No matter what is your income, investing is something that you must do if you want financial freedom. We asked some of the top finance bloggers about their best type of investment and here is their advice:
Best Types of Investments according to finance bloggers:
Madison DuPaix (My Dollar Plan)
Index funds based on the total market. Low expense ratios with appropriate asset allocation for needs and risk.
Jim Wang (Wallet Hacks) 
The stock market. It’s extremely liquid, unlike many other investments, and very inexpensive if you go with a passive index fund. There’s really no other investment out there that compares. Keep it simple!
Michelle Schroeder (Making Sense of Cents)
My favorite type of investment is in Vanguard. I love Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares – low cost, I’m well invested, and I don’t really even have to think about it. It allows me to spend more time in other areas of my life.
Ben Reynolds (Sure Dividend)
Dividend growth stocks are my best type of investment.
In general, a company that can reward shareholders with higher dividend income year after year tells you two important things. The first is that the company’s management is willing to reward shareholders with actual income.
The second is that the company is able to pay out more money every year (on average). This shows the company likely has a strong and durable competitive advantage.
When you can buy into great businesses run by shareholder friendly managements at fair or better prices, you are likely to do well over the long run.
Derek Sall (Life and My Finances)
Rental Property.
Liz and I own one rental house so far (and getting ready to buy the second with cash) and it has been absolutely fantastic. In the first year, we collected $14,000 in rent and the house appreciated in value by $35,000. Not too shabby for a $90,000 investment!
What I love about this rental property?
1) Obviously, the returns. Just the cash flow alone is a 10% return on my money each year.
2) The control. With the stock market I feel powerless and afraid. It could plummet at any moment and there’s nothing I can do about it. With a rental, I can kick out renters, fix up the property to improve the value, and maybe even divide it up for multiple rental incomes. The control factor is a huge plus.
3) The early retirement factor. If I have all my money in a 401k and decide to retire at 45 years old, my money is not only taxed, it’s penalized for an early withdrawal. But if it’s in rental properties, I can just keep the cash flow coming. Or, if I decide to sell some properties, I can do that too!
Real estate is the ticket for us. They’re fun to manage, they increase in value over time, and the cash flow always keeps me smiling! 🙂
Todd Tresidder (Financial Mentor) 
I don’t offer “top investment recommendations” because the question is based on a false premise. The pervasive investment myth is everyone wants to find the next Microsoft or Apple in it’s infancy. Trying to locate a “top investment” is more like a lottery than investing because research by Hendrik Bessembinder (and corroborated by others) shows all investment gains in the major U.S. indexes are accounted for by just 4% of the stocks in the entire market, and the single most common result for an individual stock over the same time period was a 100% loss. The answer to producing reliable investment results relies on investment process, not product.
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Financial Samurai
My best type of investment is low-cost index funds. They’re generally less expensive over the long haul compared to other investment products, plus it allows you to stay more committed to your long-term investment strategy, since that’s what most folks choose with that goal in mind. Actively managed funds generally speaking, are for folks who try to time the market and jump in and out of investments, usually rather often. That strategy can work if you’re an expert, but oftentimes doesn’t end well.
Fitz Villafuerte (FitzVillafuerte.com) 
Real Estate: Because this investment has good value appreciation over time; but it can also generate passive income through rentals. Additionally, properties can be leveraged, i.e. used as loan collateral. The money can be used to acquire more rentals or start a business.
Get started early with low-fee index mutual funds/ETFs. Why? That sentence covers around 95% of everything most people need to know about investing.
Kalen Bruce (Money Mini Blog)
Index funds. Because the market beats active investors 80% of the time, and you don’t know who the 20% are. And it’s never the same 20%.
To me, my time is valuable, and it’s not worth spending the amount of hours you’d spend on a part-time [or sometimes full-time] job to research companies and possibly beat the market by a few percentage points.
I stick with what works, and invest in index funds.
The real estate and individual stocks I own are purely for fun.
My retirement is in index funds.
