Dear OP, you are asking the wrong question -- a person with 1 mil or even 100k has access to different investment vehicles than a person with 10k or 100 bucks to invest.
TL;DR: save at least 10% of your gross earnings and earn compound interest with savings. Split your money between 4 ETFs like RSP, DIA, QQQQ, and VEU.
1. Get on a budget. Save 10% of what you earn or pay off your credit cards first by saving 15%. Read "The Richest Man in Babylon"
2. Mutual funds suck. One out of 10 years will be terrible and they only spend a few years on top. How can you get consistent returns? They have high fees. Instead invest in equity traded funds or ETFs. Read "The Big Secret for the Small Investor" by J. Greenblatt and "One up on Wall Street" by Peter Lynch.
Be a value investor not a trader! Plan to let your investments sit and grow for years.
If you want to buy individual stocks, pick for the list of "dividend aristocrats". These are safe bluechips and you can re-invest the dividends for a compounding effect!
3. The fees and limited investment choices make 401ks a bad deal, even with matching. A self directed Roth IRA will tax shelter your growth, but you have to invest with money you paid income tax on (unlike a 401k).
4. Bank account interest rates are a joke! For savings you get 00.05% CD 00.35% Over 500k in money market 00.3%
Inflation is around 3%!
5. For small investment amounts, a US Treasury savings bond is not bad. There is no charge to buy or sell them and you do not have to pay taxes until you cash them in. I Bonds pay the rate of inflation and possibly a bit more. There are some penalties if you cash these bonds in before 12 months pass.
Be aware of things like how much it will cost to buy and sell an investment and when you will have to pay taxes on your earnings.
For me it was very hard to save until I created separate accounts to keep my funds in. I have been value investing in stocks and my portfolio has earned 8 - 10 % growth plus 3% in dividends. The dividends get reinvested so my holdings grow like a savings account.
This is a horrible situation for your business. I hope you get everything worked out soon.
I won't explain the details, but I have extensive experience with bureaucracies and base my advice below on this experience.
1. Adopt the Socratic method. Answer questions with questions. Do not commit to any description of reality made by others (as much as possible).
2. Understand that the highest levels of leadership are political appointments and they promote their patron's interests. eg: Does your brother-in-law know the dept. mayor's wife? Explore your network of friends and family for political influence.
3. When you write:
"Now, I do not know about the titles and hierarchies involved in the county organizational chart,"
I very much feel you need to hire a lawyer that specializes in these kinds of disputes to advise you. Not necessarily take legal action, but to explain your options. The bureaucrats will know the rules well. You need an expert on your side.
4. Use these words, "What would you do if you were me?", when you find yourself at a road block. Also ask questions like "has your office ever issued a waiver for [problem]?" and "who has authority to issue the waiver?"; naturally followed by, "may I speak with this person of power?" The answer will be no, so you should ask questions like "whom does the person of power report to?" You won't get instant solution, but things will start moving behind the scenes.
The bureaucrat's goal is to get you to accept their 'no' or 'wait and see', so you will go away. Your goal has to be acting nice and reasonable, but persistently questioning the management of the process. It will become easier for them to get you in compliance than continue to deny you.
We are talking about live servers. Monitoring should detect server going down, raising suspicion of a physical attack.
The evil maid attack would be useful against the system admin's workstation. Securing NOCs is beyond the scope of this discussion, but it is not difficult.
TL;DR: save at least 10% of your gross earnings and earn compound interest with savings. Split your money between 4 ETFs like RSP, DIA, QQQQ, and VEU.
1. Get on a budget. Save 10% of what you earn or pay off your credit cards first by saving 15%. Read "The Richest Man in Babylon"
2. Mutual funds suck. One out of 10 years will be terrible and they only spend a few years on top. How can you get consistent returns? They have high fees. Instead invest in equity traded funds or ETFs. Read "The Big Secret for the Small Investor" by J. Greenblatt and "One up on Wall Street" by Peter Lynch. Be a value investor not a trader! Plan to let your investments sit and grow for years. If you want to buy individual stocks, pick for the list of "dividend aristocrats". These are safe bluechips and you can re-invest the dividends for a compounding effect!
3. The fees and limited investment choices make 401ks a bad deal, even with matching. A self directed Roth IRA will tax shelter your growth, but you have to invest with money you paid income tax on (unlike a 401k).
4. Bank account interest rates are a joke! For savings you get 00.05% CD 00.35% Over 500k in money market 00.3% Inflation is around 3%!
5. For small investment amounts, a US Treasury savings bond is not bad. There is no charge to buy or sell them and you do not have to pay taxes until you cash them in. I Bonds pay the rate of inflation and possibly a bit more. There are some penalties if you cash these bonds in before 12 months pass.
Be aware of things like how much it will cost to buy and sell an investment and when you will have to pay taxes on your earnings.
For me it was very hard to save until I created separate accounts to keep my funds in. I have been value investing in stocks and my portfolio has earned 8 - 10 % growth plus 3% in dividends. The dividends get reinvested so my holdings grow like a savings account.
Read "How to Invest $50-$5,000" by Nancy Dunnan