Investing money should be carefully considered - especially when it comes to larger amounts such as 20,000 euros and you want to secure your assets. It is particularly important to build up your investment in a long-term and stable manner so that you can continue to benefit from it in the years and decades to come.

However, it is not easy to decipher exactly how you should proceed. The financial market is full of trends and supposed experts that may not be suitable for you and your situation. It is therefore advisable to plan for the long term and build up your own financial knowledge to help you increase your savings. 

In this article, we would like to help you with this - and therefore present 5 typical mistakes to avoid if you want to invest a larger amount such as 20,000 euros.

Inexperienced investors in particular make this mistake: those who finally decide to invest their savings want to get the most out of it - and then invest more money than would be advisable. The problem with this is that amounts that are actually needed for larger one-off payments or regular expenses such as bills and loan installments are tied up in the investment. 

This harbors major risks if unplanned expenses actually become due. This is because not all investments can be easily liquidated before the end of the term. This usually involves high costs, leaving you with less money at the end than at the beginning. Alternatively, investors may be forced to take out additional loans or sell assets in order to obtain the necessary capital. 

The following therefore applies: only invest as much money as you really have available - i.e. what you can really spare. Check in as much detail as possible what your income and expenses are each month, what other costs are incurred and whether you have a sufficient cushion to fall back on if necessary. 

If you would like to invest 20,000 euros but have no financial cushion, then you should perhaps start with a smaller amount. You can always invest more money later.

In addition to an investment amount that is set too high, the type of investment is also a frequent source of error. Investors often try to achieve the highest possible profits with their capital in the shortest possible time and focus on short-term investment trends such as cryptocurrencies or speculative share trading.

Although these usually offer comparatively high and, above all, fast returns, they are also associated with major investment risks, which supposed experts like to conceal in blogs or videos. Short-lived trends or even scams are marketed as a great opportunity - all at the expense of investors. 

But even if these are completely legitimate investments, it takes a lot of specialist knowledge and an understanding of exactly how such investments work and whether they can actually generate the promised profits. Without this knowledge, investors can quickly lose a lot of money - especially if they invest large amounts of money, such as 20,000 euros, in one go. 

If you still want to make large profits as quickly as possible, you should at least take enough time in advance to take a close look at the investment of your choice and identify the opportunities and risks involved. This will keep you on the safe side as far as possible - despite the high investment risk. 

Speaking of risky investments, many investors underestimate the importance of individual risk tolerance. All too often, they tend to rely on current trends or expert opinions and structure their investment portfolio accordingly. Their individual requirements and preferences are often neglected. 

However, not every investment works equally well for all investors. On the contrary: the ideal investment portfolio should be geared towards the individual conditions of the investor so that it can also operate successfully in the long term and deliver the desired results. 

This is particularly important if you want to invest a large sum such as 20,000 euros at once. If you are more sensitive to risk and react rather sensitively to frequent price and value fluctuations, you may find it difficult to let go of your money in the long term, especially with a larger amount. Safety-oriented investments may then be more suitable for you, even if this means somewhat lower returns. 

As valuable as tips and opinions from outside can be, in the end it always depends on whether and how such investment recommendations can be implemented individually. And your own risk tolerance is a decisive factor here. 

In the world of finance, the motto "don't put all your eggs in one basket" is a common principle when it comes to investing money. The idea behind this is to divide your investment capital between as many different investments as possible in order to achieve the greatest possible diversification in your portfolio.

If too much of your savings is concentrated in a single investment, the cluster risk is particularly high. And as soon as this investment does not develop as desired and perhaps even slips into negative territory, your invested capital is lost. 

On the other hand, of course, there are also corresponding opportunities for profit: if you invest a large part or even all of your capital in a promising investment and then achieve high returns, your profit is naturally all the greater. This is also the reason why investors repeatedly put their entire investment amount on one card - despite the high risk.

However, it is best to invest an investment amount such as 20,000 euros with some caution. Because even if the quick and, above all, large profits can be tempting, a considerable growth in assets awaits you with such a sum, even with the greatest stability, security and diversification. 

You can approach diversification in different ways: For example, you can invest in different asset classes such as securities (e.g. equities or bonds), real assets (e.g. real estate, infrastructure or renewable energies) or commodities (e.g. precious metals). Diversification across regions or maturities is also possible in order to spread your investment capital more broadly.

