Stocks, mutual funds, Forex, commodities and options are said to have higher risk but higher reward.

They include the Rule of 72, options investing, initial public offerings (IPOs), venture capital, foreign emerging markets, REITs, high-yield bonds, and currencies.

They usually last for less than a year. They are considered low risk. They typically include both stocks and bonds. They typically help investors save for retirement.

Overview: Best investments in 2021

1. High-yield savings accounts. A high-yield online savings account pays you interest on your cash balance.
2. Certificates of deposit.
3. Government bond funds.
4. Short-term corporate bond funds.
5. Municipal bond funds.
6. S&P 500 index funds.
7. Dividend stock funds.
8. Nasdaq-100 index funds.

The 25x rule is quite simple, it states that you need to save 25 times your annual expenses to retire. Note that is not 25 times your annual income, but 25 times your annual spending.

According to these parameters, you may need 10 to 12 times your current annual salary saved by the time you retire. Experts say to have at least seven times your salary saved at age 55. That means if you make $55,000 a year, you should have at least $385,000 saved for retirement.

Assuming you have $500,000 in retirement, you could realistically withdraw $20,000 your first year of retirement. If you take that $20,000 and add in the average retirement benefit of $1,503 from Social Security, that brings your total annual income up to around $38,000.

How long will savings of $800,000 last? When will $800k run out? Your savings will last for 12 years and 8 months.

So, the short answer is that $1 million is a good start for the average person retiring today to pay their bills.

Retirement experts have offered various rules of thumb about how much you need to save: somewhere near $1 million, 80% to 90% of your annual pre-retirement income, 12 times your pre-retirement salary. But what’s right for you?