Best way to invest my money on mutual funds?

All,

I have $2500 that I would like to invest in mutual funds. And every month put in a couple hundred to invest in. Now, I am not very savvy when it comes to financial investment. I read that Fidelity is a very good mutual fund house. They have a couple of Fidelity office around my job. Would it be a big mistake if I go there and talk to one of their rep to help me invest my money?
What should I ask for, look for?

Thanks for any info!

Fidelity is a reasonably good company. They are one of the largest. Some of the funds are excellent but some are not too good.

You first need to decide the amount of risk you are willing to accept. In general funds are grouped according to aggressive (risky), moderate, conservative. That is a very simplified grouping. It becomes much more complex than that actually, but hopefully I have given you some idea.

One of the complexities of investing with Fidelity is that they offer an extremely large selection of mutual funds, about 250 or there abouts--more than twice as many as the next largest mutual fund company.

What should one look for? It might help you if first you were to go to the Fidelity internet site and check out there mutual funds so you can get some idea of what is available.

Here is the link:

http://personal.fidelity.com/products/fu...

Regretably their site is not formatted for easy comparison their offerings of mutual funds. You have to just sort of trudge through.

But check out their domestic equity, international equity, and asset manager funds. Check the 5 year and 10 year annual returns. It might help if you lay out a spread sheet so you can compare one fund against another. The 10 year return is very important because it incorporates a bear market period. If the fund has not been around 10 years, you may want to by pass it. Check out the expense ratio and the amount of assets in the fund. The larger the fund the less likely the fund is to outperform the market as a whole. It is the market.

Send it to me and I'll invest it for you for 5points

First off, congratulations on your decision to save. I started when I was 20. I wish I had started when I was 10. However, you won't make a "big mistake" if you go with Fidelity. They are the 3rd largest mutual fund house. (#1 is Vanguard and #2 is American Funds). I would suggest no matter who you use that you invest in index funds. Historically, they have done better than actively managed funds. From what I recall, Fidelity offers index funds. As for me, I chose to invest with Vanguard. Good luck.

right now, don't invest in mutual funds. stay safe during the housing crisis which is deeply affecting all mutual funds, both american and abroad. wait about 6-9 months, if IF things in the economy improve, then go with international Canada, SE asia, Emerging Markets and European funds. The euro is worth more than the dollar, you'll get higher returns. Stay out of mutual funds for now.
I suggest tracking the progress of 5-20 different funds for the next 8-16 weeks, when you see more gains than losses (probably won't happen until late 2008 -mid 2009, then put your money in one or more of those funds.
Also consider gas and energy funds which have done well. Now is just a terrible time to invest in anything of the such.

Just decide what " Risk" level you are comfortable with and select a fund that meets that criteria. Usually higher risk can also equal higher return possibilities.
Fidelity has many good funds.
Also ask yourself : IRA, ROTH IRA, or non-tax deferred?

Make sure to look for funds that don't have excessive management fees as well