Can someone help me? Financial question here?

Question

I just opened up a traditional ira with wells fargo. I have several thousand in the acct. I would like to invest in the best places/companies possible. Can any wise investor give me some pointers or tips? I appreciate any help at all.
Thank you

Answer 1

First, if you are with Wells Fargo they have Financial Advisers to assist you. Second, do you have a PMA account with them? Otherwise you are going to be paying some heafty fees to buy mutual funds or stocks.

I recently moved my IRA from Ameriprise to Scottrade because Scottrade had no fees to maintain my account and stock trades were $7 and I pay nothing to buy mutual funds with my IRA. It cost me $75 to transfer. I don't know what W.F. charges for a transfer but the fee to buy mutual funds with W.F. is $35 per transaction. You should make up the cost quickly.

If you are young I would look at mutual funds and not go into bonds just yet. As you get older you want to move more of your money over to bonds because it is safer, but if you are young you can be a little risker.

I would look at finding a good mutual fund to put your couple of thousand into. Go to Yahoo Finance and click the Investing tab. Under that tab is many sub-header and you will see a tab for Mutual Funds. Under Tools on the left of your screen, you will see the "Top Performers" line. Click on that and you will see categories of Funds to choose from.

Large Cap, mid-cap and small cap are all related to risk. The large cap funds are less risky because they consist of big, well-known companies like Exxon or Bank of America, etc. Mid-caps are good companies like Counrtywide or JC Pennys. Small caps are small company and are much more risker because they are just that, small companies trying to find the next miracle drug or be the next Starbucks. They could end up being huge or falling on their face. (if you click on the mutual fund you are interest and then go to the holding link, it will list all the stocks that the fund holds).

Value funds are the funds that have stocks that pay dividends and Growth funds have stocks that are qrowth oriented but do not pay dividends.

I would get established in an American based mutual fund and then depending on how savy you want to become, you can start looking at some forgien market mutual funds since there is more growth in the emerging markets right now.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Van Kampen has some great mutual funds, also Smith Barney and Fidelity. Since it's a retirment account, I would go a little more risky, depending on how old you are. If you have at least 20 years for it to grow, then I would go agressive right now because you have plenty of time for the market to adjust itself. Then as you get older, then you can balance it a lot more. Depending on your tax bracket, I would invest in a Roth IRA because it'll be tax free when you retire. But when you pick a good fund stick with it. Do not become a trader when it comes to your retirement. The market is about time, not timing.

Answer 3

Does Wells Fargo offer any target date retirement funds? Generally, those funds offer a good way to keep your portfolio balanced and diversified with relatively low expenses. Also, it takes the stress off of you as the investor to keep juggling your investments as you age.