Investing even a small amount can produce considerable rewards over the long term, especially if you do it regularly. But investing means you have to make decisions about how much you want to invest and where to invest it. To choose wisely, you need to know what choices you have and what risks you take when you invest in different ways. Stocks are ownership shares that investors buy in a corporation. Cash investments include money in bank accounts, Certificates of Deposit and U.S. Treasury bills.
Bonds are loans that investors make to corporations and governments.
You can invest directly in any or all of them, or indirectly by buying mutual funds that pool your money with money from other people and then investing it. Stock mutual funds, for example, buy stocks, while money market funds make cash investments. If you want to invest, you have a wealth of opportunities. In the U.S. alone there are thousands of stocks and mutual funds, and millions of corporate and government bonds to choose from. You can invest in markets around the world, in developed or emerging economies.