Do you remember the first 100 dollars you won? So what did you do with that money? If you used that money for any investment instead of just spending it, how much would it be worth today?

Not knowing when and where to invest can cause many opportunities to be lost. We may think that investing in small amounts will not work. Or we may not want to risk the higher amount of money we have earned under tough circumstances. For this reason, we will try to explain and inspire you in our article 15 best ways to invest with $10k.

 

1-) Invest in a High Return Savings Account or CDs

As we mentioned at the beginning, if you don’t want to risk the money you earn as a result of long working hours, investing in high-return CDs or a high-interest savings account is the best option. Online banks have been providing the best interest rates lately. For example, with the Savings Creator Account offered by CIT Bank, you can secure up to 0.95% APY by opening a minimum $ 100 account.

Online banks have all the advantages of traditional banks such as debit card and ATM access. Since they do not have to allocate funds for building operating costs, they reflect these advantages by offering high interest rates to their customers. Plus, your deposits are covered by FDIC insurance for up to. $250,000 and you have all the benefits of doing business with other traditional reputable banks because online banks are equally reputable and reliable.

 

2-) Automatic Pilot Investment

You can invest your money in a virtual autopilot situation using a robo-advisor. There are two robo-advisors we can recommend for you:

M1 Finance

You can invest in stocks and ETFs for free with M1 Finance brokerage firm. So it can offer as many free stocks and EFT numbers as any online broker in the market.

M1 Finance is classified as a Robo-Consultant because they have pre-prepared and managed portfolios that you can deposit automatically at no cost. You can also create your own automated investments

Betterment

Betterment is an online investment management platform that is considered as a robo advisor and everything is taken care of automatically for you Transactions such as investment selection, asset allocation, rebalancing, tax loss harvesting are performed at very low fees.

For example, for an account up to $ 10,000, annual management fees are just 0.35%. If you exceed $ 10,000, it drops to 0.25%, and at $ 100,000 it drops to 0.15%.

3-) Peer-to-Peer Lending

If you prefer fixed-income investments to stocks, you can earn above-average interest rates with peer-to-peer lending. These sites create an open credit environment by bringing lenders (i.e. investors) together with borrowers to eliminate banks’ high repayment interest rates and restrictions. In this way, while borrowers get more flexible loan terms, investors get much higher interest rates than they can even get on long-term deposit certificates.

Nowadays, there are many different peer-to-peer lending sites and new ones are added every day. But one of the best sites is the Lending Club, and some of those who invest in the platform have reported double-digit interest rate returns.

There are already a variety of peer-to-peer lending sites on the Internet, and more are emerging all the time. However, the most well established of the party is the Lending Club. Some people who invest in the platform are reporting double-digit interest rate returns.

There are risks to investing in peer-to-peer sites, but if you have a high enough interest rate, you can earn more than you can earn on traditional fixed-income investments by covering those risks. The Lending Club investment recommendation is to start with an investment of at least $ 2,500. You can also reduce your risk level considerably by having the opportunity to invest as little as $ 25 in a single loan and the ability to make these investments in a large number of different loans.

 

4-) Real Estate

Real estate is an excellent investment but nowadays when buying an investment property, a 10k down payment is not enough. However, you can still invest in real estate with 10k thanks to real estate investment trusts (REITs). Owning a property with this method also has a number of advantages compared to owning a direct property:

High liquidity — Thanks to REITs, you can buy and sell real estate shares just like stock trading

Diversification — REITs represent a commercial property or mortgage portfolio rather than a single property or piece of mortgage.

High income — Dividends paid by REITs are generally well above the dividend returns of stocks and are at a different level compared to deposit certificates.

Tax benefits — REITs do not sell real estate as often as mutual funds sell stocks, so the net result is much lower capital gains

Nothing to bother you with — anyone who owns investment property can appreciate this advantage

Thanks to the internet, you can find many REITs to choose from and start investing in a simple way. One of the most popular is Fundrise. With Funrise, you can start investing in real estate easily and quickly. They guide you through the application process, allowing you to take a look at all possible investments you can put your money into.

The smallest investment amount is $ 500 and you can use Starter Portfolios with this investment. Thanks to this portfolio, your money is transferred to several REITs and you gain diversity. In addition, one of the main advantages of using Fundrise is low fees. Most investors pay 0.30 to 0.50 fees each year on their invested capital.

5-) DIY Stock Market

When most people want to invest small amounts of money, they usually prefer mutual funds. If you think you have the ability to invest on your own, DIY Stock Market investment could be a step towards taking this skill to the next level.

You can open an online discount brokerage account through companies such as Etrade and TD Ameritrade. These platforms have all the tools and training resources you need to become a great trader.

Also, it is very important to pay low fees when buying and selling individual stocks, as these fees may equal the amount you earn at the end of the day. If you are interested in taking the next step with an online brokerage, you can research the best online brokerage accounts for all types of traders.

 

6-) Create Your Own Motif

If you are looking for a different investment fund, you can take a look at the investment platform called Motif. This platform is one where traders come to create very different funds or motives. You can invest in unusual motifs such as rising interest rates, solar power in China, or the growing abundance of natural gas.

