Instead of leaving a spare $5,000 sitting in a bank account, I would suggest investors consider putting their money to work in the share market.
After all, on a long enough time horizon, a $5,000 investment can grow into something significant.
According to Fidelity, the Australian share market has generated an average annual return of 9.2% in the 30-year period between 1990 and 2020. That means that a single $5,000 investment in 1990 would have grown to be worth approximately $70,000 today.
With that in mind, here's where I would invest $5,000 this week:
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
The first option to consider investing $5,000 into is Altium. I believe it would be a great place to put these funds due to its outstanding long term growth potential. This is because of its industry leading electronic design software platform and its exposure to the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) market and artificial intelligence markets. Management is very confident in the company's future. It is aiming to grow its revenue to US$500 million by FY 2025. This will be more than double Altium's expected FY 2020 revenue of US$189 million.
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)
I think that this global biotherapeutics company would be a great option for a $5,000 investment. Over the last 10 years the CSL share price has provided investors with an average total return of 24% per annum. The good news is that thanks to the strength of its CSL Behring and Seqirus businesses and their lucrative R&D pipelines, I believe that CSL shares could continue their market-beating form over the next decade. And with its shares pulling back notably from their 52-week high, now could be an opportune time to invest.
ELMO Software Ltd (ASX: ELO)
A final ASX share to consider investing $5,000 into is ELMO Software. It is a cloud-based human resources and payroll software company that provides a unified platform to streamline processes including employee administration, recruitment, on-boarding, and payroll. ELMO was a strong performer in FY 2020 despite the pandemic. It grew its annualised recurring revenue (ARR) by 19.7% to $55.1 million. Pleasingly, management expects similarly strong organic ARR growth in FY 2021. But this could be given a significant boost from its plan to deploy a good portion of its $140 million cash balance on value accretive acquisitions. Looking further ahead, I believe ELMO is well placed for long term growth thanks to its massive market opportunity and the continued shift to automated platforms.