Andrew Henderson (Nomad Capitalist)
The best type of investment is in yourself. Take the time to be comfortable in life, invest in learning materials, and outsource that which frustrates or confuses you. In the traditional sense, my favorite investment is traditional real estate. It’s something everyone understands, which makes it not only easier to get involved with but easier to sell, and there are so many underrated places that will do very well in the next decade: Cambodia, Georgia, Montenegro. The question I ask myself when deciding where to invest in real estate is “where is this capital coming from, and why?” In the case of Cambodia, it is Chinese investors who can’t invest at home anymore and who find Singapore and other countries too expensive. In Montenegro, it’s Russians. In Georgia, it’s increasingly Arabs who used to think Turkey was safe, but now believe it is not.
Eric Rosenberg (Personal Profitability)
My favorite investment is boring, low-fee index funds. I agree with Warren Buffett that low-cost, diverse index funds like an S&P 500 index fund is the best option for most people to invest. Over time, the markets tend to beat even the most experienced investment professionals, so there is no need to pay big fees for investment management. If everyone were to put at least 10% or 15% of their income into a fund like this over 30 years, retirement would be a piece of cake!
Jon Dulin (Money Smart Guides) 
My best type of investment are ETFs. I like that you can invest in a bunch of companies for a low fee.
Doing so gives you instant diversification and allows you to buy into different sectors of the market, like large cap or small cap stocks, for very little money.
And if you do your research, you can find some online brokers that will allow you to trade ETFs without paying a trading commission.
My favorite place to invest in ETFs is with Charles Schwab. I trade for free, the management fees rival Vanguard and I can be a long term investor with ease.
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Mike Collins (Family Finances)
I like index funds because they usually have lower expenses than actively traded mutual funds and that can make a huge difference in your total return.
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Dan Meyers (Break Free)
I’ll recommend the same investment that enabled us to quit our jobs at 34 and travel North America in our vintage Airstream – stocks! We threw as much as we could into our retirement and investment accounts (Mr. Money Moustache-style) while in our working days. No need to get fancy, stick with low-cost index funds that mimic overall market returns.
Rob Berger (The Dough Roller)
Index funds. They are very inexpensive and outperform the majority of actively managed funds.
Mark Seed (My Own Adv
isor)
What: Low-cost Exchange Traded Funds
Why: I’ve learned the fees you pay in money management fees is money you’ll never see again. Although I own 30-40 dividend paying stocks from Canada and the U.S. (and likely always will), I diversify my portfolio by owning a few low-cost ETFs for extra diversification. This way part of my portfolio is almost “set and forget”, a stress-free way to invest for long-term growth.
John Wedding (Mighty Bargain Hunter)
The best kind of investment is one that you understand. Otherwise, buying it is little more than gambling.
David Ning (Money Ning)
The best investment I own are my passive index funds because of the combination of tax efficiency, high performance and relative ease of staying the course when times get rough.
Ivan Widjaya (Aseponde)
Precious metal is where most of my money going. Gold/silver is under-priced, and I believe it’ll gain considerably in the near future. THEN, I’ll invest in other types of (under-priced) asset.
Matthew Paulson (Market Beat)
Dividend stocks are by far my favorite type of investment. The offer the best opportunity for investors that seek a balance of income and capital appreciation. They are generally less volatile than the S&P 500 as a whole, have historically yielded a higher total return than the S&P 500 and provide investors a safe income stream that they can live off of without selling any shares of stock from their portfolio.
Andrew Hallam (Andrew Hallam) 
Over an investment lifetime, few people will match the risk-adjusted returns of a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds. Warren Buffett knows this. That’s why he bet Protege Partners $500,000 that they couldn’t beat the S&P 500 index over a period of ten years. Protege partners picked a bunch of hedge funds with market-beating track records. But with one year left on the 10 year bet, Buffett is crushing them. The great man has also instructed that his personal estate be invested in index funds because it gives his descendants the highest probability of investment success. He doesn’t believe he can find anyone (or any collection of funds) that can beat the market…without help from a working crystal ball. An investment lifetime is a long time. For a 25 year old, it’s as long as 60 years. Even after you retire, you still need portions of your portfolio to continue growing, while you withdraw portions of the proceeds every year. Many individual investors, ironically, are more confident that Warren Buffett. They think they can find dividend-paying stocks or mutual funds that will beat a risk-adjusted portfolio of index funds over an investment lifetime. In this respect, I like what Wall Street Journal writer, Jason Zweig, recently said: “When researchers and investors walk into a bar, the investors get hammered.” The researchers that he refers to, recommend portfolios of low-cost index funds.
