Are CDs the best and safest investment??

I have a good chunk of money invested at 5%, upon maturity I would like to make more money on it. Is there a safe alternative that yields more but not at a really high risk?? Or should I just reinvest it back into a CD??

It always depends on your financial situation and the time horizon of your investment, and what you plan to do with the money in the future. On the risk reward spectrum, CDs have the lowest risk, and have the lowest returns. Depending on your "sleep factor" (how much risk you can tolerate without losing sleep), a venture into other investment products will likely offer a greater return. Over the long term, a well balanced invested portfolio has outperformed other asset classes - although there have been bumps along the way.

See your financial advisor who can take a better look at your individual situation and make a recommendation. If you don't have an FA, likely your bank can recommend one, or they may have one on staff. I would rarely suggest a product to anyone without having more of a picture of what's going on with the money...In looking at the question though, it leans me to suggest an annuity product. Do your research on variable annuities, and look at the step up features (reset date of the portfolio where you are guaranteed that your value won't go below that point), Minimum guarantees - even in a down market, you are contractually guaranteed to make a certain amount of growth, look up the tax deferral, and many other features that can make the balance of risk and return a lot easier.

Gold is safe and has out paced CD's

Goverment Bonds are safe

For safety keep the money in the CD.

Safest-Yes
Best- Not even Close

The best investemtn for you really depends on your own situation. One can not really tell you a good investment without knowing more.

You might consider index funds. They have low expense ratios and beat mutual funds over time. However there is risk involved as this is the stock market. But no risk= low return. They are well-diversified by definition and that helps to lower risk. Read up on them at Vanguard or Fideltiy and make sure you are comfortable with what you are doing.

CDs are extremely safe. The primary danger is that their returns are so low that you won't be beating inflation by much, and if inflation comes roaring back, you may not even beat inflation.

So it's far from the 'best' for most investors if it is your single investment choice. As one investment among a diversified set of investments (large cap stocks, mid- and small-cap stocks, REITs, bonds, etc.) there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

The poster who says gold is safe is just plain wrong. I'm not saying it's a bad investment, but it's certainly more volatile than any CD in the known universe. Just look up a gold price chart that goes back to the early 80s...

CDs are the safest investment along with treasury bonds. I wouldn't say the best, since they rarely outpace inflation. Stocks and real estate are the best when it comes to long term and highest return investments. If it is safety you want, then go with either CDs or even better, money market accounts yielding a bit more than regular CDs. Good luck.

I am so dang tired of seeing idiots come on here and talk about Gold. CDs are safer than Gold. So don't listen to them...they just want Gold to be the new buzz word. As for CDs it largely depends on what you consider as high risk. CDs are not liquid, and what liquidity they have means there is a fee in there that you may not have been expecting.
What I recommend to people who do not want to focus on watching CNBC or reading the Wall Street Journal, but want to make an investment that can at least beat back Inflation is to take a step back and look at the big picture and buy an ETF or iShare that meets what you see.
For Example:
The global economy is only going to be getting bigger for the next 20 years. So this means that the demand on existing materials and supplies will also increase. But wait! There is only a finite supply of energy and natural resources, things very important to developing a sound industrial economy. So look into Energy or Natural Resource ETFs. There are several I own, which for the past 8 years, have returned a combined total of 387%. Easy as pie.
Best part of all, they are very liquid...just like conventional stocks. Also, the gains made here is not considered income, so it will not affect my Tax Bracket. It is considered Capital Gains though, but since I kept these funds invested for more than 365 days, I only pay 15% on my GAINS...which is lower than the tax bracket I am in. I actually saved more money this way than if I had found a CD that could offer the same rate of return.