Gold

What is it? The sparkling stuff, of course. You can either buy gold (gold krugerrand’s gold coins are £927 each) or a 1kg gold bar costs £29,000 from the Gold Bullion Company (thegoldbullion.co.uk) or you can invest in a gold fund, like BlackRock Gold & General, which invests in gold, mining and precious metals (blackrock.co.uk).

How much could you make? Blackrock Gold & General fund grew by 23% in the past year and JP Morgan Natural Resources fund (jpmorganassetmanagement.co.uk) returned 33%. That’s a return of around £3,960 on an annual investment of £12,000. On average it has grown by 28% over the last three years and by 124% in total over the past five years.

What’s the risk? Investing in a collective fund reduces the overall risk as holding gold bars in their physical form requires insurance.

What to invest in: £1,000 or more per month