7 ways to preserve and increase capital

The contents of the purse, or rather the problem of preserving and increasing it, have concerned man ever since he discovered the possibility of market relations with his fellow tribesmen as a means of improving personal well-being. The general principles of such "financial" activity of separate individuals have not changed much for the past millennia: in ancient times, everyone striving for wealth carefully saved up pearls and shells, collected fur skins, buried pots of gold and silver coins in secret places in order to avoid probable robbery. Even today we still often hear the reasoning of some "financially educated" citizens about the expediency of keeping hard-earned banknotes under mattresses, in stockings and other quiet, dark and, preferably, dry places.

Much has already been said and more has been broken in the field that this attitude to finances is not quite right in today's conditions. Today it may turn out that the amount of money stashed under your favorite pillow in a month or two will greatly depreciate. And given the opportunities provided by the modern financial system not only to save, but also to multiply funds, personal savings in our time, so to speak, orderly ranks come out of various secluded corners.

According to the poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation, only 14% of our fellow citizens do not think too much about where to invest personal finances today to get a legitimate profit in the future, and 13% continue to keep personal finances "dead weight" at home. The rest prefer to invest available funds in the real estate (about 26%), in development of own business (9%), in investment in precious metals (8%) and in bank deposit (with 34% choosing Sberbank RF and 4% choosing other commercial banks).

And even the notorious financial crisis has not too much halted the movement of masses of money along the route "pocket - purse - investment", moreover, a number of investment areas in the period of financial turmoil becomes the most preferred investment of free money.

"Property is our everything." - This is probably the most popular investment principle to which ordinary people succumb in an effort to preserve their finances in times of crisis. It is easy to invest available funds in property, but it is much more difficult to correctly determine which variants of this very property are most worthy of an investor's attention. The main advantage of such purchases is of course the preservation of their value after some time. For example, buying a car in this situation will inevitably lead to fixing losses: according to statistics, the car becomes cheaper in a week after purchase by at least 1/6 of its original value, and in three years - by at least half. This clearly does not speak in favor of buying a car as a long-term investment (not excluding, however, its value as a means of transportation). Approximately the same situation is in the case of the purchase of other items of household property.

"The best friends are diamonds." - Friendship with jewelry and gemstones is relevant today not only for frivolous girls, but also for quite serious investors. Investments in quality gemstones (by analogy with the very pearls with which everything started a few thousand years ago) in case of a global crisis can be a good long-term investment. The key word is "long-term," because it may take up to five years for such stones to recover their value for quite objective reasons: in a post-crisis situation, most vital things are of paramount importance. Jewelry, on the other hand, does not give a guarantee that the money invested in it will be saved, because its value is based not only on quality, but also on form: the current fashion trends in design or the name of the jeweler, and these factors do not give a chance to predict exactly how the price of a piece will change in the future.

"Only art is eternal; everything else is transient." - This postulate is probably the guiding principle of most collectors, who see their collections more as a way to preserve their finances in the form of movable property. And they are not wrong, investments in objects of art by famous masters can be considered some of the most reliable. The truth is that even in this case there is a fly in the ointment: the cost of purchasing such works of art is quite high: the so-called "admission ticket" to the market for such objects often starts from a million dollars, and the risk to get a high-quality, expensive, but nevertheless, fake is also very high.

"...One idol is sacred..." - Whatever the public attitude toward the "despicable" metal, investors have loved, valued and respected it for most of the last millennium. And for good reason. Gold bullion is a truly eternal value (this is its undoubted advantage), and the increase in its price is also a virtually endless process. Therefore it is a good idea to invest available funds in the metal of yellow color and to have one's own untouchable gold reserve.

"Comrades! Keep your money in the savings bank!" Depositing free funds into a deposit account remains popular among ordinary people. The main reason for this choice is risk reduction. Insurance and compensation of bank deposits up to 700 thousand rubles is still guaranteed by the state, although there is a small nuance: if a depositor wants to open several deposits in one bank, the coveted insurance in case of what he will receive only for one. A possible option in this situation could be division of savings on deposits of several banks. But since we are talking about ways of saving and increasing financial assets, it is worth noting that the bank deposit usually used by those who seek not so much to earn (since the interest on the deposit is not particularly great), as to save accumulated. A classic recommendation for saving money is to "put eggs in different baskets": keep half of your savings in the national currency, a quarter in dollars and a quarter in euro. This arrangement promises to keep the final exchange rate position zero for any changes in the major currencies.

"Movable or immovable?" - The question of "to be or not to be" is one that many non-professional investors ask when considering investment options. The answer is usually unequivocal - "to be" in favor of real estate. No matter how loudly forecasts about the fall of prices for real estate were, in the end they turned out to be a double-edged sword. Yes, the cost of real estate, according to expert estimates, is likely to fall, but the credit rates (including mortgage rates) are changing even more rapidly and not in the direction of reducing. On the way out, waiting for the real estate fund to fall in value, the consumer runs the risk of getting credit terms that would minimize the possibility of buying a property. Nevertheless, if the deal is still done, having invested in real estate today, tomorrow the investor will receive an almost guaranteed profit.

As immovable property that may become the subject of investingThe land itself is also considered. The most successful investment is considered a small piece of land with connected communications, because, according to experts, their value, if at risk of decreasing, then only slightly, and the owner in this case at least has the opportunity to just keep the investment. The cost of large plots of land, not prepared for construction and without running communications, on the contrary, may fall in value several times, which makes them not a very good investment.

"Don't hide your money..." And yet, investing in real estate, property or gold bullion is by and large investing in order to preserve capital. This goal is noble and especially relevant in times of crisis, but the task of multiplying funds does not leave the horizon of human aspirations even in the most unstable financial conditions. Striving to achieve success in this area, investors often turn their eyes and capitals to of the international FOREX marketwhich provides opportunities to use a huge number of financial instruments and create the most individualized investment portfolios.

In addition to the classic option of investing in trading various currency pairs (by the way, requiring considerable experience, attention and time) investors can use the tools, the right choice of which ensures capital growth in the literal sense of the word. In this case, trading CFDs on shares of the world's leading companies, such as Hewlett-Packard Comp., City Group Inc, The Coca-Cola Comp., McDonald's Corp., Pfiser Inc., IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., and many others. The main task of an investor is to choose the right companies, in whose shares he would like to invest his free cash. According to experts, a proper investment portfolio should include 5-6 instruments with the lowest correlation, in this case, the investor also observes the proverbial "eggs and baskets" rule, choosing shares of companies not only reliable and successful, but also as far away from each other in market sectors as possible.

Gold trading is chosen by those, who first of all, stand for stability of capital. Investments in gold on the FOREX also have advantages over physical gold bars, in addition to stability. The price of gold bullion at his physical purchase includes the obligatory state tax and bank commissions, which often increases its value by at least 20%, in the case of working on FOREX these costs are reduced to fractions of one percent when buying or selling.

The logical conclusion of the discussion about the available ways and options for successful (or at least risk-free) work of our fellow citizens in the field of improving personal financial situation can be considered the phrase "Money should not lie idle.". And, if this conclusion of two hundred years ago, which, by the way, does not belong to the world pillar of the financial sciences, has retained its importance to this day, then we, the average owners of purses of all sizes, should take note of it, and make the right choice between "mattress storage" of finance and their active investment in favor of "working" money for us.