Save Money, Make Money Challenge

Hi,

I received pension funds of about $10k when I left my last job.  I rolled it all over into a new IRA and now I'm trying to figure out where to invest it.  I would like to learn how to choose mutual funds but am a bit overwhelmed at all of the info out there.

Any suggestions on how to learn about mutual funds so that I may confidentally select a place to put this unexpected windfall?

Thanks,

Robyn

How old are you, Robyn, and how much risk are you willing to take on?

I'd like to work another 25 years and shouldn't need the money for anything before retirement.  Kids are grown and through college and we are already in our last house (I hope!)

Robyn,

Short version = invest in index funds instead of actively managed mutual ones unless you want to pay more fees.

I am not an expert but I love the website The Motley Fool (www.fool.com) because it's entertaining and plain talk about investing and funds and all that, and they have a lot of really user friendly tutorials that were really helpful to me when I was first learning about investing.

Also, many companies have "funds" that are allocated for you based on your time frame... for instance, Vanguard has "target retirement funds" where you choose the year you want to retire and then they pick an allocation for you that they think has the appropriate risk/benefit factor for where you're at, I think most companies have those.

Good luck!

-LBF