Before any person makes a investment program the first question which comes upper most in their mind is - What will I do with the money when I have not made up my mind where to invest or more correctly, what should I do in between investments?

There are two types of investment program- certificates of deposits and money markets-both have their advantages and disadvantages-Certificates of deposit and Money markets.

Certificates of Deposit:

Certificates of deposit are debt instruments issued by financial institutions to the investors. These certificates promise the lender varying amount of profits in return for parking their money. The term period can vary from a few days to months to years. The interest paid increases on the basis of the length of the term for which the money is lent. The benefits of this form of investment is that the investor knows beforehand what he will get as returns and thus he can plan his expenditure accordingly. Some CD also offer life cover and it can be of benefit especially for the elderly. The downside in this type of investment is that if you cash the certificate immaturely you will not get the best benefits. Alternatively the money is also locked up for the period of the investment and cannot be used for other purposes.

Money Markets:

The Money market is an investment program much akin to mutual funds which offer the same benefits as a Certificate of deposit, Money managers use the money to invest in different types of government  savings bonds, certificates of deposit,t-bills and other safe and conservative financial instruments. The income generated is paid to the owners of money market. Most financial institution can offer money market accounts and person can also withdraw money with the help of cheque book which is given along with the money market account. The advantages of money market is its simplicity -just like a bank and money can be easily withdrawn for other investments. The disadvantage is that there is a cap on the number of withdrawals by cheque and the returns are proportional to the deposited assets. This favors the wealthier investors leaving out the middle and lower rung investors.

Even though both the types of investments are useful still money markets are a step better. Many brokers invest their customers money into the money market in the period between investment. Thus it is an ideal situation where a person regularly invests because funds can be used for different purpose like purchasing stocks, bonds or mutual funds.

Different investment program like investment in stock market which peaks when the market is upbeat and people pour money into equities and when there is a downslide the investor takes out the money.

It is a sea saw battle and many times it takes its toll on the investors who become nervous wrecks. Many times investors invest in portfolios which give less returns than what they would have got in a safe government assured bond. The human psychology is to blame since we tend to overreact to all form of emotions. This overreaction clouds the judgment and forces people to go for erroneous and bad investment program.