In this day and age, many people are already doing their own investing usually through the use of Internet that allows you to buy and sell stocks and other varieties. Being able to choose from all your personal investment options does not necessarily indicate that a person recognizes all those various options! Even those that have been buying stocks and bonds for many years now still often struggle with new options as well as in keeping track of their performance.

Attaining a basic understanding about your personal investment options will help anyone to get started with saving and investing. But you have to consider that putting money away doesn’t need to be so complicated or overwhelming; a few simple choices can help anyone in building their nest egg over time.

There is a difference between saving and investing when it comes to personal investment options. Savings accounts and things like certificates of deposit provide a set return that doesn’t change for a given period of time. And this is entirely different from investing in stocks as their value may change daily.

Savings options include putting money in a bank account, purchasing a certificate of deposit, or purchasing bonds. These personal investment options will tell you the rate of return for a certain length of time; savings accounts offer interest rates which may fluctuate more rapidly than CDs but you are notified of that fluctuation as it happens.

Typically these are considered the safest personal investment options because you do not lose the amount you invest no matter how low the interest rate is, unlike stocks which may lose all their value including their purchase price.

Mutual funds and money market accounts are those meant typically for safer, short-term investing but which often return lower yields. These personal investment options are considered to be lower risk yet often yield lower payouts as well.

Stocks are often the riskiest of investments because there is not guarantee of their performance. Even in companies that have been established for decades and that seem very secure, stocks fluctuate rapidly and may even lose the value of their purchase price. This means that these personal investment options are the riskiest as a person could lose not just interest they’ve earned over time but their entire investment as well.

However, stocks are also typically considered the personal investment options with the highest yield as they may also gain value over time. Watching stocks and deciding which ones are good purchases is often a full-time job and one that many investors turn over to investment advisors.

There are of course a lot of personal investment options that you can choose from, including government bonds or treasury bills and international currency. Many found out that the wisest decision is to widen one’s investment portfolio over a number of different options, rather than simply putting all of one’s investment dollars in one choice or another.

Your financial advisor can present the best recommendation on where to put your savings but in the end, it will still be up to you to decide which personal investment options best for yourself and for your family.