So-called "finfluencers", i.e. financial influencers, entice people with supposedly universal investment tips and tricks, which they market and disseminate via social media. The market for this has exploded in recent years: As a study by HHL Leipzig, FH St.Pöllen and Paradots shows, over half of active finfluencers in German-speaking countries have only been active since January 2020. 

However, particular caution is advised here: For one thing, many of these financial influencers are sponsored by companies to promote their products. However, whether or to what extent this product is actually suitable for successfully investing €20,000, for example, is not necessarily taken into account. What counts here is the promotion of the product, rather than the added value for the consumer.

On the other hand, such finfluencers are not always real experts who have the appropriate training or professional experience to give financial advice. In principle, any private individual can become a financial influencer - and can entail significant investment risks for investors. This is why Bafin has already issued a consumer protection notice to draw attention to these risks.

Here, too, it is advisable for investors to inform themselves independently or with the help of other sources. The more in-depth your knowledge, the better you will be able to assess and critically review whether the tips provided actually offer you added value in your individual situation. In this way, you will remain successful with your investment in the long term and can build up your investment portfolio according to your wishes.

A successful long-term investment is one that is actively adapted and tailored to the conditions and needs of the individual investor with clear objectives.

After the 5 tips to avoid at all costs, we would now like to give you the 5 most important steps to successfully invest 20,000 euros:

1. define your personal investment goal: What do you want your investment to do? What goal do you want to achieve with it? The larger and more distant your investment goal, the more important it is to prepare your investment accordingly.
2. consider your investment horizon: would you prefer to invest in the short term (1-2 years)? Are you also comfortable with a medium-term investment horizon (3-10 years)? Or do you like to plan for the long term and want your money to work over a long-term period (10+ years)? Many investments have different maturities. Take your personal investment horizon into account here in order to choose the right investment for you in the long term
3. invest in what you understand: Are you familiar with the dynamics of the stock market? Or do you feel more comfortable with tangible assets as an investment?  As abstract as the world of finance can be, it's a good idea to have at least a basic idea of where your money is currently invested and how your returns are generated. This will help you look at different investments more critically and increase your confidence in the investment you have chosen for yourself.
4. be realistic about your risk tolerance: how risk-averse are you when it comes to your savings? Can you sleep soundly despite price fluctuations? Or do you want your money to retain its value as much as possible? As tempting as quick profits can be, you should be honest about your risk tolerance so that you can stand behind your investment decision in the long term. 
5. choose an investment that suits you: At the end of the day, it's you who needs to feel comfortable with your investment. So don't put too much trust in the opinions and tips of outsiders, but do your own research to find out which investment is right for you, your circumstances, preferences and goals.

Security-oriented investing:  This investment strategy focuses on lower-risk investments with a stable value in order to meet investors' need for security. Such investments are suitable for securing either the entire savings or a large part of the savings as well as possible. 

Investment products that are suitable for this are, for example, overnight and fixed-term deposit accounts or security-oriented investment funds such as open-ended real estate funds. 

Yield-oriented investing: Those who place more value on returns than security are well advised to invest in return-oriented investments such as shares, equity funds or ETFs. Such securities investments are among the most common forms of investment, but are somewhat riskier and therefore also enable higher profits. 

Future-oriented investing:  If you are primarily looking for an investment that matches your own values or preferences not only in form but also in content, you can look into future-oriented forms of investment. These include, for example, renewable energy funds, ESG-based investments or so-called ELTIFs (European Long-Term Investment Funds).

For investors, such investments basically work in the same way as conventional investments, but usually differ in terms of their investment strategy and the assets in which they are invested.

There are many ways to invest €20,000 - but some of them involve stumbling blocks that can cause you and your investment to stumble. In this article, we have shown you what the most common investment mistakes are and how you can avoid them to get your investment off to a successful start.

Especially with a substantial investment amount such as 20,000 euros, it is important that you take a well-informed approach to your investment and adapt it to your investment goals, your investment horizon and your risk tolerance.

By building up and acquiring your own specialist knowledge, you can also learn to better classify the tips and opinions of financial experts and "finfluencers" and adapt them to your personal situation. In this way, you avoid the risk of investing your capital in unsuitable investments or short-term trends that do not generate any real added value for you in the long term.

The better you know how to navigate the financial market and keep an eye on your own financial situation and personal investment preferences, the better equipped you will be to invest 20,000 euros successfully and according to your own ideas.