401k has the following investment G Fund/F Fund/C Fund/S Fund/I Fund/L Fund-Where should I invest?/How Much ?
412181
Sounds like TSP.  It all depends on how aggressive you want to be with your money and when you will start pulling from it.  If you are young and don't want the hassle of change funds every so often, I would go with the L-Fund.  When investing in the L-Fund it will ask you when you will draw from it.  Then it will invest in the other funds (G, F, C, S, and I) to a certain percentage.  Then it will change the percentage automatically as time progresses.  For example if you are not going to draw money out for 30 years, then for the first few years it will invest in the C, S, and I funds more heavily (they are riskier but yield bigger returns).  As you near the 30 year mark it will shift to the G and F fund to give you more stability (these are low risk but yield low returns).  For more info check out the the website.
213700
I don't know if there is a specific percentage that you should have, but it's never too early to start investing and saving for retirement through an account like an IRA or 401k, which are often available through your place of employment.\n\nI think it is important to consider the expense of living for a considerable amount of time with little to no income during retirement.  Other things to figure are inflation rates, longevity, and the quality of life you would like to maintain in retirement.\n\nI suggest you find a financial consultant to discuss your retirement plans.  They deal with planning people's investments day in and day out and may be able to better assist your in your inquiry.
85855
As a long-time financial executive in the investment field, it is my opinion is that any answer you receive that cites a specific fund is wrong!  A proper answer must consider your personal situation, you investment timeframe, your tolerance for risk, etc.  My answer is that you should try and determine what fund or funds best fit your specific situation (either personally or by hiring a qualified investment specialist -- not a mutual fund sales person).  A few sources I've used in the past include (but are not limited to):\n\nhttp://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/finder/predeffunds.aspx\nhttp://www.morningstar.com/\nhttp://www.maxfunds.com/content/navigator/alphasearch.htm\nhttp://www.fundalarm.com/
900036
I just rolled over my 401K to an ING Direct IRA account. They have great options and low maintenance fees. Check them out.  www.ingdirect.com
985867
A roth account might be good or bad for you.  They're not good for everyone.\n\nA 401k or IRA is just a type of account, and has nothing to do with how much of a return you can get from your investment.  If you are investing in mostly a diverse mix of stock funds, you should expect a long term average return of 7-9%.  In some years you will get more (like 13%), and some years you will lose money).  In either type, you'll be investing in a mix of mutual funds.  The benefit of a roth IRA has to do with taxes.\n\nHere's the benefit:  With a 401k or traditional IRA, you pay no income taxes now on the money you put in.  You pay income taxes when you withdraw the money in retirement.  With a roth IRA, you pay the income taxes now, and pay no taxes on the money you withdraw in retirement. \n\nIf your income tax rate is lower now than it will be in retirement, you do not want a roth account.  If your income tax rate will be higher in retirement than it is now, then a roth account would be good for you.\n\nHERE'S HOW YOU SWITCH:\nYou "rollover" your 401k balance to a traditional (pretax) IRA.  That means you tell the company that has your 401k to transfer the money directly into an IRA.  As long as you don't receive a check payable to yourself, you'll pay no taxes or penalties.  You then "convert" the traditional IRA to a roth IRA.  This is something the company that handles the IRA does for you.  Basically, they take taxes straight out of the IRA and send them to the IRS.  This makes the money in the IRA after tax, or "roth" money.\n\nBUT...\n\nTo be able to transfer the money from the 401k to the IRA, you'll have to have already stopped working for the company.  AND your company might have the "roth 401k" feature, which allows you to contribute to your 401k plan with after tax money and have exactly the same benefit as the roth IRA.  ALSO if your company matches your contributions to your regular 401k, that will probably outweigh any benefit you could possibly get from the roth IRA.\n\nYou need to talk to the company that manages your 401k plan to find out what your options are.  And call a company that does IRAs to find out more details on the roth IRA to find out if it would be a good fit for you.  Try Fidelity or Vanguard.
824382
I believe most mutual funds require $2500 initial investment, so you may be limited in your choice.  I would get a copy of Money  magazine and look at their listings of mutual funds to see which ones allow you to start with $1000.  \nThere will be statistics on all of the funds showing you which ones are doing the best for 1,5, and 10 year periods.\nIf it is for long term investment, I would recommend an S&P 500 index fund like Vanguard index 500, or a growth and income fund.  If you want to gamble  a little for higher returns, you \ncould try an aggressive growth fund.  A good friend of mine has done well with CGM focus fund.\nLook for no-load funds, and ones with the smallest maintainance fees.  These fees don't sound too important but over many years of compounding they are very important.\nPaying a load up front has never been shown to increase your returns on the average (contrary to what some brokers will try to tell you), so don't.\nAnd if you are young, stay away from bond funds; stock funds are much better.  Some of the better companies are Strong, Janus , Fidelity and Vanguard.\nGood luck!
51089
My parents always said to "pay myself first." This means that I should contribute as much as I possibly can to any retirement accounts. If your employer is willing to pay 70 cents on the dollar up to 15% of your salary, you really should consider bumping up your contributions. The more you contribute now will add up to a lot more over the long run.\n\nDoes your 401K company allow you to pick how the money is invested? If they do, you should think about doing an aggressive growth tactic. I'm not saying have all of your money go toward aggressive growth, but that's where a large portion of it should go. The key is to diversify and have your money working for you in a variety of ways. Since time is on your side, you can afford to be a little more aggressive and assume a little more risk. \n\nThe compounding interest adds up over time, so the more you contribute now, the more you'll have when you retire.\n\nCheck out the calculators I've provided below. They can help to paint a better picture. I would also recommend talking to a financial planner. I hope this helps, and remember, pay yourself first =).
