Credit and Loans, how do they work?
Credit works by adding up your payments, your debts, and leveling that against things like your assets and your accounts. There are tons of other factors that go into credit. But that credit score is then used to help leverage better rates on loans and credit cards. Loans work by using your credit score to determine your rates and how much of a risk you are to a creditor or a bank.
Your Credit Score affects your rates
The higher your credit score is the less of a risk you are to the banks. Therefore the lower your overall rates will be. The same goes for the lower your rates are. Credit scores affect your rates but also the kind of creditor that will do business with you. This means that if you have a 500 credit score you are likely not going to be able to get a decent creditor or bank to fund you. If you have a 680+ score you have a decent chance at getting most of the good creditors to lend to you.
A low score is bad for any investing
There are some investments that do require a higher score to be able to invest any money. This includes real estate, these investments may be good ones. However, if you have a low credit score then you might not be able to get approved to purchase the real estate.
Your investments should be diverse
Your investments need to be diverse, in that you should not be putting all your money in one basket. You should put a little in your IRA, in your 401K, your whole life policy and maybe even real estate. Doing this could insulate you from bad or high-risk investments that lead to an overall loss in that account.