I want to strat a mutual fun with ING Direct online. What would you recommend for someone saving for ...?

their first property buy and who is single, early 30s, and may need to use the money in the next year or so for a down payment? I'm not that risk-averse and would probably put half my money in the mutual fund to start and see how that growth goes. If recommending sector investments, please say which sectors and how I should find out how to update my preferances through time as I'm sure sectors flucutate. I'd prefer something I can just not have to think about.... thanks!

Personally I think you are better off opening an investment account of your own and investing in ETFs (indexes.) It's a way to own a basket of different stocks by investing in only one. They are basically mutual funds, except you don't have to pay big fees for someone to manage them for you.

There are some for every sector, and the stock market as a whole. If you buy QQQ you are essentially buying a large number of the top stocks on the NASDAQ. If you want to buy Emerging Markets, you buy EEM. If you want to invest in China, you buy FXI. There are several gold indexes so you can buy one ETF and in reality you are owning dozens of gold companies. There are ETFs for everything and they often outperform most mutual funds.

Many people who have been disappointed with their mutual funds for years are switching over to ETFs.

I dont think ING direct strat with mutual fun thier too busy making money

I would go through Vanguard for the no-load funds, personally. I'm pretty bullish on emerging markets and international investments right now.

If you're going to use it in the next year, you shouldn't invest it in a mutual fund. Their regular savings accounts yield a high interest.

The most important concept for new investors to understand prior to investing is to understand the historic volatility of the markets. While equity markets historically have returned approximately 10% annually over the long term, they fluctuate considerably over the short term with periods in which the markets have lost more than 50% of their value over just a few years. I would highly suggest that you only invest funds in the equity markets that you will not need for a minimum of 10 years and therefore would strongly encourage you to consider a money market fund, bank savings account and or a bank certificate deposit as a more prudent vehicle for the funds you anticipe using as a down payment within the next year or so.