A high-yield online savings account pays you interest on your cash balance. And just like a savings account earning pennies at your brick-and-mortar bank, high-yield online savings accounts are accessible vehicles for your cash. With fewer overhead costs, you can typically earn much higher interest rates at online banks. Plus, you can typically access the money by quickly transferring it to your primary bank or maybe even via an ATM.
Certificates of deposit, or CDs, are issued by banks and generally offer a higher interest rate than savings accounts.These insured time deposits have specific maturity dates that can range from several weeks to several years. Because these are “time deposits,” you cannot withdraw the money for a specified period of time without penalty. With a CD, the financial institution pays you interest at regular intervals. Once it matures, you get your original principal back plus any accrued interest. It pays to shop around online for the best rates.
Corporations sometimes raise money by issuing bonds to investors, and these can be packaged into bond funds that own bonds issued by potentially hundreds of corporations. Short-term bonds have an average maturity of one to five years, which makes them less susceptible to interest rate fluctuations than intermediate- or long-term bonds.
Corporate bond funds can be an excellent choice for investors looking for cash flow, such as retirees, or those who want to reduce their overall portfolio risk but still earn a return.
Cryptocurrency is a kind of digital electronic-only currency that is intended to act as a medium of exchange. It’s become popular in the last decade, with Bitcoin becoming the leading digital currency. Crypto has become a hot property in the last few years in particular, as dollars have flown into the asset, pushing up prices and drawing even more traders to the action.
Unlike other assets listed here, it’s not backed by the FDIC or the money-generating power of either a government or company. Its worth is determined solely by what traders will pay for it.
Throughout history, few investments have rivaled gold in popularity as a hedge against almost any kind of trouble, from inflation, to economic upheaval or currency fluctuations, to war.
When you think about investing in gold, don’t restrict yourself to just buying physical gold, like coins or bullion. Alternatives to invest in gold include buying shares of gold mining companies or gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs). You can also invest in gold by trading options and futures contracts.
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