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Running a business is no easy task. Aside from daily business operations you have to worry about, there comes a time when you must consider your investment opportunities as well. If your business is profitable, you should consider what to do with extra profits. Should you reinvest in your business, put money in a savings account or invest in an opportunity with a potential to maximize your profits even more?

Making a decision is not easy. There are always a few risks involved when deciding to invest. In any event, decisions such as these can either make you or break you, so you must be careful. However, should you choose to consider investment opportunities – there are always a couple of choices with fewer risks involved. Therefore, here are a few investment opportunities for small business owners.

Stock investments

Investing in the stock market is the most common investment method for both individual investors and business owners alike. Stock investments include buying shares of some company and its entire assets. The company’s performance on the market, as well as its profitability, determines the price of its stocks. You can buy stocks when the price is low and sell them when the prices increase or you can simply hang on to them and enjoy the income from dividends.

However, each stock investment is a risk. You can’t predict how a company will perform in the future, you can only estimate it. Still, you can mitigate, as well as minimize the risks by diversifying your portfolio. In other words, make more smaller investments instead of a single big one to avoid losing your entire investment on a single deal that went astray.

Investing in gold

Gold is considered to be an alternative investment opportunity. Gold isn’t always a profitable investment per se, because the price of gold is pretty much stable. However, gold has a few unique advantages that make it a worthy investment. For example, gold is a great hedge against inflation and global instability. In other words, you can use it to preserve your wealth during a crisis on a global scale.

What’s more, gold is highly sought-after and on high demand due to its inherent value and its uses in various industries such as manufacturing, electronics and medicine among others. Therefore, gold may be a good idea, should you need to secure your funds for future use. You can monitor the gold price to determine when it’s the best time to buy or sell. Also, make sure you decide how to invest in gold, such as buying gold bars, bullions, ETFs and so on.

Real estate investments

Real estate investments are always a good opportunity, especially for small business owners. Buying and selling commercial or industrial properties may be a good way to gain additional incomes or maximize your profits. For instance, you can purchase properties when the market price is low and wait until the prices go up, in order to sell.

That strategy is also called “flipping properties”. In addition, you can purchase a property, invest in renovation and then sell it for a higher price. Last but not least, you can rent properties and enjoy a rental income. In any event, investing in real estate requires a good knowledge of both the industry and the market, so make sure you don’t make any hasty decisions.

Invest in a retirement fund

One of the good investment opportunities is to invest in your future. As a business owner, you’ll have to retire sooner or later. It’s important to ensure a sound retirement in order to enjoy yourself to the fullest. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are ideal for retirement savings. You can opt for Traditional or Roth IRAs based on how you prefer your money to be taxed.

For instance, Traditional IRAs are not taxed for contributions but withdrawals are taxed at regular rates while contributions for Roth IRA are taxed but the withdrawals are tax-free. However, a retirement fund doesn’t have to be solely purposed for retirement. In fact, you can use it as a savings account and withdraw funds even before you retire, should the need arise. It’s a good opportunity to save money for rainy days or have funds stored up, in case you need to support your business in the future.

Considering when or where to invest can be a difficult decision for small business owners. After all, you want your investment to pay off and minimize the risks involved. However, even with all the risk, you can still be certain you made the right call by informing yourself well beforehand.

Author: Elaine Bennett

Elaine Bennett is a digital marketing specialist focused on helping startups and small businesses grow. Besides that, she’s a regular contributor for Bizzmark Blog and writes hands-on articles about business and marketing, as it allows her to reach even more people and help them on their business journey.