Retirement Account?

Question

Ok, I'm 20 still in college, but I do have a decent income and a healthy saving. I want to invest it in a mutual fund for retirement. One of my professor told me to start early.

Which Mutual Fund do you guys recommend?

How do it get started? Online or Walk into a bank.

Also I'm planning to invest about $100-$200 monthly, and maybe up to $2000 to initialize it.

Answer 1

Good For You. There is no substitute for the magic of compound interest over many years. - I would stay away from brokers in banks for the moment. - Pay attention to fees and hidden fees. Even if a Mutual fund is "No Load" - meaning no up front commissions - there will be fees. Remember that if that if the Mutual fund has expenses of 1% per year and yields 4% , that's 25% of the income. Few people can outguess the stock market - and fees eat up much of the advantage of people who call themselves experts - I would start by checking out the Vanguard Total Market Index Fund - It has super low fees - and if you invest in it or a fund like it , you will do as well as the market over the long term and you will keep your costs down. Since this fund deals only in U.S. stocks, you may also wish to consider checking out an index fund that deals in European or other foreign index stocks - Such funds can give you some protection if the value of the dollar continues to decline, which many people consider to be likely. Vanguard has a number foreign stock index funds.

Investing a fixed amount monthly at the same time is a good idea. If you do a google search on the term "dollar cost averaging" you will understand why.

In general, younger people who are far from retirement should be prepared to accept more risk than older people, because they don't have to worry about the market taking a dive just as they ready to retire and need the money. -The way to accept risk is to put most of the money that you won't need for a long time into stocks or stock mutual funds. You should expect the market to fluctuate over time - but the market tends to reward people who accept the risk of changing market prices over a long period of time. - An older person- close to retirement would probably want to put a larger percent of his assets in fixed income securities such as bonds or money market funds.

One you get a substantial sum invested in the total stock market - you can branch out and pick a few individual stocks if you find stock market investing interesting - but this should be a small part of your strategy - and just for fun until you really feel you know what you are doing. Be prepared to do worse than the total market.

Answer 2

I'm 23 and I just recently started investing in mutual funds on www.ingdirect.com. They have a decent selection of their own mutual funds with different levels of risk. Seeing as you are young, you should think about investing in the riskiest funds if you can afford to leave your money in there through the thick and thin.

ING's website is very very simple to use. You link up your checking account with them and you can transfer your money back and forth at will. Only thing is, that it's stricly an online company, they don't have any offices. So if you don't have any idea what you're doing you may be better off going into a bank and talking to them about it.

Also, ING has no minimum for their savings account which earns 4.5% interest. The minimum initial investment for the mutual funds is $1,000. You can also set up an automatic savings plan and having your money automatically taken out of your checking account at a time you pick each month and have it either invested in the mutual funds or into the savings account. The savings account is a great idea because you always have access to the money (you do have to wait 10 days to take a deposit back out, but the rest is free to take).

Answer 3

Your plan is " right on the money"...
I would suggest going the " on-line" choice
Log on to Fidelity or E-trade...fill out an application for a ROTH IRA ...make your initial investment and set up a plan for additional contributions...( it'll be a max of $ 4000.)
The money will be held in a " core" account until YOU decide where you want to put it...if you're not swamped with studies take some time to read the info on the web-site.....about style of investing and researching the zillion funds available...take your time( the money is going to be there for years)
You can go conservative for awhile....watch your stuff grow...and then move into more aggressive funds when you see how the game is played....
IF you are swamped, Fidelity has " target" funds ...( your projected retirement date is the target ) and it's a good place to put money 'til you either have the time to choose or leave all the " investing" up to professional managers!
If you're going to be saving more than the $ 4000. the gov allows for IRA's...open another account ( brokerage account) once you have a feel for things....
At such a young age, your opportunities are boundless if you learn to invest and do just a little watching and moving of funds.I would suggest that early on you should get a little aggressive...you have years to recover if things falter...but don't settle for the 5% you'll be getting at any bank...
Get into some funds that have global exposure ( the whole world is growing like the U.S. did in the 50's and 60's...your money can earn percentages in the high teens and still be fairly safe... To see what that can amount to go to
www.finishrich.com and go to the " latte factor" calculator, put in a few numbers and MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Answer 4

I'm 24 and was in the same position as you... I did tons of investigations and now am in a Roth IRA.
I choose T.Rowe Price because Morning Star has rated their funds as some of the best ever selected.

Open up a ROTH IRA with T.Rowe Price, you're after tax dollars will earn money within that ROTH IRA and when you take the money out when you retire it will be tax free!

I have a ING as well, but a Roth is the best for retirement, even if you plan on making more then $100,000 in 2010 you can still contribute to this gold mine of a deal.

Good luck with whatever you choose.
Check out the links, and compare.

Answer 5

Scotia Bank is very good. The RBC is great 2!

Answer 6

glad for you but connot help

Answer 7

DIA.