Good investments, aside from stock and real estate?

I have about $10K extra in my savings that I would like to put somewhere that gets more than $6 interest a month. The thing is, $10K is too little to find something in real estate, aside from the market turning to crap unless you're doing rentals, and I find stock markets to be intimidating and very unpredictable. What else is there that I could increase my money with until I have about $60K to go into a franchise investment with my bro-in-law? Also, I would like something that I could pull that money out of without penalties in case of an emergency. Thank you for any input!

If the stock market seems intimidating to you then I would suggest you stay away from trying to dabble in the currency market (be it capitalizing on exchange rate fluctuations or higher interest rates). From what you said you need, my answer to your question would be to open up a money market account. It is much like a normal checking account except that it pays interest. Rates vary between banks but you can find rates between 4-5% anywhere you look. You can take your money out anytime you want and you can even write between 3-6 checks per month from these accounts. You could also just look into an online bank such as ING where they are able to pay higher interest rates because they have lower overhead. They generaly can pay 4-5% as well. Either of these would allow you easy access to your money, provide good returns and still be very safe (FDIC insured as well) Hope this helps and good luck.

CD's, bonds, mutual funds

try converting your USD to Turkish Liras when the time is right. It pays 15% in interest and if you can trade your USD for the Liras at a good price, you will even make money off the exchange rate.

*there's risks involved as well.