Investing your money is probably the best use of funds you own. However, if it is invested in various financial products without proper research, you can lose every thing you owe. Hence, the process of financial investment starts with effective planning and research.

But you cannot start with financial investment planning if you don't have a specific goal in mind. Hence, one of the foremost requirements is ascertaining a goal. It can be either of the two goals mentioned below:

- Conservation of existing funds
- Growth of existing funds
- Or both of them

What you do with the money you conserved or grew depends on your personal preferences. Unfortunately, not many people have goals in their mind before investing their money. Hence, they money they create or conserve is misused often. Financial investment planning involves going through a step-by-step process. Let us have a look at it.

- Setting goals
- Analyze your risk taking ability
- Asset Allocation or portfolio designing
- Select investment products that suits your needs
- Regular monitoring of your investment
- Redesigning your portfolio when necessary

This is one of the money processes to go about investing your funds. You can alter this process according to your needs. This is, however, a very broad one and may be applicable to every individual.

Just knowing the process isn't important. You must know about all the available investment options and know which one to invest in.

If you don't intend to take much of risk, you can invest your money in cash products or cash equivalent products like currency, bank balances, money orders, coins, GIC, commercial papers, T-Bills, money market accounts, saving accounts, Certificate of Deposits, and so on. These are comparatively safe investment products.

If your risk appetite is a bit higher, you can invest in products like mutual funds, stocks, and real estate. It must be noted that there are various ways to invest in each of these products. For instance, you can invest in real estate by investing in REIT (Real estate Investment Trust), Real Estate Funds, Property, Rental Property, and so on.

For people who want to seek high profit and are ready to take bigger risk, products like stocks and derivatives are probably the best options. Specialized knowledge, however, is required to gain from these products. Stock may be further divided into aggressive growth stocks, common stocks, and American Depository Receipts. Derivatives too can be divided into futures and options.

Financial Investment Planning wouldn't happen just by itself. It requires enormous planning, proper implementation, efficient follow-up, and essential redesigning. There is, however, a popular myth that investment is for rich people. Rich or poor, every one wants a secured future. Every individual is vulnerable to financial emergencies, and one must always be prepared to face it. And there is no right age to start investment planning. Even if you are nearing retirement, you must start investing. However, the early you start, the better it would be for you.