• You may perform many financial transactions online, such as paying bills, ordering clothes and checking your banking accounts. Another way to harness your money online is through investing. Although you can invest in a variety of accounts by walking into your standard brick-and-mortar banking location, the Internet provides many opportunities to do things with your investments that your bank doesn’t offer.
  
  

Use the Internet to Compare Rates

• Before you make that big investment, harness the power of the Internet to ensure you’re going to get the most for your money. Although you could spend time driving from bank to bank, making appointments to discuss their daily interest rates, requirements, minimums and terms, you can get all this information in one stop online using a bank comparison website. On these sites, you’ll be instantly view online information about the highest daily rate, any minimum deposits, monthly minimums and how interest is re-invested and see comments and ratings about banking facilities.
  
  An added benefit of using an online investment comparison tool is that you’ll get non-partisan information; the sites pull rates from multiple sites, so you won’t feel pressured to go with your home bank. Many banks allow you to invest in their CDs and other policies without keeping your checking and savings in the same facility, so you’ll be free to invest with your top online choice.
  
  

Group Investing

• If you’d like to use your money to help someone else while still earning a bit for your efforts, an investment pool website may be of interest. People seeking a loan for anything from home remodeling to financing their first film apply to these websites and receive a calculated credit rating. Lenders also apply and submit to financial evaluation. Sites match online investors to people in need (investors are also welcome to peruse the lending pools). Investors then decide the amount of money to commit; one lender may receive multiple investments.
  
  Websites boast payment of higher than average returns (Lending Club posted an average return rate of 9.64 percent as of July 2, 2010; Prosper’s website says investors receive between six to 16 percent in returns). Although there are no guarantees of skyrocketing interest or protection against defaulted loans, both websites have a rating system and pull users who do not make their repayments.
  
  

Angel Investing

• Another option to use your investment to help a struggling or new business is the idea of angel investing. Angel investors are usually successful businesspeople looking to help other people achieve the same success while also making a return on their investment. Although you won't make financial returns such as interest, you get to become part of an actual company by providing advice along with the cash flow. According to Dun & Bradstreet, you can expect to recoup your actual investment in five to seven years after the initial owners sell or go public. With the Internet, angel investing has gone world wide.
  
  You can find organizations looking for angel investors on many Internet websites, such as the Angel Investor Forum and Funding Universe, which offers searchable databases where you can seek a company to invest in by geographical location, business function or a variety of other affiliations. You can also post yourself on the sites as an investor so companies needing an angel can find their way to you.