« What is the difference betwen 401 and 457 retirement plan for a government employee? | Home | I’m 26 and planning on my retirement plan? »

recently married/college grad with retirement planning ?s?

By Tom Dunn | October 5, 2007

retirement planning
Mary D asked:


Hi all. I’m a recently married college graduate who is ready to start planning for my retirement but I have no idea hwere to start. I have a smal company that does not offer a 401K or any type of retirement planning. I know that I need to create an IRA or roth IRA but my main question is how do I know what kind of mutual fund to go with, or where to put the money that I’m placing in my IRA. I don’t make a lot of money yet so I wouldn’t be able to put in more than a couple hundred dollars a month but I want to start early with this stuff.

Any suggestions on where I can go for free/cheap professional advice? I want to start early but I don’t want to start by investing incorrectly.

Neil

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netvouz
  • description
  • ThisNext
  • MisterWong
  • Wists
  • StumbleUpon

Topics: retirement planning |

2 Responses to “recently married/college grad with retirement planning ?s?”

  1. Dana S Says:
    October 6th, 2007 at 4:09 pm

    Do a Roth IRA, choosing the mutual funds is not the easiest, but you can choose different levels of aggressiveness.

    I opened a Roth IRA when I was 19, and put the max $4k contribution each year, and I am moderately aggressive.

    Being young as well I say to choose moderately aggressive mutual funds because you have plenty of time to go through the ups and downs of the market. I would say about 60-75% of your investment should be moderate, keep a small percentage in the “safe zone” 15-20%, then throw a little in an aggressive growth fund, maybe 20-30%, just play around with the figures, I know these don’t add up exactly but just best guesses.

    The market is taking a big crash right now and I’m about $2000 down at the moment, but the main thing is to remember that this is a LONG TERM investment, you can’t get worried if your at a loss now, the long term growth is what is most important.

    Look at the 5yr - 10yr grown history of the mutual funds.

    Hope this kinda helps!

  2. Old Chef Says:
    October 8th, 2007 at 11:06 am

    As a retired chef, Let me tell you this one bit of advice…
    Start saving now!!!
    Save as much as you can, every penny counts.
    Right now, you are young, you can take the pain of saving money. Do it.
    Cheap professional advice is just that. Cheap.
    Your bank or better yet, your credit union can and will help. That is what they are there for…
    get with the savings and stick with it, Time will, quickly run out on you and then it is too late.
    Hope this helps
    Chef

Comments