1022786
Invest in your companies 401K plan. If they match your contribution, they can double your money right away.  Ask you HR person for details.
1147141
At 23, time is your best friend (hooray compound interest).  Your best bet is to (if you haven't already,) open up and max out your Roth IRA.  This allows you to allow that compounding to work in a tax-free manner after you deposit. See what a difference that can make here: http://www.dinkytown.net/java/RothIRA.html\n\nIf you work for a company that provides matching funds for your 401(k) or similar retirement account, be sure to get the maximum match - it's free money! (that has to come from your income, but you can use your $10K to buffer your cost of living while you max your contributions).\n\nNote, it'll depend both on your capital gains, and the tax efficiency of your investments, but when I ran the numbers for myself, I found that I was much better off using my 401(k) for investment even though I plan on early withdrawal: http://randomfoo.net/blog/id/4087\n\n(Over a longer time-horizon, the tax efficiency is going to make a huge difference, plus you can also drastically rebalance with near impunity, tax free)\n\nRegardless of the type of account you put your money in, you still have to decide what you're going to invest in.  There aren't guaranteed returns, but for your goals (growth until eventual financial independence, yes?) you're best bet is probably a good index mutual fund. (You'll want to do your own research on this - although index funds are by definition 'average' they tend to provide total returns (after expenses) that beat the vast majority of mutual funds.  Here's one article to help you get started on why that's the case: http://www.fool.com/mutualfunds/indexfunds/indexfunds01.htm\n\nYour best course of action as you save towards financial independence is to continue investing (dollar cost averaging) and to diversify as your capital grows (bonds, international, REITs, metals) and to try to keep an eye towards what your goals are.  A good book on the subject matter is "You Money Or Your Life" by Domniguez and Robin, which talks less about investing (they suggest an extremely conservative approach), but more about a good basic mindset/framework for thinking about money.\n\nIf your goal is early retirement (reaching the point where you can live off your investments) you may also want to take a look at FIRECalc, an interesting early retirement calculator: http://fireseeker.com/ and the related Early Retirement forums (lurking and reading the archives is a good way to dip a toe in the water, so to speak): http://early-retirement.org/forums/
628231
The process is not important.  That you invest is.  If you invest in the right things, you will earn more money.  Most start investing in retirement accounts - 401(k) and the like.
132052
A 401k is an employer sponsered retirement account.  Employers will offer severel differet mutual funds that you will pick from to invest your money.  The money is taken from your paycheck on a weekly basis and put into the mutual fund for you.  The good part of a 401k is that an employer usually matches your contribution.  Sometimes a dollar for dollar match.  Meaning that for every dollar you put into your retirement account, your employer will also put in a dollar.  And other times your employer will match only a fraction of what you contribute, (ex. You put in a dollar, employer puts in .35 cents).\n\nThe money you put into your 401k goes in tax free.  So you won't have to pay taxes on the your income that went into the account.  However, when you're retired and you begin to withdraw money from your 401k, that is when you'll have to pay the taxes, on all your withdrawls \n\nBe warned, if you leave the company, you may not be able to keep the money that your employer put into your account for you unless you've been with the company for a certain number of years.  This is called being vested.
614050
Put $5,000 into an international mutual fund and the other $3,000 into a domestic S&P 500 mutual fund.  Put the remaining $2,000 into a small company fund.\n\nI recommend e-trade mutual funds as they have the lowest management fees (under 1%).\n\n\nInternational - ETSPX\nDomestic - ETINX\nSmall-cap - ETRUX\n\nI recommend mutual funds because you don't want to be spending all your time researching and keeping up with the market.  Let the profesionals do it for you.
829524
Hi, i suggest a great site with plenty of Issues related to your Investing and everything around it. it also provide clear and accurate answer to many common questions.\n\nI am sure that you can get your answers in this website.\n\nhttp://investing.sitesled.com/\n\nGood Luck and Best Wishes!
60838
With $200 dollars a month, you might want to sign up for a 401k plan from an online brokerage firm while picking one or two mutual funds.  As long as you consistently deposit the amount of $200 dollars, you should realize a relatively fair or modest return.  It will also reduce your taxable income, saving you money on taxes and increasing your future retirement funds.  \n\nHowever, if you're looking for a higher return investment, allocate it to a money market ING Direct account.  I believe their offering 4.75%, which is a modest return but it offers you greater liquidity.  After a year, you might then swap it into a brokerage account and then invest it in growth stocks that can generate a higher return.
1126078
1) Go to your local library and borrow a basic "investing" book.\n2) For practice, go to www.finance.yahoo.com/\n3)  Enter common symbols such as GM (General Motors), GE (General Electric)\n4) Examine various numbers, as defined in your book\n5)  Also use <HELP> on that page.  Good Luck
209580
IRAs generally have some advantages over a 401K.\n\nThe biggest one is that you aren't as limited in your investment choices.  The typical 401k may have 9-10 funds to select from.  IRAs are pretty much unlimited.\n\nHowever, without knowing what costs your company covers for you in the 401K, this is a pretty difficult question to answer.
156820
I think most financial advisors would say that is a fairly conservative long term investment. Specially if you are doing it through a mutual fund company like Vanguard which has pretty low expenses