If you've been able to hold on to some of your savings during this last financial crisis, you're probably a little wary of putting it into anyone else's hands, even though they might be able to help you increase it over a fairly short period of time.
Although high yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit offer increased security, they also take many years before they can provide a noticeable return on your investment.
If you're looking to increase your profits faster than that, it might be time to consider your own independent investing and the practice of technical analysis trading.
Many people have never heard of technical analysis trading before, so it's important that you know it is a method of using past information about a certain stock's performance to help the trader predict how that same stock is most likely to fluctuate in the future.
Stock prices are constantly going up, down and sideways, and it can be helpful to know which of those moves is coming up next.
Unlike fundamental stock analysis, technical analysts use trends and patterns in the stock charts to predict what the next move is likely to be.
Because many of today's independent investors only have a small amount of money to invest in a company, and usually prefer those businesses that they know and trust, technical analysis trading might not appear that useful.
However, those that are interested in making a quick profit by buying stocks at a low price and selling them when they reach the highest price possible before the downtrend starts, this kind of technical analysis is an essential skill to have.
Depending on which charting tools you use, it is possible to analyze the movement of a stock over a week, or series of years, depending on what you need.
Many people lack the time and the interest to head up their own investment portfolio efforts all by themselves, so they use a broker or financial adviser to help them choose which stocks to invest in.
If you've left someone else in charge of your investments, it's still important to make sure they are employing technical stock trading to find the investments they think are right for you.
If you'd like to learn more about how to analyze charts on your own, it might be a good idea to look for an online investing community that you can turn to for advice.