Scott Bilker (Debt Smart)
The best investment is always in yourself! Use that money to seed your business ideas—you know what I’m talking about. That product or service you thought of that you know would help people solve a problem and make you more wealthy at the same time. You’ve had them before and seen others bring them to life. Now it’s your turn. Take that money and put it to work with your ideas!
Chris (Stumble Forward)
My Best Type of investment would be mutual funds, because you are able to diversify over a range of stocks, and bonds that brings down your overall risk level versus going with something like individual stocks which can much more volatile.
Mr. Money (Smart on Money)
My best type of investment is the long term and diversified type. I invest mainly in low cost index funds, preferably with a low cost provider like Vanguard. I typically recommend a 3 fund portfolio because it’s simple, easy to stay on top of, low cost and will give you great returns over the long haul.
Denny Jones (Personal Finance Opinions) 
Andrea Travillian (Take A Smart Step)
Stocks – I enjoy investing in other businesses. Studying the financials and listening to management talk is fun for me! Plus the return over the long run is what you need to reach your goals.
Charles King (Finance News Pro)
One of the tips that all beginners to investing are given is that it’s important to diversify your portfolio whenever possible. This is because when you have different types of assets in your portfolio, it will balance your holdings and protect you should one investment lose money. Different types of options to consider include commodities, bonds, spread betting, real estate, and foreign currency. Alternative investments are those which can do well even when traditional investments are suffering from an economic downturn. The more creative you can get and the more eggs you put in your basket, the more likely you will be to succeed with your first online investments.
Kurt Fischer (My Money Counselor) 
Juan Carlos Moya (Millionaire Dad)
Usiere Uko (Financial Freedom Inspiration)
Fixed income and tax free investments like treasury bills, bonds etc. This gives the beginner a risk free foot hold into the world of investing, enabling you build a financial security portfolio which acts as a launch pad to more higher risk higher return investment, whereby you can afford to lose, as you have a solid base to fall back on.
Dr. Jason Cabler (Celebrating Financial Freedom)
Rental real estate- I love rental real estate because it’s the gift that keeps on giving. When you buy in a good area, the property appreciates in value over time in addition to the rental income you get every month. There are little to no hassles if you hire a property manager, and you can raise the rent over time, which provides more and more return on your investment over the years. Rental real estate is much less volatile than the stock market and usually provides a better return.
Joe Udo (Retire By 40)
My favorite investment is dividend growth stocks. They are stable and the dividend should grow every year. I also like rental property, but that’s a lot more work than dividend growth stocks.
Entrepreneurship continually provides the best and most reliable return in my opinion. I have been dabbling in cryptocurrency lately and have seen 15% returns in just a few days, but there is far too much volatility for me to suggest this to anyone. I could just as easily lose that return in 10 minutes. These are still uncharted waters so there are a lot of surprises that could cost people a lot of money. For diversification, and a little bit of fun I don’t see a problem putting a little bit in just to get a feel for it though.
I guess, in a way, my top type of investment is exploration. Find the things that interest you, test them out and see if you can make them work. You never know what you might stumble upon. In the more traditional investment sense, I’ve been on the sidelines in stocks. I don’t feel very confident in the market at the moment. I see a lot of froth in the market when the macros are, frankly, not impressive. Retail is getting crushed, home buying continues its decline and there seems to be a lot of trouble on the horizon for the auto industry.
Big Cajun Man (Canadian Personal Finance Blog)
An Index fund (or ETF). I gave up on individual stocks after the great Nortel melt-down. My standard portfolio balances, Canadian, US, and International Indexes and usually a Bond Fund or GICs.
