Best strategies for how to multiply your money. If you want to be hands-on and enjoy making investment decisions, you might want to consider buying individual shares – but make sure you understand the risks. If you don’t have the time or inclination to be hands-on – or if you only have a small amount of money to invest – then a popular choice is investment funds, such as unit trusts and Open Ended Investment Companies (OEICs). With these, your money is pooled with that of lots of other investors and used to buy a wide spread of investments. If you buy investments, like individual shares, direct, you will need to use a stockbroking service and pay dealing charges. If you decide on investment funds, there are charges, for example to pay the fund manager. And, if you get financial advice, you will pay the adviser for this. Whether you’re looking at stockbrokers, investment funds or advisers, the charges vary from one firm to another.

Investors often place great importance on price-earnings ratios, but placing too much emphasis on a single metric is ill-advised. P/E ratios are best used in conjunction with other analytical processes. Therefore a low P/E ratio doesn’t necessarily mean a security is undervalued, nor does a high P/E ratio necessarily mean a company is overvalued. Some mistakenly believe there’s less to lose with low-priced stocks. But whether a $5 stock plunges to $0, or a $75 stock does the same, you’ve lost 100% of your initial investment, therefore both stocks carry similar downside risk. In fact, penny stocks are likely riskier than higher-priced stocks, because they tend to be less regulated.

Funding your retirement is one of the best investments that you can make to ensure the financial future of you and your family. It’s important to plan for your retirement whether you have just finished high school at 18 or are about to enter your 60’s. It is never too early to start putting money away for your retirement. If you are planning on living a comfortable retirement based on Social Security; forget about it! According to USA Today, the average Social Security benefit paid out to retirees is a paltry $1,324 per month, which amounts to just $16,424 per year. Read more details at Why you need a retirement plan.

Saving money and investing it are closely connected. In order to invest money, you first have to save some up. That will take a lot less time than you think, and you can do it in very small steps. If you’ve never been a saver, you can start by putting away just $10 per week. That may not seem like a lot, but over the course of a year it comes to over $500. American Express National Bank currently offers a strong 2.10% Annual Percentage Yield on their online savings account. There is no minimum deposit required and no monthly maintenance fees associated with a Personal Savings Account from American Express so the yield is earned on all balances. The brand also offers high-yield CD’s if you’re in the market for a place to park your cash and are in need of high interest rates.

According to Buffett, the secret to getting a better return on investment is to buy a stock and forget about it. He believes in having a buy-and-hold mentality and insists on holding stocks for decades. There are two principles behind this: (1) if you buy a stock for less than it’s true worth, the stock’s price will eventually converge with it’s intrinsic value; and (2) if you buy a wonderful business, the value of that business will compound and increase exponentially the longer you hold on to it. So, the patient investor will ultimately be rewarded if they hold on to their stocks for a longer time. For Buffett, time is the friend of a wonderful business. “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes.” He says that if you constantly buy and sell stocks, it’ll take away a significant percentage of your returns in the form of trading commissions and taxes. So, it’s better to buy great stocks and holding them for a long time.

About MultiplyMyMoney : I have more than 12 years of experience as an independent and personal financial and investment consultant. I used to run a financial blog called BuylikeBuffett which provided insight on investing, saving, money management, and all things finance. I am also the author of Your Financial Playbook: A Guide To Navigating The World Of Personal Finance a financial guide written to inform the beginning investor about the basics of the market. I decided to start a new site because I receive a great number of questions about financial topics on a daily basis. I figure that this would be a great way to answer those questions and increase financial literacy. I also figured it would be a good platform to write articles on everything from teaching how to get rich, explaining the basics of cryptocurrency, to detailing ways of rebuilding your credit score. I was the founder and president of New Horizons Financial Management, LLC, and was a registered investment advisor. New Horizons was an independent investment advisory asset management and personal financial consulting firm offering investment advisory services to high net worth individuals. Read more info on Multiply My Money.