Preparation is the name of the game. The Chicago Bulls would never have won six championships if it weren’t for the countless hours Michael Jordan spent in the gym throughout his life and the endless game planning he had experienced before every game of his career. This kind of preparation, mixed with unnatural athletic ability, was the reason why he had reached the level of success that he was. However, in the world of investing, it is not necessary to possess any particular talent or natural ability. The key characteristics of a truly successful investor include knowledge and preparation. Even the most experienced and successful investors in the world today are constantly looking for ways to improve themselves on a day-to-day basis. All the best investors are not only informed about which industries to invest in and when, but also what type of position they are in at any given time, and are aware of the best type of investment for them at that particular time. .
Being continually aware of your financial position during all points of your investment career and knowing yourself as an investor inside and out is vitally important in determining when and how much risk to take. If you are someone who is particularly interested in long-term investments that will guarantee a fairly moderate amount of return on investment, then there are a multitude of options for you. We all know that with the historically low interest rates we are experiencing right now, savings accounts are not an effective way to charge interest at all.
Personally, I think the two best long-term investments include certificates of deposit (CDs) and bonds. CDs are as low risk as they get. These are especially nice because they are insured for $ 250,000 by the FDIC, so as long as you diversify the CDs you buy, you are 100 percent sure that you will receive a return on the promised amount. By this I mean that when buying CDs, you should open several of them and never let them reach $ 250,000 before expiration if you want to be 100 percent sure of receiving the promised amount of money on time. They generally range from 6-month investments to 30-year investments. The longer the maturity date, the higher the interest rate on that particular CD. The best way to ensure a solid return on investment, as well as a steady stream of income from a CD, would be to have many different ones with a range of expiration dates that span from the short to the very long term.
