How to choose investment savings account?
Investment savings account
Do you want to open investment savings account? And you do not know how to go about it? Ofcourse there are so many good reasons to start an investment account, you might just be saving for a family vacation, a house or apartment deposit or towards your children’s education. But most people who open investment savings account usually do so in order to build a nest egg outside their retirement savings account, so that they can have some money to fall back on in case of a rainy day.
Before you even consider to open investment savings account, you need to put into consideration the kind of investor you are – that is, understand how you feel about taking risks. Perhaps you can just open a high interest savings account with one of the leading bank.
For example:
To open investment savings account you are -
- You are a conservative investor if you
- Do not enjoy taking risks (it gives you the willies just thinking about it)
- Happy to invest your money for three years or more while it steadily increases
- You are an aggressive investor if you:
- Do not mind taking (sometimes crazy) risks
- Do not mind investing your money in a short period of time – while you calculate the high returns you hope to get from these investments.
To open investment savings account is quite simple many banks have different packages that will meet your requirements. When you open investment savings account, you will find out that is quite simple to use. You can start with just $25 (depending on the bank, some banks accept lower amounts).
If you put money in the bank, it is consider a safe investment and it is suitable for conservative investors. Your investment savings account will at least give you good consistent compound interest over time.
Other investment strategies you may consider:
Gearing (borrowing to invest)
Different types of gearing include:
- Positive gearing: this is when your investment income is higher than your interest costs.Generally you will see this in investing positive cash flow property, where your rent received is higher than the mortgage you paid for.
- Negative gearing: this when your investment income is lower than your interest costs. Most investors are currently in this situation where they pay extra to cover the cost of borrowing from the bank. One of the benefit for this gearing model is you can get tax deduction benefit from tax office.
- Neutral gearing: this is when your investment income equal to your interest costs. It sounds quite depressing when your investment is just breakeven. Don’t be disappointment because your investment will turn into positive cash flow one day whether it is from your capital gain or asset value gain.
When you open investment savings account and you want to have the minimal tax possible, There are certain risks involved when employing the gearing strategy; it is definitely not a strategy that should be used by every Tom, Dick and Harry. It is advised that you consult your financial planner.
Income Splitting
This strategy is popularly employed in order to reduce income tax. It is done by simply diverting your income to a partner with a lower marginal tax rate. You cannot achieve this by using the income from your job; you can split the money from investments. But first make sure that you set up the investment using the name of the person/partner who has the lower marginal tax rate. For details please consult your accountants and financial planners.
Dollar cost averaging
This strategy involves continuing to purchase goods, even if the market value of the goods is at its highest or lowest cost. In this strategy, you do not wait for what most people call “the right moment/time”, the idea behind this strategy is to continue to invest regularly. This strategy generally applies to stock investment and you are prepared to invest in at least 5 to 10 years.
The general idea behind in open investment savings account is to earn money over time. Most banks will ensure that your investment capital is 100% safe, you just need to have some level of patience and discipline in order to enjoy the benefits of the open investment savings account that you have made. Because this type of saving is guaranteed to give you a steady return on all the money you have invested over time. There is no harm in asking questions, you can walk into your bank and talk to someone whose job is to brief you on the type of investment savings account that will suit your needs.