"The Henchman" <heyhey[at]isforhorses.com.easynews.com> wrote in message
- quote -

lifetime goals. For example, are you married or plan to marry? Do you plan
more education for yourself? When do you plan to retire? I am old and
retired but I still have goals with 10 year time horizons. As Logan pointed
out the purpose of the investment will determine in which mutual fund to
invest.

Good luck,
BeachBum

"Joe" <joe.goglia[at]comcast.net> wrote in message
news:kZCdnRGEFq3JiTHYnZ2dnUVZ_rCsnZ2d[at]comcast.com...
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Before investing pay off your high interest credit cards.

Also have clearly defined and honest to yourself financial goals developed.

Joe wrote:
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I'm no expert on investing, but I think the first question you have to answer
is this: what do you plan to use it for? Retirement? A future purchase?
A rainy day fund?

The answer will depend on that because different investments are appropriate
for different purposes. The longer time until you need the money, the more
you can tolerate risk. How much risk you can tolerate also depends on what
you need the money for. For example, in certain situations, self-employed
people know they will owe a lot more money in taxes than they were required
to send in in quarterly estimated payments. Obviously, in such a situation,
you want a low-risk investment because the negatives of losing money far
outweigh the positives of increasing your return.

- Logan

In article <kZCdnRGEFq3JiTHYnZ2dnUVZ_rCsnZ2d[at]comcast.com> ,
"Joe" <joe.goglia[at]comcast.net> wrote:

- quote -

I would suggest that $3K is not enough to be well diversified for
picking individual stocks or individual funds. As a result, I'd
suggest looking into an Exchange Traded Fund that tracks one of
the major indexes. I happen to like Vipers. Buy with a very low
cost discount brokerage to minimize the trading costs. Build a
very solid base of index funds, then branch out later with a little
money to take a few flyers here and there.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

Joe wrote:
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May we first ask, is the 6% to the 401(k) because that's the amount that
captures the most employer match? You should put in enough to capture
the match. Then, I trust there's no credit card, high interest debt?

A low cost index fund is the way to go, S&P 500 or a "total market'
wilshire 5000 type of fund. What ever balances out the 401(k) and IRA
investments. You have one portfolio, it just happens to reside in
different accounts. You should use the two non-401(k) accounts to
provide a balance among the investments.
JOE

I have set aside 3,000 dollars that I plan on investing in mutual funds. I
have looked at various funds from fidelity and I was wondering what
direction I should go in. I am looking for something that is moderatly
aggressive that has the potential of earning a lot more then a 5% savings
account. I am willing to accept some risk so that shouldnt be a problem. I
have a 401k that I contribute 6% of my salary and I have a Roth IRA that I
contribute 100 dollars to every month. I plan on making contributions of 200
dollars to the 3000 dollars I invest. Currently, the money is sitting in
emigrant direct and I get a couple dollars of interest ever month, but I am
looking for more return.