What are the different ways I can invest my money?

You should invest in stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks, as individual stocks are too risky. For most folks this means buying mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea how aggressive you want to be.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion

Buying a house instead of renting will save you a lot of money in the long run. You don't have to pay rent and you build equity in your house instead. Buying rental property can also be a good investment. However, being a landlord can be hard work, and many people are not good at it. If you don't know how to handle deadbeat renters, you can have trouble.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

Sources:

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planni...
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/...
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetalloca...
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/...

You can invest in individual stocks and etfs at www.zecco.com for free.

You can invest in mutual funds if you can meet the investment minimums. Vanguard has great funds.

You can lend money to people with interest at http://www.prosper.com/join/TheFinanceGi...

You can also open a CD, money market or purchase gov't savings bonds online but this would have the lowest potential return compared to the other options.

The best way by stock through IPO. bcz u get shares at par and sell at market price. But u need a best broker/ advisor to advise u to select the shares which have future growth.

Benifit of shares:
1. Cash dividend income.
2. Bonus shares certificate (gift)
3. When u sell ur shares after long time, u will get above both benifits and extra cash gain on sale of shares.

Invest in ETF: ETFs are cheaper than mutual funds. ETFs have very low annual expenses, nearly 20 basis points or 0.2% less. As against this, actively managed mutual funds show average expenses exceeding 135 basis points (1.35%). This does not include the extra 2% - 5% as loads, 12(b)-1 marketing fees, transactions costs, and soft dollar expenses mutual funds, passed on to you but never informed, except in very fine print that nobody cares to read.

http://debts-to-wealth.com/category/Why-...