You could certainly think of worse dilemmas: you have in your possession a hard-earned lump sum of £5,000 (€6,350) or £10,000 to place in any number of stock market-listed companies or funds. There is no shortage of options available to the private investor. Should you play it safe and go for a conservatively managed equity fund that spreads your money across a variety of different companies? Or would you prefer to go it alone and place your eggs in a small number of high-risk baskets? Perhaps a mixture of the two?

Other issues to consider are whether you should look to other countries in the European Union, even countries outside the euro zone, or just concentrate on the Irish market? And how long should you invest for?

"For that amount of money, the first thing I would suggest is staying in euro-denominated stocks or funds," says Mr Patrick Lawless, head of the private client division of ABN Amro.

He believes that the volatility between the euro and the dollar is likely to continue, meaning that "the euro is probably the place to be for the next couple of years". However, others play down the significance of the currency risk, particularly with high-risk investments.

While your investment decision may well depend on your expectations, experts here say it is best to think as long-term as possible, i.e. a minimum of three or four years.

If your £5,000 or £10,000 is all the spare cash you have in the world, there are a number of low-risk, conservative options to choose from.

Mr Lawless recommends capital-protected notes, which are spread over 50 companies. "The beauty of these is that they're totally liquid. They take about six years to mature but if the product went up substantially in the meantime you could sell it."

For example, a Eurostoxx capital-protected bond, which is priced at €92 (£72), will mature at €100, which means that a return is guaranteed over six years or so at around 8.5 per cent. But if the market moved ahead, you could cash it in, Mr Lawless said. Mr Prahmit Ghose, managing director and chief investment officer of Hibernian Investment Managers, says with-profit funds are a good low-risk option as they are life assurance funds that guarantee returns. In terms of direct stocks, he recommends CRH, known for its strong track record and management.

French-quoted insurance company AXA, which recently acquired the Guardian group here, is a good low-risk direct investment proposition, says Ms Louise McGuigan of AIB Investment Managers. While Ireland is reasonably well provided for in terms of pensions, Germany and France have work to do, says Ms McGuigan, so this gives AXA a good growth profile.

Mr Ivan Murphy, managing director of Aberdeen Asset Management, recommends the Aberdeen Global European High Yield bond fund, a set of euro-denominated corporate bonds that has delivered returns in excess of 9 per cent per annum. Companies included in this scheme are Independent Newspapers and the Clondalkin Group.

Mr Donnacha Fox, portfolio manager with Davy stockbrokers, says only unitised products should be considered if the customer wants a low-risk option for £5,000 or £10,000. Such products would include withprofit funds, investment trusts, and managed funds.

If you are financially secure enough to survive losing some or all of that initial £5,000 or £10,000, or the idea of being a bit more adventurous simply appeals to you, the range of "medium-risk" options available to private investors in Ireland has broadened considerably over the past few years.

An international equity fund containing a "basket" of shares in 60 to 100 companies across all sectors is considered a modest risk, says Mr Ghose of Hibernian. Ms McGuigan of AIB Investment Managers recommends Aventis - a European pharmaceutical company formed through the recent merger between Rhone-Poulenc of France and Germany's Hoechst. She believes that the synergies from the merger and its strong product portfolio will see the company's stock value increase.

Mr Lawless of ABN Amro says his company's European Growth Fund has delivered a 25 per cent per annum return for the past six years and is "very conservatively managed". He says that for direct equity stocks, a number of medium cap stocks on the Irish market offer good yields, including Fyffes, Greencore and Abbey.

Mr Lawless says these companies are trading at or below net asset value. However, he adds that for £5,000 or £10,000, it would be difficult to achieve a diverse portfolio by yourself. If one of these stocks does badly, it would be quite difficult for the whole portfolio to perform, as you could only own stocks in three or four companies.

Mr Fox of Davy Stockbrokers agrees. "We couldn't really offer much of a service for £5,000." He believes an investor would need a minimum of 11 companies in a portfolio to achieve any value. A basket of five to six small to medium cap stocks in the Irish market that trade on single-digit multiples of their earning forecasts and that offer attractive dividend yields would make a reasonable medium-risk option, he says.

The higher up the risk scale one goes, the fewer the options available for £5,000 or £10,000. A high-risk strategy would be investing in one small company, concentrating on one sector, or going for a technology fund (see panel).

Overall, those of a more nervous disposition looking for decent returns should be thinking "in terms of time, not timing", says Mr Lawless.

These investors would be more likely to emerge with a decent return if they spread their risk as much as possible rather than placing their faith in what he calls the "Doncaster theory" - hedging your bets over a short-term period on a small number of companies. People should own assets in equities over as long a period as possible, he adds.