Matt Bell (Matt About Money)
I prefer mutual funds and exchange-traded funds because of their low cost and inherent diversification. But the important thing before choosing a specific fund is choosing a proven, rules-based investment PROCESS that tells you which funds to hold. Too many people pick investments because of a headline they read or a tip they get from a friend or relative. Without a proven process, you don’t know if or when to sell, what to buy next, or why. I follow a newsletter with a 25-year track record that uses momentum as the core of its process. It takes all the emotion out of investing, which is a very good thing.
Joy Monet (Her Every Cent Counts)
I know what I don’t know. I don’t day trade or do anything crazy with my investments. For the most part, I stick to low-fee ETFs and wait (for years) until they’re worth a significant amount more than they were when I put money into them. With investing, it’s all about doing it regularly, and if people are worried about how badly the market is doing, investing a little more than you would when it’s doing “well.” Investing doesn’t have to be scary – get a Vanguard fund and put in a few hundred dollars a week/month/year, whatever you can set aside, and don’t think about it.
Anthony Middleton (Man Vs Clock) 
Start Your Own Blog!
Investing (and prioritising) in a blog that aligned with my core values, passion and focus enabled me to completely change my life around. I left my country with only £1000 in my back pocket on a one-way ticket to Malaysia – terrified and clueless about how I was going to make it all work.
5 years later and I’m still going strong. I’m location independent, debt-free and I have disposable income to make further investments that will enrich my life and future. Why? How? My blog, all because of my blog!
I still don’t know of anything (and if you do, please let me know) with such small financial investment, but so much potential return than starting a blog that you truly love. I grew up broke and continued to struggle with money in adult life – so I could only invest a little. Luckily for me when it comes to making money online; you can make up for what you lack in finances, in raw passion and bullish determination – and I have that in spades.
A word of warning though: You HAVE TO only invest in a blog that is about something that you enjoy and speaks to your true authentic self. Blogging should never be a chore and boredom is death to any project. Write from you heart and the right people will come. Treat your blog like a business from day one and put in the hours and labour of love and you just might make the shrewdest investment of your wildest dreams.
SB (One Cent At A Time) 
Mike McNeil (Dividend Guy Blog)
Len Penzo (Len Penzo)
Corrie Cole (Centsable Momma)
Elle Martinez (Couple Money) 
The vast majority of my retirement investments is in Vanguard index funds. They’ve been low cost, easy and effective way to invest for my goals.
Aaron (Three Thrifty Guys)
Doug Schantz (Cheap Scholar)
Education
Anthony Kirlew (Fiscally Sound) 
Life Insurance – With the right type of life insurance policy you can have protection against illness, protect your family if you die too young, borrow money from it if you need to, have money to use in retirement, AND leave a legacy of wealth for your family.
Maria Nedeva (The Money Principle)
My top investments are in businesses. First, I bought a blog that returned its cost in eight months and has been making profit since. Next I bought 50% share in a car servicing and maintenance garage. In the first year the garage made 30% profit which was re-invested. More importantly the value of the business has increased seven-fold (e.g. we were offered seven times more than what we bought it for).
Barbara A. Friedberg (Personal Finance)
So it’s been great to find out that investing is a vast universe with endless options and once you have the right set of mind and confidence you are ready to take off. From real estate, to blogging to stock market, to funds you can try you chances at anything that sounds good to you!
Want to learn what are the best advice for managing debt and which are the top finance blogs you can follow? Check what the top finance bloggers have to say!
Hey Kostas,
Great expert panel you have here. Thanks for including me :). Just an update from when I sent you my response:
– Cryptocurrencies have been decimated the last couple of days, but my Ethereum investment is still up 62%. Great return over the course of just a couple of weeks! I still stand by my original statements of people being very careful with this type of investment.
– A report just came out yesterday with bad news about retail: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-retail-sales-20170614-story.html Retail bankruptcies seem to be accelerating.
– The tsunami of off-lease used cars is depressing the prices of used cars and new cars alike. https://www.cars.com/articles/off-lease-car-glut-might-mean-used-car-buyers-market-1420695533222/
– Mortgage applications are up compared to a year ago, but still aren’t doing great. Most activity right now is just refinancing due to decreasing rates. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/14/homebuyers-pull-back-even-as-falling-mortgage-rates-spark-a-rush-to-refinance.html
Thanks for organizing this, I hope you have a great day!