rates rise. Watch out for REITs or REIT funds that aren’t publicly traded, however. These funds invest in small-cap stocks, which are the stocks of relatively small companies.

• But REITs also tend to grow over time, so there’s some potential for capital appreciation, too.
• A high-yield online savings account pays you interest on your cash balance.
• A CD ladder can be an attractive strategy for risk-averse investors who are looking to generate consistent income.
• These funds invest in small-cap stocks, which are the stocks of relatively small companies.
• Because these funds are comprised of stocks, they’ll fluctuate much more than safer kinds of investments.

Your knowledge

Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. For investors looking to build their portfolios with the best investments, the challenge is that the top-performing ones can vary. Our mission is to accelerate your company’s growth from seed to Series A and beyond. Bitcoin is a risky investment that has performed very well over time, though not without severe volatility along the way.

The funds’ returns mirror those of the cryptocurrency minus the fund’s expense ratio, which in many cases is quite low. You can buy small-cap funds as either an ETF or mutual fund, and they’re available at any broker offering these two types of funds. Typically, ETFs are commission-free, while you may have to pay a transaction fee for mutual funds.