How soon would you want to know if your investment advisor wasn’t telling you about the three major investment types? If you’ve only heard of two – Variable and Fixed, then you may have a problem. Unfortunately, many investment advisors routinely fail to present all three types: Variable, Fixed, and Indexed as valid investment choices to their clients. This is normally because they are unable to offer all three options or they have a personal dislike for one or more of these investment types. So what is the difference in these investment types and what do the terms mean? The simplest answer is that these terms define how interest is earned on your investment. More specifically, it tells you how your money is invested and if your money is protected from market fluctuations. Let’s take a look at these various investment options.

HYIP is attractive for a lot of risk taking investors because they can invest with very small quantities. In addition, most HYIP programs are easy to get started in and follow even if you are relatively new to the investing world. Most HYIPs use a pyramid scheme, so that new investors actually provide cash to pay existing investors. As long as new investors keep coming on board, investors will continue to be paid. With a good high yield investment program this can work out, with poorly planned programs, you’ll find that even the first payments are made fraudulently and things unravel fairly quickly.

Investors needn’t worry about the fact that some high yield investment programs fall apart, because it’s like any business, some succeed, and some fail. It’s up to the investor to do his or her research about any one program and decide if it meets all the safe investing criteria. The thing about an HYIP program is that it can be here today and gone tomorrow if people stop investing, which is where a lot of the risk comes from when you invest in this type of program. But, if you get in on the ground level and pull out when things don’t seem to be going quite as well, you can still make an extraordinary amount of money in a rather small amount of time.

Unlike Fixed and Variable investments, Indexed investments are somewhat unique to the insurance and annuity marketplaces. An Indexed investment shares traits of both Fixed and Variable investments, but with one major difference – how interest is earned. With an Indexed investment the underlying funds are not directly invested in the stock market or an Index, nor are they directly invested in a bond, CD, or other fixed investment. They are however, secured by bonds or other conservative investments which provide a minimum guaranteed interest rate similar to a fixed investment. Generally, this minimum or fixed rate is lower than what is available in a purely fixed product. This is because Indexed products offer a higher maximum interest rate over Fixed investment products. The Indexed products determine the maximum interest earned using a formula based on three factors, all part of an option purchased by the insurance or investment company. They are the participation rate, the cap rate, and the reset period.

Do all that you can to learn about investing money; and especially learn about stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Once you understand stocks and bonds, getting a handle on mutual funds is a piece of cake. What are the investment options inside your employer’s 401k plan? The vast majority of them are likely mutual funds – mostly stock funds, bond funds, and/or balanced funds (that invest in both stocks and bonds). There will likely also be one or two safe investment options that pay interest: a money market funds and/or a stable account. Investing money successfully in 2014 and beyond could be very difficult due to today’s investment environment. First, record low interest rates mean that safe investments that pay interest are paying close to nothing. Second, bonds and bond funds pay more interest, but when interest rates go back up to normal levels they WILL LOSE money; that’s the way bonds and bond funds work. Third, stocks and stock funds are pricy, having gone up in value and price well over 100% since 2009. In other words, best investment ideas are few and far between.

Many opponents of Indexed investments point to this limiting of growth, especially in years were the Index or stock market exceeds the Index (option) cap or participation rates, as the Achilles heel of these products. There is also some controversy over the way the Index rate is determined in future years. While Indexed products do have a minimum cap and participation rate that is known for the entire term period, the current or maximum cap and participation rates normally reset on an annual basis. This makes it difficult to determine what will happen in subsequent years. Some advisors avoid these products claiming that the difference between the current and minimum rates creates client confusion. No matter which type of investment you choose, it is important to get the facts and options available for each. Each of the investment choices outlines provides different advantages that need to be weighed against their disadvantages, however they all have different uses and can all be viable choices when planning your financial future. As always, it is important to consult your „Financial Professional“ to find out which of these investment choices is right for you.

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