pignoseWRX

iTrader: (6)

i'm not sure what the 14mo long mutual fund they're trying to sell you is... if it's long term you can't go wrong with some index funds or a basket of etfs. i'd go open up an account at one of the discount brokers (schwab, fidelity, scottrade, etc) and go see what they'll give you access to as far as index funds. etf's trade like stocks and i believe in that list scottrade has the cheapest transactions.

something like this wouldn't be too unreasonable for a basket of ETFs:

40% IWB (russell 1000 - domestic large co.)
20% IWR (russell mid cap - domestic medium co.)
20% IWM (russell 2000 - domestic small co.)
20% EFA (msci eafe - international)

set it and forget it. rebalance towards your model as you put in more money. watch out for your transaction fees though. make your purchase worth it.

this is just a starting point. i am a so called value investor and i'd have a different ETF basket than what i listed above. "value" and "growth" have their cycles... large cap vs. small cap strength has its economic cycles... so don't take my word for it... it's VERY important for you to know where you're putting your money. you wouldn't/shouldn't buy a gt35r if all you could handle was a vf39, even if you really want it. so please do your own research. know your risk tolerance. the above we would consider at our firm a VERY HIGH RISK portfolio. VERY HIGH. if you find you don't have time or don't want to grasp it a financial advisor is a good way to go... but don't let sleaze bag financial product salespeople sell you things you don't need (not saying all of them are sleazy and will do so, just beware).

there's a lot of junk out there in the mutual fund world (our firm deals solely in no-load mutual funds). even with our portfolio's track records of beating the benchmarks by a few percent each year there's always been periods where our big winners are big losers. are there people making a ton of money year in year out in other vehicles, yes, but they are professionals and have much more time than you do to stock pick and they are still sometimes very wrong. with that disclaimer... i still think i can beat the market and you probably do too. haha.

good places to start learning:
morningstar.com has great tutorials on mutual funds and stock picking
the intelligent investor by benjamin graham <-- long, but awesome.

btw... i think there's some confusion as to "investing in an IRA". you can hold cd's in an IRA. i think you're confusing the fact that most people put higher risk vehicles like equities in to their IRAs.

Wrxneffect

iTrader: (7)

for a mutal fund I'd go with VICEX. That fund has been good to me.

SKF would have been good last month. I'm missed the ball on SKF. I was waiting until it hit $70 a share but it didn't drop past $72 and took off and is now at $107. My co-wrker went in on that and has turned a 47% profit in just under a month. Although, SKF is really risky as it shorts stocks. Conversly IYF, if you are thinking long term might be a stock to invest in and hold on to. The market is bound to rebound...eventually.

If you really want to take a risk you may want to check out DSCO. This bio company is supposed to have a reply from the FDA on wheter or not it's drug gets apporved in May 08. it's about $2.50 a share but an approval form the FDA can rocket the price upwards. Of course bad news and you can kiss your money good bye. I'm waiting to see what the current results are next week when the company presents next week. If the results look promosing so far I'm prob going to buy into the stock.

Of cours for me I'km still realtively young so my tolerance for risk is greater becasue I sitll have many years in which to make back my losses.

OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

How old are you?

I'm returning at about 17% this year. Mind you this is after taking a HUGE hit a few years ago. I invested very agressively because I started my 401k at 21. Now that I'm 30 and have a wife I run more moderate. But I've had a good year.

I'd advise going moderate, look at funds that have done well over a 3-5 year period and have gone up every year. Not ones that report these great returns but have gone down every year for the last 4.

Any way you look at it...be ready to just let it go. You only go for quick in and out gainers on sure things with a lot of money. $5000 is something you build on and just let go.

Everyone has something different to say.

Just remember that it's the holiday season and the market can flux quite a bit depending on consumer spending expectations and actual spending.

tamashi523

iTrader: (2)

I work for that company! hahah it's a great company to work for but let me give you some advice. if you only have 5k to invest I say just setup an online savings account from wamu. it's like 5%. But if you want to get into stocks setup an online trading account. You have wayy more control over ur trading by doing that.

buckeyemike75

If you have to come to a internet bulletin board and ask questions about investing and where you should put your money, then you have a lot of learning and reading to do about investing. Go to www.fool.com and just start reading.