For what purpose are you investing? E.g. a new car, a
downpayment on a house, a wedding (hopefully an economical
one), retirement, something else?

Do you have any debt (credit card, car loan, student loan,
other)? If so, what are the terms (timeframe and interest
rate)?

Do you have health insurance?

How much of your 401(k) contribution is matched by your
employer?

Meanwhile, please consider exploring the free online "asset
allocation" tools linked at
http://home.earthlink.net/~elle_navorski/id8.html . They
will introduce you to the notion of investing for the long
term using stocks and bonds.

Joe wrote:

- quote -

First, I'd note that with a gross income of $32K, you are in the 15%
bracket after you standard deduction/exemption.
Based on that, I'd suggest you keep the 401k deposit to capture whatever
match your employer offers, but not more than that. As a saver, you are
likely to retire in a higher income bracket, and the best savings
account for retirement would be the Roth IRA.

After reserving about 6 months' worth of living expenses in Money Market
funds or CDs, I'd suggest starting to invest in index mutual funds. I
lean toward the S&P index funds, as a large portion of account, and then
an overseas fund, and small cap, to not be too large cap weighted.

JOE

On Nov 24, 8:29 am, "Joe" <joe.gog...[at]comcast.net> wrote:
- quote -

I would use some of the money to fund your ROTH to the legal max.
If you ever really need the contributions you can get them out with
no tax (earnings have to stay in). So top the ROTH out for 2006,
and in January, put the limit in for 2007, and do that every year.
Now, as to what to invest in, no one, including the vast majority
of fund managers, is able to do better than the market as a whole
over the long term, but *you* _can_ do as well as the market,
beating those same managers, by simply buying the whole
market. Just invest in an SP500 or Wilshire 5000 fund and wait
35 years. I recommend the Vanguard or Fidelity fund families.
They have very low-cost index funds of this sort.
Post again in 15-20 years when you have to start thinking about
bond funds.

Joe Weinstein

I have a question that I was hoping someone could answer. Currently, I am
26, I have 30,000 dollars saved in an ING Direct Account which earns 4.40%
interest giving me 105 dollars a month in interest. I have no debt, my rent
is 800 a month and I make 32k a year. I contribute 6% to my 401k and I have
an IRA and a Roth IRA that I contribute 25 dollars a month. I have the
ability to save at least 200 dollars a month for savings after all expenses
are paid.

If you were in my position, how would some of you invest my 30,000 dollars.
I am willing to accept a moderate to aggreessive level or risk with the
chances of actually earning some money.

Thanks,

Joe