There are lots of ways I can make my money work for me. When one of my invoices is paid I set apart my costs, VAT (BTW), TAX, Emergency fond and fun money. What is left is the money I can invest. In the blog Investing in Bonds, Investing In Deposit & Investing In Savings I already talk about a few of my investments with the money I have left. This money is to be used for my pension, for a sabbatical, low season in assignments and big purchases. Another way I invest is through ETFs. ETF stands for exchange-traded funds. I buy shares of ETFs. There are all kinds of ETFs.
Investing in ETF is saver than investing in individual shares, because it is a group of shares that have something in common and therefore are put in the basket I buy a share off. If one of these companies is doing bad, there are still other companies in the ETF to make up for the loss. There are ETFs of the 10 biggest companies, all sports company, etc. I buy the ones I am interested in and the ones that pay dividend. Dividend is interest that is paid from the profit the companies in the ETF make. It is mostly stipulated up front, but sometimes it fluctuates with the profit of the companies in the ETF. I inform myself about the ETF and the companies in the ETF before I buy a ETF share.
*Hogeschool Economische Studies Amsterdam ( HES Amsterdam) merged in 2004. I graduated in the summer of 2004, before the merger.