Anyone in or have any knowledge of the investment market?ING Direct etc>>

[dedic8ed1]

I don't have 401 k at my work and I figure it's time to get something going with savings.ING direct has a 3% variable rate on savings accounts and I'm thinking about starting one.I'm interested in a long term 3-5 year investment,not interested in going in the account like a peddy cash flash account,main objective is to make interest and build nest egg for house.I wanna have 10,000 in no less then 5 years for a house,rainy day or just to have money in the bank.I'm planning on starting the account with 1,000 us.

All thoughts experiences,suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[kfrost06]

interest rates are too low for a savings account, I would invest it and go for long term, 20 years. You can always borrow against it in the future to buy a house and the interest you pay will be to yourself. As for the 401K, do it now! The sooner the better, do both, the savings and the 401K.

[dedic8ed1]

bump

[m8intl]

money market account or CDs. You won't get 10k from 1k in 3-5 years, but you'll earn a steady risk-free return.

[dedic8ed1]

interest rates are too low for a savings account, I would invest it and go for long term, 20 years. You can always borrow against it in the future to buy a house and the interest you pay will be to yourself. As for the 401K, do it now! The sooner the better, do both, the savings and the 401K.

What's the difference betweent the two,interest rate?

[Coop77]

What's the difference betweent the two,interest rate?

A CD has a fixed term length and fixed interest rate (the longer the term the higher the rate). That means if you "buy" a 5-year CD, you can't access the money until the CD "matures" in 5 years.

A money market account (or fund) is more like a savings account, usually with a higher interest rate and higher minimum balance.

[Coop77]

If you're thinking long term, you should consider an index mutual fund, which invests your money across hundreds of stocks. The stock market is kind of in the crapper right now (maybe a good time to buy) but historically it always goes up in the long term.

[spywizard]

sole 401k

or

sub s corp where you can dump in 64k per year..

good luck

[dedic8ed1]

If you're thinking long term, you should consider an index mutual fund, which invests your money across hundreds of stocks. The stock market is kind of in the crapper right now (maybe a good time to buy) but historically it always goes up in the long term.

Thanks buddy.very informative.

[Prada]

If you're thinking long term, you should consider an index mutual fund, which invests your money across hundreds of stocks. The stock market is kind of in the crapper right now (maybe a good time to buy) but historically it always goes up in the long term.

Agreed.

You can also have them diversified in different markets as well. For example instead of being all US companies they can be Canadian, Japanese and European. Also there are different types of mutual funds, balanced, dividend, US based etc. I have some in Energy, Telecommunications and Banks.

[dedic8ed1]

Ok,now how do I decide on who to invest my money with?I googled investment firms and I came across"American Capitol",web page looks fancy and surely designed to entice but what's the ins and outs on making a informed decision?

By the way with the strong response to the "Index Mutual Fund"That's what I'm leaning towards.5 years seems a good start to get my feet wet.

[Coop77]

Ok,now how do I decide on who to invest my money with?I googled investment firms and I came across"American Capitol",web page looks fancy and surely designed to entice but what's the ins and outs on making a informed decision?

By the way with the strong response to the "Index Mutual Fund"That's what I'm leaning towards.5 years seems a good start to get my feet wet.

Open an account with Ameritrade.com, then you can buy & sell stocks and funds.
The biggest index fund in the world is VFINX, which invests in all 500 stocks in the S&P index. Also there is IVV, which invests in the same 500 stocks, but is an "exchange traded fund" instead of a mutual fund, so it has no minimum investment. A good place to research is finance.yahoo.com

[dedic8ed1]

Open an account with Ameritrade.com, then you can buy & sell stocks and funds.
The biggest index fund in the world is VFINX, which invests in all 500 stocks in the S&P index. Also there is IVV, which invests in the same 500 stocks, but is an "exchange traded fund" instead of a mutual fund, so it has no minimum investment. A good place to research is finance.yahoo.com

Thanks man!!!!