whats the best bet for long term investing for a 22 yr old? im offered these:?

Question

i already have a 401k with work thats doin awesome!!

so my credit union has investments id like to take advantage of, heres what they offer: what should i choose?
Search funds by: Name Type
Aggressive Growth Fund
Balanced Strategy Fund
Capital Growth Fund
Cornerstone Strategy Fund
Emerging Markets Fund
Extended Market Index Fund
First Start Growth Fund
GNMA Trust
Growth & Income Fund
Growth Fund
Growth and Tax Strategy Fund
High-Yield Opportunities Fund
Income Fund
Income Stock Fund
Intermediate-Term Bond Fund
International Fund
Money Market Fund
Nasdaq-100 Index Fund
Precious Metals and Minerals Fund
S&P 500 Index Fund Member Shares 1
Reward Shares automatic if you qualify.
Science & Technology Fund
Short-Term Bond Fund
Small Cap Stock Fund
Tax Exempt Intermediate-Term Fund
Tax Exempt Long-Term Fund
Tax Exempt Money Market Fund
Tax Exempt Short-Term Fund
Total Return Strategy Fund
Treasury Money Market Trust
Value Fund
World Growth Fund

and im fine with spreading it around in safe-aggressive.

Answer 1

Well, if you are interested in investing for retirement, then download my free book at http://www.invest-for-retirement.com and go straight to chapter 23. This goes over some basic guidelines for setting up your portfolio.

In general, I recommend first looking at the fund's costs to eliminate any poor choices. Stick to funds that have the following characteristics:

- No loads or deferred loads. Loads are for suckers.
- No 12b-1 fees. 12b-1 fees are for suckers.
- Annual expense ratio less than 1%
- Annual turnover ratio less than 40% for stock funds

To find info on mutual funds go to http://www.morningstar.com and type in the Fund's ticker symbol at the top left of the page to search for it. Then click through the various tabs to get all the info you need.

Just so you know, most banks and credit unions sell load funds with 12b-1 fees. In general, banks are not a good source for investing. Think about it. They have branches all over the place and have to staff them. Where do you think the money comes from to pay this? From customers. Don't pay their operating expenses. Go to an investment firm that has low-cost mutual funds and keep your investments out of the bank. Check these two firms out:

- http://www.vanguard.com
- http://www.fidelity.com

Answer 2

The only two you should bother with is the international Fund which should give you the best return, and the Nasdaq 100 Index Fund which will match the market return with less risk. You don't need safe low return investments like Money Market Fund or Income Fund, those are for old people or for parking the money at a market peak which may be too complicated for you to understand at this point.

Answer 3

S&P 500 Index 70% of your investments
International Fund 10% of your investments.
Bond Index (probably short term bond fund would work) 20% of your investments.

Spread between an S&P 500 index, a Bond Index, and international exposure is a good asset allocation for your age.

Here is how you figure your asset allocation. Take your age and that is your Bond percentage. (i rounded yours to 20%) take the rest and that is yoru stock allocation.

Of your stock allocation, at least 10% of that should be in international stocks.

Over the long term, this is the best risk/reward you can probably achieve. It's low fees so you wont get hammered by an investment manager, and it should perform well over time.

Good luck and remember to make your investments automatic to build over time.

Answer 4

mntndo, and rich d, both have good information on this question, and I would also like to suggest that taking a class on investments would enhance your opportunity to the maximum! They've always told me that "education is the best investment you can make"! and then you can help me with my investments!

Answer 5

Pick several for a bit of diversification.