Where To Invest 10k

It's not quite like winning the lottery, but $10,000 invested wisely can make a big difference to your finances or future lifestyle. But where to invest? Our experts point you in the right direction.

- Darren Snyder

Last month Money turned 20 and as a part of its celebration the magazine ran a series of social media posts about the varying prices of goods since 1999. In essence, the social posts remind us the dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it once did. A quick check of the Reserve Bank’s inflation calculator suggests a $1 bag of lollies in 1999 would have cost you $1.66 in 2018 – a 65.6% increase in 19 years. Would my 12-year-old self in 1999 have bought the same lolly bag in 2018 at its new price? That’s a tough question, but I’m sure, like any good consumer, I would have weighed up my options.

For the purposes of this story, a $10,000 basket of goods and services in 1999 was valued at $16,558 in 2018 (based on inflation only).

Dial the clock back 50 years to 1968 and you could buy a home in an Australian capital city for $10,000 or less. Nowadays this is barely the beginnings of a home deposit. However, the inflation calculator tells us that same $10,000 in 1968 would now be equivalent to $123,825 – and possibly enough for a home deposit depending where you buy.

So if you’re in the fortunate position to have a spare $10,000 in 2019, where should you invest?

This annual Money magazine cover story is a question that always challenges even the most experienced financial professionals and once again we’ve approached eight experts to give their views.

From investing in exchange traded funds to paying down credit card and other personal debt; from contributing extra to superannuation to having a property buying agent help find you that perfect home, there are many ways to approach this perennial question.