There are many great ways to invest your money - whether in oil futures, in undervalued companies, by shorting the dollar, by buying the S&P 500 index and many more. Choosing a particular method of investing for yourself is however dependent on your comfort level, which in turn dictates "how to invest money" using any one or more of these vehicles.

Financial advisers frequently relate "comfort level" in investing to your appetite for risk. While risk is a factor in dictating comfort, financial education and investment knowledge have a bigger influence on deciding the investment vehicles that you end up using.

As an example, buying entire companies while relying exclusively on his own judgment is a simple thing for Warren Buffett - but for most of us, it is completely out of our world view and scope, even if the deal had the best upside potential with little or no downside risk. Speculating in currency trading is extremely profitable for some established traders, while it is nothing but a money-losing bottomless pit for the others. Financial education coupled with learnt mature experience differentiates what, where and when do we invest our hard earned money.

For the simplest choices, we rely on our checking and savings accounts, and for the bold, we start with money-market accounts and CDs. There is an almost certain downside risk protection, and some continuous upside owing to the interest paid out. To the venturesome, bonds become attractive investments - bringing you to Treasury bills, notes & bonds, as well as to munis for their tax-free benefits. For many individuals, unfortunately, the education ends here. It is unfortunate because it leaves entire worlds of investment opportunities untapped.

The automatic next level of upgrade is looking at corporations as an investment - either through stock ownership or bond ownership. Many individuals are invested in corporations without the necessary education to do so. Understanding corporations is not easy - for each company has its own dynamics, as does each industry. For example the retail industry typically has low margins, low technology investments, high dependence on supply chain, and requires quick inventory turnover. The electronics industry on the other hand suffers from low margins, needs high volume of sales and manufacturing to manage costs, products have a short life on assembly line (needs a responsive assembly line to create new products) and so forth. Add to these the dynamics of the economy of the country and world as a whole, and the individual who is not prepared to be educated would do well to not step into the world of corporate investment. For the financially educated individual, who takes the time to familiarize himself with a given sector in the market and the company he is investing in, stock market investing and corporate bond markets may just be the vehicles that powers his portfolio to riches. These individuals are perfectly comfortable investing in areas that are way out of the comfort zone of those who are content with a savings and checking account. And for a good reason - when you are out of your comfort zone, your chances of losing money is very high.

Continuously adding such financial arrows to your quiver, you will soon become comfortable with long-term stock investing, as well as stock-trading; with currency trading as well as futures trading; with commodities as well as precious metals - till such time that you become an investor for all seasons and for all reasons, and money comes to you faster than you know what to do with it!

Focus on your financial education and experience to keep expanding your comfort level, and you will soon be investing in most vehicles available in the marketplace today!