Constructive and relatively safe investment options

Question

I'm a single, a grad student, and have some personal savings. Saving money is in my character, and for the last 5 years, I've been saving 1/8th of my monthly income, on average.

In the future, I know I won't have any kids, so even if I got married, it wouldn't change my saving behavior. I'm a simple person, and I know for sure that I won't, and don't want to, buy any houses, cars, or any such luxury items. Plus, it is quite possible that I can save a higher portion of my income in the future since my income is likely to increase faster than my living cost.

I want to increase the value of my savings and protected from inflation at the same time. On top of that, I want my money to serve a constructive purpose in the sense that the invested money will directly fund something to happen (like funding a startup). However, I don't want to put my money into a savins account nor do I want to put into the stock market directly (where I don't fund the companies directly, instead fund the investors who funded to company earlier).

As I'm neither rich nor have any welfare security other than my own savings, I can't just go and fund a startup where the risk is way higher than I can take.

Question: Given these conditions, what is my best option?

Note, I am (and will be) living in Europe.

Answer 1

When you want to invest into organizations directly instead of investing into other stock brokers, then bonds can be an option.

A bond is a contract which basically says "You pay us x money now, and in a couple years we pay you x+y money in return". Bonds are sometimes sold by large companies (very rarely by small ones), but most frequently by governments (including local ones). When you hear that a government takes on debt in order to fund public services and infrastructure, then they usually do that by selling bonds.

As with any investment, bonds are not risk-free. There is always the risk that the organization which sells the bond becomes unable to pay. The amount of money you receive when the bond expires represents how risky that bond is. The more financially stable the organization, the lower the payout (in some cases it might even be negative).

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Another investment vehicle which promises a lot higher risk but also a higher reward - both financially and emotionally - are private microcredits. There are various websites which offer this service. The idea is that private people ask for a loan (with interest, of course) and private people grant that loan. Many of these debtors are from least developed countries who need comparatively little money to make a huge impact on their life. Like a farmer in Cameroon wanting to buy high-yield seeds and fertilizer or a seamstress in Senegal wanting to buy a sewing machine. So you can see that as a form of development aid. Lending money to just one person can be quite risky, but you can reduce your risk by diversifying and investing in many different people.

But you should of course be aware, that while there are some reputable organizations in this business, there are also a couple scammers. So do your due diligence before deciding what services to use and do not invest money you can not afford to lose.