Right now an account I had from a relative has come up for maturity and I had to take it out since CD rates were trash. I'm really wanting to invest in the market however this current downgrade of the US economy to AA+ has me kind of concerned. Another thing that is concerning me is the current price of gold. My financial adviser had recommended that I try to invest in a Gold Fund since I would like to invest in precious metals. However i'm concerned about doing that due to the Chinese buying up quite a bit of gold.

Before I decided to buy platinum I did some research and found that it had peaked around $2500 US per ounce. It was around that time that Russia *Believe it was them* sold off enormous amounts of platinum which drove down the price to around $800 an ounce or so then it steadily recovered. As some will see where i'm going i'm concerned that the Chinese will wait for the right time then sell off their stockpiles of gold driving the price down. Should I try or even attempt to invest in gold funds and ride a short wave? Or should I put it into something else that I know will stay stable or only go down a little bit then recover massively?

Would be great to predict the future, but I can't. I can only go by data, research, history, etc... to make a reasonable guesstimate to help myself earn some money. :/

I would invest in a possible long term market, it seems safer.

Ya that's one thing my FA said and that I should split up my investment money so that I can move it around without penalties. Gold seems like it would be a good investment at the moment, but as said i'm worried about china selling off it's huge stockpiles driving the market down.

Split it up, and invest in something that is failing, but isn't likely to actually fail. Or wait for a natural disaster and invest in concrete. Back when the BP oil spill happened I wanted to invest in BP (but lacked the funds), and doing so would have made me a fair profit. Pretty much everything is going down in price at the moment, so try and judge it to buy at rock bottom, i.e. the point where it's just about to start getting stronger/increase in value. Look for a big US company that isn't likely to go bankrupt anytime soon, but has falling share prices due to the massive panic related to the downgrading from AAA to AA+.

:D

Hate to ask an additional question, but this one I REALLY need answered. I've looked online and found answers to them however i'm still confused. What exactly is the difference between Class A shares and Class C shares?

So far here's what i've learned:

Class A Shares: You pay money up front usually 5% of the amount you are investing and these are usually for long term investment options.
Class C Shares: You pay money at the back end usually 1% however you have to wait for 1 year before being able to move the shares around or sell them.

Another problem I ran into is I read that A shares and C shares can be disguised as having "Voter" options. Since i'm going with an investment company I don't think that will matter however it would be good to know that info.

So far here's my plan as far as investing goes:

I'm going with a company that will have a financial committee investing my money where I tell them to do so. First area is Mutual Funds which will pay me dividends and buy more shares on my behalf in areas. Second area is sector investing with 1 being Biotechnology and possibly Gold Funds *Like I said the gold funds are risky*. The third and fourth area are undecided at the moment and I have to decide soon.