The investment landscape in 2024was shaped by geopolitical tensions, trade fragmentation, and intensifyingindustrial policy competition. These dynamics, combined with elevated financialrisk and uncertainty, are redrawing global investment maps and erodinglong-term investor confidence. You’ll need a brokerage account if you don’t already have one. We’ve curated a list of the best brokerages to help you find the right account for you. A certificate of deposit is a federally insured savings account that offers a fixed interest rate for a defined period of time. Now may be a good time to lock in that fixed rate — unlike a savings account, CD rates won’t fluctuate if interest rates continue to go down.

The information herein is general and educational in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, which can materially impact investment results. Fidelity cannot guarantee that the information herein is accurate, complete, or timely. Fidelity makes no warranties with regard to such information or results obtained by its use, and disclaims any liability arising out of your use of, or any tax position taken in reliance on, such information. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Target Date Funds are an asset mix of stocks, bonds and other investments that automatically becomes more conservative as the fund approaches its target retirement date and beyond.

best investments right now

The report shows that European investors hold the largest FDI stock in Africa, followed by the United States and China. Investment facilitation efforts continued to feature prominently in Africa, accounting for 36% of policy measures favourable to investors. The latest World Investment Report from UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) highlights a significant rebound in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Africa. Get trusted intelligence on global trade, the economy and development in your inbox. FDI is expected to grow moderately in 2025, driven by improved financing conditions and increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A), though risks and investor uncertainty remain high.

Investing for beginners

Global foreign direct investment fell by 11%, marking the second consecutive year of decline and confirming a deepening slowdown in productive capital flows, according to the World Investment Report 2025. Planning and research are great, but in the end, you also have to take the plunge. For stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs, you’ll generally look up the investment’s ticker symbol—a string of 1 to 5 letters that’s unique to that investment—then decide on a dollar amount or number of shares to buy. If you’re getting stuck on this step, check out a more detailed walk-through of the process or some frequently asked questions. Also, if you go the robo advisor route, you play plinko may be able to skip the look-up part of the process, depending on the account type. And of course, plenty of people end up deciding to use some mix of those options—like investing in funds with their retirement money, but perhaps also picking individual stocks with a small portion of their money.

Bonds

It’s also important to note that with a 401(k), the lineup available is selected by the plan sponsor, which makes it easier because the available options can be less overwhelming. Once you make your payroll deduction election, your funds will be automatically invested until you change that. This is the only type of investment account that works this way; with other accounts, you need to manually set up auto-investing capabilities. Most people should focus on getting a broad range of common-sense investment types rather than placing all their bets on a small number of “high-promise” investments. After all, turmeric and açai may be superfoods, but they still shouldn’t be the only things you eat.

The World Investment Report focuses on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution to development. Only by reshaping the rules and incentives that guideglobal capital can countries unlock leapfrog opportunities, close the digitaldivide, and turn today’s volatility into tomorrow’s development gains. The report warns that current levels of investment fall farshort of global needs.

Government bonds

Identify small-cap stocks with limited share float and positive price momentum. Discover undervalued stocks with excellent financial health and top Piotroski F-Scores. Other renewable energy projects occurred in Morocco, Namibia and Tunisia. Besides Egypt’s strong performance, FDI in Tunisia increased by 21% to $936 million and that of Morocco grew by 55% to $1.6 billion. Improve data and AI governance to supportsound digital development strategies. Give yourself a pat on the back, but also try to keep up your momentum by continuing to build your knowledge base.

ETFs

The term “equity” covers any kind of investment that gives the investor an ownership stake in an enterprise. Other examples are preferred shares, funds that hold stocks (such as exchange-traded funds and mutual funds), private equity, and American depositary receipts. Stocks generally offer a larger potential return on your investment than lower-risk investments, such as government bonds, but also may expose your money to higher levels of volatility.

Once you’ve learned a little more about investing, decided how much you’ll need to invest to reach your goal and selected a type of account, the next step is to actually open your account of choice. Let’s say you invest $200 every month for 10 years and earn a 6% average annual return. Of that amount, roughly $24,000 is money from those $200 monthly contributions.