Moderate Risk Investment Options
Investment options that will be discussed here are not completely safe but do not possess too much risk in investing money. These are the investment instruments for those people who can bear risk up to a certain extent to reap the best possible returns.
These types of investment instruments are not meant for short period of time; in short-term you may see many fluctuations in your invested money. At one point of time, you may see more returns than current inflation and at some point of time, you may even see less amount of money than you invested. But, if you want to beat inflation, you may need to take little risk and invest some part of your money into some of these investment instruments.
These investments are less risky as you may not lose all your money and normally losses ranges from 10% to 40% in the short term. But, if you will invest for long term, you are more likely to get much better returns than conventional investment options that are discussed in safe investment options. Some of the known investments that fall into this category are described below:
Company Deposits: These are the variants of traditional Fixed Deposits and called as 'Company Fixed Deposits'. Not everyone is aware of Company Deposits, these deposits offer higher rate of interest than normal certificate of deposits. 
This is the reason, they are a bit risky. You might be wondering about the difference between the two deposits. Difference lies in its name only, these are the deposits offered to you by companies and not by banks. All big companies need cash to grow and banks give them money at very high interest rates, so they offer better interest rates to consumers than the banks. By doing this, they get money from consumers at less interest rates than the banks offer them.
These deposits are not completely safe as you never know when that company may go bankrupt or simply disappear. For this, they have been assigned some ratings by government approved agencies. If the company's rating is 'AA+' or better, then you may open a deposit account with them. But, if it is less than this rating, means that company is not well trusted by those agencies. Whichever company you chose, do not go for long-term deposits, just take for a year or two and enjoy higher rate of interest.
Mutual Funds: Investing in Mutual Funds is considered as one of the best option to beat inflation. These are the funds which invest your money in equity market. Though, your money is being invested in market, but it is not that risky as these funds are managed by professionals, who have thorough knowledge of stock markets and its technicals. There are so many mutual funds in the market, so finding a good one is not that easy, you would have to do some research and see the history of that fund, check how much returns that fund has given consistently in the long term. 
There are two options to invest in Mutual Funds, you can put some money as a lump-sump amount or you can opt for a SIP (Systematic Investment Plan). If you opt for a SIP, you will invest some fixed amount of money every month towards that fund. Main advantage of SIP is that you will invest in the market every month, so you do not have to worry, whether you have invested at the right time or not. You can invest in Mutual Funds for medium to long term horizon. They can give you really good returns after 3-5 years. Have some patience, and you may see your money grow at a very good rate.
If you can wait for long term and want to save tax, then there are some Tax-Saving Mutual Funds available in the market known as ELSS (Equity Linked Saving Schemes). There is a lock-in period of 3 years if you invest in ELSS. Otherwise, you can sell other Mutual Funds at any time you want.
Calculate Maturity Amount for SIP or other recurring deposits.
ULIPs (Unit Linked Insurance Plans): This is same as Mutual Funds but along with investing in equity market, it offers Life Insurance coverage for you as well. So, it is a mixture of Investment and Insurance. A part of your premium goes towards your Life Insurance and remaining is invested in equity market. There is a fixed premium that you have to invest every year and minimum tenure is three years. ULIPs have a lock-in period of 3 years, means you can not withdraw your money before that.
These plans come under tax-saving schemes, so you can avail tax-benefits if you invest in ULIPs. After 3 years, it is up to you, whether you want to continue with ULIP or not, if you will continue, again you have flexibility to pay premium or not. If you will not pay further premiums, the company will deduct some fund management charges each year and premium for Life Insurance from the fund value and your remaining fund value will continue to grow till the maturity date. If you are planning to invest in ULIPs, go through all the charges very carefully, as some of the companies charge way too high in the first year of policy. These charges may go up to 70% of the first year premium, so you need to be very careful before investing in ULIPs.
If you are confused between MFs and ULIPs, check out the pros and cons of both Mutual Funds and ULIPs.
Check out the below link to find out other moderate risk investment options available.
Traditional Low Risk Investment Options
Above are some of the low or moderate risk investment options that you can opt for. Though, they are not secured investmets, but still you must invest some part of your money into any of these investment instruments to grow your money. To get even more returns on your invested amount, check out the below link:
For safe investment options, check the below link:
