If you had $10,000 laying around...

[rondocap]

On these investments, what are the average or conservative gains? If a Savings account is only like .08%, will these other investment options yield higher rates? 1-5%? Or what?

[Topless]

Originally Posted by rondocap

On these investments, what are the average or conservative gains? If a Savings account is only like .08%, will these other investment options yield higher rates? 1-5%? Or what?

The mice type:
"Past performance is no guarantee of future gains."

It really depends on your goals and how much you are wiling to risk. If you are really financially well established you may be willing to chase higher returns knowing that you could lose it all. I tend to look at investments long term and I am not much of a gambler. 5 years is a very short investment window for me.

With the OP I agree that the first question should be "What are your goals?" Fatmike gives very sound planning advice that I agree with but it always depends on your goals. $10K might just be 6 months of living expenses that you don't want to risk so leave it in the bank. The question "What would I do with $10k?" is probably not very useful because each of our goals and situations are different.

[Porsche Chick]

Originally Posted by rondocap

On these investments, what are the average or conservative gains? If a Savings account is only like .08%, will these other investment options yield higher rates? 1-5%? Or what?

No one should ever give investment advice, but I will offer this; I like a high dividend yield on a solid stock. Yahoo financial has some wonderful screeners that you can use to find a return from 2% on up into double digits. I have a few that were yielding 8-10% when purchased and the increase in price is just gravy. Then you have to figure out what kind of market cap you are comfortable with, which industries you know something about, and dig into the companies to see which ones are solid. Set a reasonable stop loss.