Cash-in-hand bang for buck

ANTHONY KEANE AND SOPHIE ELSWORTH go far towards a deposit. However, fractional property investing allows people to buy portions of an investment property and share in its gains and costs. Check out BrickX and DomaCom.

LISTED PROPERTY

For $2000 you also can invest in Westfield shopping centres, office towers, industrial property or even Bunnings hardware warehouses. Real estate investment trusts are traded on the sharemarket or can be bought through an adviser.

REPAY CREDIT CARD

If you have a card debt, this is probably the best return you can get on your money, because the high interest charged by many credit cards is greater than any likely gains from property or shares.

MORTGAGE

An extra $2000 paid off a mortgage reduces the loan principal and cuts the total interest paid over the life of the loan.

SUPER INJECTION

Putting money into superan- nuation saves tax and locks it away to grow for many years. New rules from July 1 increase the flexibility for people to make extra tax-deductible deposits into super. Until then, it’s mainly via salary sacrifice. People can potentially salary sacrifice $3000 into super but it would only cost them $2000 because of tax rate savings.

LISTED COMPANIES

Sharemarket-listed companies such as Argo and AFIC invest in a wide variety of quality stocks, offering good diversification for $2000. Managed funds operate in a similar manner.

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS

These products are booming, and spread your money across every stock in a particular sharemarket index, such as the ASX200 or S & P 500 in the US. Management costs are low because they track an index, rather than decide what stocks to own. ETFs provide a range of choices, including Australian and overseas shares, bonds, and commodities such as gold and silver.