What are safe ways to invest money ?

Educate yourself, on many ways of investing money, either real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, gold, oil business, i can go on and on. You have to find your ultimate goal of what it is you want to accomplish. Lets say you want a million dollars by the year 2010, I could name about 1000 ways to reach that goal, you could flip real estate, you could buy and hold rental real estate, you could flip gold or silver it doesn't matter. The less you know the more risky an investment is, it's not the investments that are safe or not, it's the investor. So a safe way to invest your money is to educate yourself on investing, find your goal, and create a plan and a time frame in which you would like to accomplish this goal, then do it. I promise you educate yourself on investing, don't go to someone and ask them for tips, most investment advice is given by people who don't invest. Try it, ask a stock broker, or mutual fund manager, or even a real estate agent, if they invest in the fields the are in, most will say NO. I educate myself, and ask of people who have already gone the distance.
Good Luck

You must know what it is you are investing in. Information is power.

Learn about the investment and make sure you know it cold if you want it to be safe. You can invest in businesses, stocks, bonds, options, real estate, gold, silver, oil, etc. Just make sure you do your homework first. A stock investment can be safe if you choose the right company. Just because the government gaurantees some investments doesn't mean they are the safest. Example, when interest rates are low, the government is only gauranteeing that your principal will be safe. But with returns of less than 4% a year, you are basically gauranteed to have less buying power the following year due to inflation and the rising costs of living. Just because the principal is gauranteed doesn't mean I would always consider it a 'safe' investment. Hell, what if the entire currency of a country collapsed? Sure your $1,000 principal is gauranteed but the money might not be enough to buy a loaf of bread. But if you had invested that same money in gold or something else you might have done just fine.

If you spend your time and learn about what it is you want to invest, you will do much better.

Understanding the degrees of safety in the stock and bond markets is like knowing where the edge of the road is when you are driving a car. Investments are never risk-free, but some are a lot safer than others. Mutual funds are the safest; and the Money Market account is the safest in that class. It is made up of short-term certificates that are traded among financial institutions. The price per share is never less or greater than $1.00. For the record, U.S. Treasury Bills and Notes are also safest if held to maturity. Small investors can purchase bond funds that invest in Treasuries for safety. I suggest that you familiarize yourself with some of the well-established government and corporate bond funds, such as the Franklin Income Series Fund (FISRX). You can learn a lot from their prospectus and sales literature. Individual stocks are much riskier, but among the safest are large company stocks that pay a dividend. The example that I like for the coming year is AT&T (NYSE: T). For starters, use a good mutual fund and learn as you go.

Hawk

C D 's or Stock's on Scottrade for $7.00 a trade ..... Dividend stock's
a good one is ACAS Etc....

The truth is: risk can't be eliminated. It can only be reduced and exchanged. The safest and best investment by far is to invest in yourself. Know what you're doing. That will be your best protection against bad investments. It doesn't matter whether you invest in real estate, shares, or speculating in futures market. Having knowledge about what you're going to do does pay off.

50% stock market, 50% bank fixed deposits