Five Alternatives to Investing in the Stock Market

As you work harder and harder to make ends meet and invest your hard earned money, it is certainly difficult to watch the stock market plunge day after day. Many people have seen much of their hard earned money lost in the period of a few weeks time in today's stock market and that is certainly very tough to take. Many people are out there looking for new alternatives to investing in the stock market, so I wanted to take a look at five nice alternatives.

Top five alternatives to investing in stocks

1.Certificates of Deposit- Certificates of Deposit from your local bank are still a great way to earn a very safe return, while having your money guaranteed by the FDIC. The FDIC now insures up to $250,000 in investments at a single financial institution. While interest rates are low now, there are still some pretty decent CD's available since banks are badly in need of safe assets. The banks that need assets the most are generally those offering the highest interest rates.

2. Gold- While commodities as a whole are doing very poorly in today's environment, gold is a very safe investment that has proven the test of time through previous recessions and I see no reason to believe this one would be any different. Gold isn't a get rich quick investment, but in this environment many people are looking for capital preservation, and gold is a good way to do that.

3. Treasury Bonds- While treasury bond yields aren't very attractive in today's market because of all the uncertainty, they are still the safest investment one can make. Bonds are especially great investments for those who are in or close to retirement.

4. Stable value funds- Stable value funds are a staple of 401k investing. In your 401k there should always be some kind of stable value fund option, which is a very safe investment regardless of the economic uncertainty that is going on. Consider these as a prime option during rough times.

5. Roth IRA- Understand that a Roth IRA is not a type of an asset but rather an account that grows tax free where you can put any type of investment. Utilize a Roth IRA to grow that income tax free, and use things such as money market funds or mutual fund bond funds if you want to stay away from the stock market.

Investing in the stock market has been very difficult to take for a lot of people lately. If you need alternative to investing in the market, I suggest looking into the options listed above. These options will help you sleep better at night and preserve that hard earned capital.