Should I invest my Roth IRA differently than my 401k?

I'm currently investing both accounts in the Fidelity Freedom Fund 2050. Is that smart or is it better to move one into a different type of mutual fund?

With a Roth you have a very wide array of choices,. With a 401K you have what your employer gives you. In a Roth you owe it to yourself to be in the best mutual funds. I could list a few but follow the URL below for Fidelity's picks.
I don't like target funds like 2050 except for people who have no interest in managing their money. I recommend an asset allocation which is right for you. You might want 30% growth 30% value 30% international and 10% bonds. You can adjust it to fit your tastes.
In the 401K you are limited. If you have limitied choices, I tend to lean more towards index funds of target retirment funds such as the 2050.

Just for diversity I would split them up. The type of investments could be the same, keeping in mind that you are paying taxes going in on the Roth and on taking out on the 401k. You might want to consider some tax exempt bonds on the Roth or some municipal bonds that are tax exempt. Check with your adviser on this as I am not absolutely certain about the taxation.

Well if they are giving you a good interest rate on both products then I say stay. BUT for privacy reasons, if you want to spread your money around then you could invest in another company.

If you primarily want both investments to be for retirement around 2050, you haven't made a bad move. The fund you mentioned should do a good job for you, and is pretty diversified already.

However, there are some things to consider:
1) The contributions you make to a Roth IRA (not the gains, but the contributions) can be withdrawn any time tax-free. This makes the Roth IRA great for the kids college savings and/or an emergency fund. If you are using part of your Roth IRA for those purposes, you need to invest appropriately. You don't want to yank money out of your emergency fund if its fully invested in stocks and stocks just went down 20%

2) You have the freedom to invest your Roth IRA funds any way you want. Your 401(k) is usually restricted to a few funds determined by your plan. You may be able to find a better fund than the Fidelity 2050 - which charges lower fees for basically the same investments.

-->Adam

in general that is a fine passive way to invest and it's ok that both are in that same fund since that fund is made up of 30 some funds.....
so think of it this way....
you have 10k in your 401k split between 30funds and 5 k in a roth split between the same 30 funds .... are you diversified?

YES.... because that one fund is diversity in a package.

the question should be whether at your young age you should have more focus and less diversity in individual sectors....
and that is a question only you can answer based on your inclination to work on your account and time you want to put into it.

cheers

The 2050 fund is very diversified so it is a good choice for your retirement investments. But there are certain implications that you should consider with your Roth IRA investments versus your 401k investments. The earnings in the Roth IRA account will be tax free whereas all of the money in the 401k account will be fully taxed when removed. As a result, it makes sense to tilt your 401k investments towards fully taxible type investments such as bond type investments and the Roth IRA investments towards equity investments where they might earn a greater return and not be taxed at the full tax rate when removed. Since the 2050 fund is 10% bonds and will become more so as 2050 approaches, invest your Roth IRA money in strickly equity type funds but not too aggresive. Save the aggressive investments for outside your retirement funds. Among the Fidelity funds you might consider are Fidelity Europe Fund and Europe Capital Appreciation Fund. Unfortunately, Diversified International Fund is closed. Among the U S funds, Capital Appreciation Fund or the Value Fund.