For a fee of $ 9.95 with an investment of at least $ 250, you can even create your own custom motif investment with up to 30 individual stocks, depending on the investment area you are interested in and the stocks you put into.

 

7-) Coaching Programs

When we say investing, it usually means putting the money we have in various assets in order to get more money for everyone. But actually the best investment you can make is investment in yourself. The investments you will make to improve your skills and knowledge, to enable you to have a better life in the future or to earn more money are real investments.

You can get this by investing in coaching programs. It will be particularly valuable if you are about to start a new venture and do not have enough experience or knowledge.

If you can enroll in a coaching program with someone who does the job you want to get into and has achieved success, it will save you a lot of time, effort and money.

 

8-) Getting an Assignment

Another way to invest in yourself is to have the necessary definitions for your field, no matter which career field you are dealing with. This increases your visibility and reliability. At the same time, customers’ willingness to do business with you increases. Find out which certifications represent the top of your field and spend money on these certifications to get a title for yourself

 

9-) Back To School

If you cannot achieve the rise you want in your career and think you have entered a recession phase, you can return to school and make the most sensible investment in terms of time and money. $ 10k may not be enough to study for a master’s degree at a university, but you can easily afford to get an Associate’s degree at your local community college.

With this money, you will have the perfect opportunity to start a new career thanks to your investment in school. According to the National Colleges and Employers Association’s 2019 Job Outlook survey, U.S. employers have shown that they plan to hire more than 16% of 2019 graduates, compared to 2018 graduates. NACE’s data also shows 2019 has the most promising recruiting outlook for new college graduates in more than 10 years. So in today’s economy, new graduates are more fortunate to have a career.

 

10-) Online courses

If returning to school to start a new career is not for you, or if you are not interested, you can take online courses and learn to help you in the career field you want to embark on. A wide variety of useful courses are available in almost every field on the Internet. Only with a little dedication and attention can you have the information you need.

 

11-) Starting Your Own Business

Starting your own business is another way to invest in yourself. In this way, you put yourself in an important position to benefit from your knowledge and skills, and it is one of the most reliable investment methods, as everything will be in your hands to earn more.

Thanks to the Internet, you can start your own business for a few thousand dollars. First, choose the job you want to enter, research how you can market the business online, and then create a business plan. $ 10,000 should be more than enough to start your own business. There are many ways to start a home-based business that requires very little upfront capital.

When you put money into an investment, you do it with the idea that we will make more money in the future. But once you have a job, it can provide you with a steady income for the rest of your life, and it’s worth more than any other investment you can make.

 

12-) Starting a Blog

You don’t even need close to $ 10,000 to make money by starting a blog. You can start writing articles by blogging only on a topic you are interested in and have above average knowledge. You can improve your investment by increasing your readership with interesting content. One of the things you should be aware of is that the topic you choose should be comprehensive and the blog should be kept alive. As the blog grows, you can have opportunities to earn money through advertising, as a platform to sell other people’s products or sell your own products and services. That is, it has the advantage of having an exponentially increasing value.

This method can be established as a side business rather than diving into a full time venture. You can adjust your pace to be comfortable for you until you start taking care of it full time. But once you get started, a blog can be an incredible source of both revenue and new and exciting opportunities.

 

13-) Launching a Podcast

Just like the blog, podcasts can be defined as audio articles and have the advantage that they can be placed on other websites for more exposure than the blog. You can also make money with Podcasts like blogs.

The easiest way is to make a series of podcasts and ask your audience for donations. You can also get advertising sponsors who will pay for a keyword on your podcast or the site where the podcast appears, just like on a blog.

To give an example of a successful Podcast, John Lee Dumas, one of the most popular podcast of ITunes, gained fame with the podcast named Entrepreneur on Fire and earned 3 million dollars from the business he started in 2012.

 

14-) Resale Products on Amazon FBA

If you have the ability to predict which products are popular or will be sold more by conducting market analysis, Amazon FBA may be the best method to use this ability to make a profit.

FBA stands for Amazon Fulfillment. After you select the products you want to sell and deliver them to Amazon, you market them on the site. After the sale is made, the company will take care of the shipping and storage of the products you buy for sale. It is one of the easiest ways to run an online business.

 

15-) Pay Off Debt

With this method, you can get a risk-free and guaranteed rate of return by paying only your debts. For example, let’s say you have a credit card with an outstanding balance of $ 10,000 and an annual interest rate of 15.99%. By paying for your credit card, you will not only get rid of debt permanently, but also prevent 15.99% of your money from running out. This will not allow you to earn 15.99% more cash annually, but it shows that you will no longer have to pay that amount in bank interest.

Another advantage is that you will not have to pay any taxes for the 15.99% you earn by not having to pay interest on your money. If you were directly receiving 15.99% on $ 10,000, you would have to pay income tax each year with most of the income.

 

As a result

With inflation, $ 10,000 might not seem like a lot of money these days, but if you want to get into some interesting and creative investments, that amount is fine. You can use these investments as opportunities to turn them into bigger businesses