by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: June 20, 2009

The very first thing we have to consider regarding how to make writing about investment interesting is the distinction between investment and saving. Although to banking or finance industry professionals the distinction is quite clear, it is often considerably less so to the ordinary man or woman in the street. There are a great many people with little knowledge of banking - perhaps particularly the elderly - who do not appreciate that there is a huge difference between investments and savings.

Investment is essentially a speculative business. It is founded on the principal that one has to speculate to accumulate. Investment generally falls in to one of three categories: low, medium and high risk. The key word here, however, is, "Risk." With investment, there is always some element of risk, as what the investor is essentially doing is funding a project of some description - however loosely that word may apply - in the hope that the project will prove to be a success and the return on the initial investment will be profound.

When we consider savings, there is of course likely to be little if any risk. The saver puts their money in to such as a bank account where they are paid either a fixed or variable rate of interest on that which they invest and can therefore watch their funds grow accordingly. The distinction between the two is very important.

The process of how to make writing about investment interesting is very simple: the writer has to more than anything focus upon how investment - in whichever form it takes - is likely to be of benefit to the reader. When we consider that investment takes many shapes and forms, this should not prove overly difficult. Investment covers everything from investing in shares, stocks or bonds, to investing in that which is effectively designed as a pension fund and is geared to providing an income for the investor in their latter years.

It may of course prove very difficult in the wake of the Credit Crunch of 2008 but the writer still has to emphasise the benefits of long term investments and what they can mean to virtually anyone reading their work. They have to emphasise that without some form of investment in their future, the reader is perhaps likely to struggle in their latter years and be unable to afford the lifestyle to which they had previously become accustomed and very much hoped to maintain.

Writing about investment is therefore about appealing to the reader's sense of self-preservation - if not outright greed - and showing them the benefits and the essential long-term sense of at the very least taking professional investment advice and doing their utmost to safeguard a financially secure future for themselves and their families.

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