The best investment right now – investing money in 2026
You may be just starting to look into the world of finance and investing because you want to sort out your retirement savings. Or perhaps you’ve had a baby and want to set some money aside to pay for their driving licence and other future expenses. The question of what you want to achieve with your money depends on the type of investment. In this article, we’ll look at what the best investment is right now and what options are available to you!
In brief:
- Ask yourself these questions and find the perfect investment that suits you and your financial goals
- We’ll show you a whole range of different investment options that are suitable for a variety of goals
- We’ll look at the pros and cons of each asset class so that you can get an overview
Find the best investment for you right now
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of what the best investment is at the moment. It depends on the investor’s goals and priorities. In this section, we look at some questions that potential investors should ask themselves before deciding on an investment.
What is my goal?
What exactly do you hope to achieve with your investment? Do you have a certain amount of money available for the time being, which you won’t need again for another year? If so, a short-term investment would be suitable. Or perhaps, as mentioned in the introduction, you’d like to invest for your children? In that case, depending on the child’s age, you’ll need a long-term investment.
You therefore need to know what your investment objective is so that you can take the potential investment horizon into account when making your choice. The desired investment period will allow you to rule out certain investment options right from the start.
How much money is available?
The key factor is how much money an investor has available to invest. Should a large sum be invested all at once? Or is there less money available, which should be invested monthly in order to achieve the investment goals?
- A potential investor should also give this careful consideration
- If, for example, you have a lot of money at your disposal, you have other options, such as property
- If, on the other hand, you’d like to start small and invest money in smaller amounts each month, other asset classes are worth considering
Am I covered?
Imagine the following situation: you want to meet up with a few friends, get into your car, and it simply won’t start. In the worst-case scenario, something expensive might have broken down, requiring immediate cash. That’s why every investor should have built up some sort of emergency fund.
Good to know:
The purpose of an emergency fund is to ensure that every investor has a financial cushion to fall back on should unforeseen events arise. This means that an investor is not under pressure to, for example, suddenly have to sell securities.
If you haven’t set aside an emergency fund yet, you should do so before you start investing. A different asset class is best suited for this purpose than for other goals, as you need to be able to access your money quickly at any time.
Does my investment offer protection against inflation?
If you’re already considering a particular investment, you should find out whether it can protect your money against inflation. This is a particularly important consideration if you’re planning to invest your money for the long term.
- In a market economy, prices can change constantly
- When there is a general rise in prices, this is referred to as inflation
- For the same amount, you won’t be able to get the same products or services afterwards
This is how your money can lose its value. Traditional investment products, such as building society savings plans or savings accounts, no longer generate enough interest to protect your money. If investors want to invest their money for the long term, they therefore need to look to other asset classes.
Do I have any debts?
If you have any outstanding consumer loans, it’s a good idea to pay them off first. Such loans can come with high interest rates. In many cases, it’s worth paying off these loans before you start investing.
How willing am I to take risks?
Your risk tolerance is key to choosing your asset class. Shares on the stock market offer attractive potential returns, but they are subject to price fluctuations. Do you get really nervous when the price falls, or can you wait patiently for it to rise again?
Good to know:
If an investor is very risk-averse, this should be taken into account when making a choice. However, with very safe investments, investors must accept that the returns are likely to be significantly lower.
Your age is also a factor in these matters. Young people can take significantly greater risks than older people, as they have plenty of time to make up for any potential losses.
- Take a good, hard look at how much risk you’re willing to take
- Just because you’re risk-averse doesn’t mean you can only invest in very safe financial products
- A portfolio should consist of a safety component and a return component
- If security is important to you, you can allocate more resources to this module, and vice versa
What are my priorities?
You may have already heard of the “magic triangle” of investing. It is a model that can help investors understand the specific advantages and disadvantages of an investment.
The concept of the ‘magic triangle’ of investment is based on the idea that there are essentially three objectives investors aim to achieve through their investments: return, security and liquidity. Return refers to the profit you can make from an investment.
Security describes the level of risk involved in an investment. Liquidity refers to the availability of an asset class. With some investments, you are tied to specific terms; with others, you can easily withdraw your shares at any time.
- It is important to note that not all investment objectives can be achieved equally well using just one asset class
- If you want a high level of security and liquidity, you’ll struggle to achieve any return
- If, on the other hand, you are looking for a high return with a reasonable level of security, you will need to invest your money for the long term, with limited access to it
Good to know:
You should therefore consider exactly where your priorities lie. This will have a decisive influence on which investment is right for you.
What is the best investment right now? – Here are your options
Now that you’ve considered the basic questions, we can take a closer look at potential investment options. You may well find that there are several asset classes suited to different objectives.
Fixed-term deposits and instant access savings
These are very safe investment classes. You can use a call money account for day-to-day purposes. This is where you keep your money for daily shopping and routine deposits and withdrawals. Security and liquidity are very high, but you won’t earn any returns.
- A fixed-term savings account is a good option if you want to invest your money for a short period but will need it again in a year or two, for example
- This makes it a relatively short-term investment
- With a fixed-term deposit account, you sacrifice some of your liquidity, as your funds are tied up for a specific period
- In return, you can boost your returns slightly
However, even with a fixed-term deposit account, you won’t earn a high return. It’s a suitable option if you want to invest a sum of money for a short period before you need it for something else.
Shares
When you buy a share, you receive a security and become a co-owner of a company. Investors aim to buy undervalued shares with a view to selling them at a later date for a profit. There is another way to profit from shares: many companies pay out profits to their shareholders in the form of dividends. This takes place at regular intervals.
Shares are traded on the stock market and therefore carry a price risk. You can trade them at any time during the stock market’s normal trading hours. They offer attractive potential returns, but also require a significant amount of research.
- You need to learn more about analysis and find out as much as you can about the company in question in order to get a proper overview
- You also need to learn the basics of investing so that you can minimise your risks when trading
ETFs
The term “ETFs” stands for “Exchange Traded Funds”. These are index funds traded on the stock exchange. Whilst active funds are managed and constructed by fund managers, passive funds track an index.
- One example would be the S&P 500
- An ETF tracking this index invests in the 500 largest US companies
- With just a single security, you can therefore invest in a large number of companies, which increases diversification
Shares or ETFs? One of the key advantages of this investment is the high level of diversification it offers compared to shares. We recommend ETFs tracking the MSCI World Index. These funds allow you to invest in the 1,600 largest companies in developed nations.
With ETFs, investors can enjoy attractive potential returns with a relatively high degree of security, provided they take the fundamentals into account. For example, ensure your ETF strategies are well diversified. This is a long-term investment that can be worthwhile if you want to build up your wealth over a long period of time.
You should, however, exercise caution with sector-specific ETFs. These are not very diversified, as they invest only in specific sectors and aim to capitalise on positive performance in a particular area. Examples include a cannabis ETF or a clean energy ETF.
P2P
P2P, or peer-to-peer, refers to loans between two private individuals. There is no need for a bank, which often involves a great deal of red tape. Instead, such loans are arranged via so-called P2P platforms.
An investor can lend money to an individual for a personal project and receive interest in return. The platforms aim to ensure transparency, which is why borrowers are categorised according to their credit ratings. These credit ratings help investors to assess the risk associated with each loan.
Such loans can carry a degree of risk, which is why it is important to diversify your investment portfolio. Furthermore, they offer the potential for attractive returns, which is why P2P loans could be a suitable component of your investment strategy. You might be interested in our P2P loan comparison.
Real estate
There are various ways to benefit from property. For example, if you live in your own home, you don’t have to pay rent and can invest more money.
- Alternatively, you can let out a property and benefit from a regular income
- The location of the building is important here
- On top of that, there are maintenance costs, which arise on a regular basis and can be particularly high in the case of older properties
However, investors don’t need to be able to afford their own property to benefit from the property market. You could, for example, invest in property funds. Open-ended property funds usually invest in multiple properties, which helps to reduce the risk. You can often share in the rental income.
Closed-end property funds raise money to finance a property. Once the financing is in place, investors can no longer buy shares. Such projects offer little in the way of diversification; they usually consist of just one property or a very small number of properties.
Loans
These are fixed-income securities. At the end of a specified term, lenders receive back the money they invested and lent, plus interest. There are various types of bonds, such as corporate bonds and government bonds.
Here, too, bonds are rated according to their level of risk. Credit ratings range from AAA (no risk) to D (high risk, default likely). This system enables investors to build their own portfolio in line with their investment strategy and risk profile.
Conclusion: What is the best investment at the moment?
To sum up, we have presented a few questions that can help you take a close look at your wishes and goals. Based on these questions, you can develop a strategy and make it easier to decide on an investment.
These include, among others, the following questions: What are your investment goals? Is your money protected against inflation? Have you built up a nest egg for unforeseen events? Are you more of a risk-taker, risk-averse, or somewhere in between?
We have also outlined a few investment options for you. As a general rule, your portfolio should consist of a growth component and a safety component. The safety component could, for example, include a fixed-term deposit and a call money account. Government bonds from stable countries could also be a suitable option here.
P2P loans or shares, for example, are suitable for the return component. With the help of ETFs, you can easily invest in a large number of shares and thereby reduce your risk. There are also various ways for you to participate in the property market. You might also be interested in the topics “The 10 best investments”, “10 best ETFs” or “My ETF portfolio”?
FAQ – Frequently asked questions
