If you’re a marketing executive, you spend a lot of time planning out the campaigns you’re creating for your brand. But you shouldn’t just be planning ahead for your brand — you should be planning ahead for your investments and retirement, too. After all, the sign of a smart executive is that they plan ahead for the twists and turns they’ll face later in life.

When you think about it, people invest because they want to generate wealth. It is relatively simple, and the rewards can be great. If you invest, you have the chance to have more money for when you want to retire, continue your education, have great vacations, or even just to leave to your kids when you shuffle off this mortal coil.

Now that you know the reasons to invest, let’s take a look at some of the things you might invest in.

Cryptocurrencies

This is the latest investing craze and there are quite a few reasons to invest in a cryptocurrency or two. One reason is that there is a finite amount of them. This means that as the demand for them increases, so will their value. Also, as the number of practical applications increase, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum will again see a rise in value.

This is already happening as more and more businesses and people are using it. If you want to invest in a cryptocurrency, there are basically two ways. You can buy them outright, or you can mine for them, just as one would for silver or gold, using a company like Genesis Mining.

Social Security

This is something that many people need to consider when considering the strategies for retirement investments. Yes, we pay into Social Security every time we get paid. That money comes out before we even see any money from our salaries. Some people might have the opinion that they can retire simply on this money. In theory, they can.

The problem is that when you are relying solely on Social Security for your income, you might have to choose between things like food and heat or medicine. Social Security does not give you enough to live comfortably on, which is another reason to invest. It is best to retire on your investments and only use Social Security for extras.

401(k)

A 401(k) is essentially a savings plan for retirement that is sponsored by your employer. It allows for employees to save and even invest a part of their salary before taxes get taken out. The taxes are not paid until the employee withdraws money from the 401(k) account.

Because this money is taken out before the employees get their checks, it is painless and not missed. Also, most of the time, the employer will match what the employees contribute, which means that even more money is being put aside for you.

Roth IRA

IRA is the acronym for Individual Retirement Arrangement. A Roth IRA can be described as a retirement plan that is not typically taxed if certain conditions have been met. However, this can be a bit confusing because you actually do pay the taxes on money that goes into this account. The thing is, all of the withdrawals you make from this type of account will not be taxed.

If you want to find out which would be the best option for you – an IRA or a 401(k), you can use this calculator.

Money Market Funds

This is a short-term investment vehicle. This is a special kind of mutual fund that invests in bonds that are short term. However, they differ from a mutual fund in that all of the shares are always at $1. Funds such as this tend to give you a better interest rate than traditional savings accounts, but they also tend to earn less than a CD.

Certificate of Deposit

A CD is also known as a Certificate of Deposit. This is a special kind of deposit that you can make at either your bank, a credit union, or other types of financial institutions. The interest rates paid on CDs tend to be about the same that you see with intermediate or short-term bonds. This will actually depend on the time period for the CD though. The interest will be paid at predetermined intervals from the time you get it until the time it matures. When it matures, you get all of the money you put into it.

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re in marketing or any other field, planning ahead is an important part of your success. The investment and retirement options outlined above are the tools you can use to ensure that your plans for retirement eventually become a reality.