One of the biggest and most common sins when it comes to financial management is not making your money work for you when it very well could. If you’re in the comfortable position that you’re able to keep putting away money, you want to make sure that you’re not simply leaving it in a bank account, where it’s going to do very little for you. Here, we’re going to look at ways you can get your money to start working for you, rather than the other way around.

A basic savings account

Let’s start with the most basic and widely available option out there: a savings account. If you have money in your bank account that isn’t earning you anything in terms of interest, but you’re not yet certain where you want to put it, a savings account can help you put it somewhere that you, at the very least, will never accidentally or easily dip into it without really intending to, and can also offer at least a bump to the interest that you’re currently seeing.

High-yield savings options

If you’re looking to put your money into savings, there are options that go a lot further than your basic savings accounts, too. For instance, there are high interest CDs, or Certificates of Deposit, that offer a secure way to put away money for your financial goals that tend to offer a higher interest rate, as well as APY, than ever a lot of the better high-yield savings accounts. What’s more, CDs offer a level of guaranteed returns thanks to having a fixed interest rate for the entire term they’re agreed to be in operation for. You have to commit, however, as CDs have a specific term, such as five years, in which you have to keep your money in to see those returns.

Beginning with investments

The difference between putting your money in a savings account and investing in assets is that, when you invest, you’re assuming a little more risk. However, even in the world of investment, there are relatively low-risk options, such as bonds. Bonds can be bought over the counter, and basically see you loaning the government or a private company money, with an expectation of fixed interest over time.

Getting on the stock market

Stocks, on the other hand, can see you assuming a lot more risk. When you buy stocks, you’re buying shares, a portion of ownership of a company, or a slice of a number of companies in a collection, portfolio, or holding. Stocks, when they do well, offer the highest potential to make money, but you can lose a lot, too, if you’re not careful. As such, if you’re investing in stocks, it’s important to set up protection, such as what level of loss you’re going to assume before selling off a particular stock.

Depending on where you put your money, you always have to be aware of the level of risk. You can create a balance of low-risk and high-risk investments and savings to best suit the level you want.