$400 a month to invest (young family)?

I'm a 26 year old Married man living in Oklahoma. I only make about 25-29 K a year but wife (21 yeard old) will be a teacher soon and that will more than double to where we will be making 55K a year or so. Right now we are rent free. We live in a family owned house and I found a job where I work an hour a week and I'm making $110 extra a week. I don't have that figured into the budget but it's a guaranteed income for at least 10 more years. I'm very very new to investing. Should I invest in Oil one way or another or should I invest in a retirement fund.

Please help! Thanks!

Investing in a commodity like oil is very risky compared to investing for retirement. If you invest in oil, be sure to make that only a fraction of your overall investment portfolio. There's many theories and strategies to investing. You can take or leave those as you see fitting but the main thing is that you stay diversified which means to spread your money into different things like stocks, bonds, and oil. That way, if stocks plummet, maybe your oil will go up and the loss won't be as bad. It's risk management.

Does your job offer a retirement investment package like a 401k? If yours doesn't, your wifes probably will since she's working for a school. Take full advantage of a job's 401k offering. They will usually match what you put in up to a certain % or $ amount. If they offer to match say $200 a month, make sure you put $200 into the fund to take full advantage of your employers offer. That's a 100% return with almost no risk!

If neither of your employers offer a 401k, you can invest for retirement on your own with a ROTH IRA. There is no age limit on this and it's not difficult to do once you get started.

It's very wise for you to begin saving for retirement at the age you are. MOST people don't start till later so you have a significant advantage. To learn more about investing go to http://www.fool.com
It's a great website for beginning investors. http://www.investopedia.com is also a good web site.

First set yourself up a Money Market Account (either at a Bank, Credit Union or through a Mutual Fund) that will allow fairly easy access to your money (like having a checkbook for it), and save up to two months' combined pay in it. That will be your emergency money, and only for an emergency.

Next determine your Near Term (6 months to a year) goals, Mid Term (1-5 year goals) and Long Term (usually 10 years to Retirement) goals. Figure out how much you will need for each and when you want them. Divide that by the number of months to get there and start saving the appropriate amount. What you invest in is your choice. The longer term goal, the riskier I recommend the investment (Stocks and Stock-Funds for retirement, CD's for Near Term). The closer you get to the date/year, the safer you want that investment to be.

Also, research Tax Exempted and Tax Deferred investments. Don't just start investing. Just as you wouldn't fix your own Ferrari or build a Mansion with your own two hands, hire a professional. Ask them how they get paid. Some will sell you a certain family of funds because they will get monthly kickbacks form YOUR money with nothing up front, others will get the check you write that day, and nothing more. Some may get both.

Look at the long term, consider an IRA or a Roth IRA. Go to a site like Motley Fool and see what the differences are.

If you are new to investing, stay away from Oil.

While there is nothing wrong with it, you probably do not have the knowledge to make investments in individual stocks. also, sector funds (a type of mutual fund) carry a much higher risk than a regulat mutual fund.

i woulds suggest investing it in a Roth IRA, you and your wife can both open one. you can do this at any brokerage firm. The benifits of this are that your returns will grow tax free and can be withdrawn tax free after retirement (age 65). The funds in an IRA can be invested in almost any instrument (except futures and commodities like oil).

The brokerage would be more than happy to go over different investment options with you and recommend various mutial funds.

Also, by contributing a fixed monthly amount you eliminate much of the risk associated with timing.

If you are interested in oil, you can invest in a sector fund or individdual companies with an IRA, but I would not recommend putting all your funds into one basket - REMEMBER, always deversify your portfolio

26 and 21 are good age to get started with investments. You are on the right track.

I will make it very simple and easy for you.

Put away the $400/month diligently in a Exchange Traded Funds - you will be surprised what happens in 10 years. (that is the target you have set yourself, right?)

Another to look at is DRIP - Dividend Re-Investment Plans.

Even if you do not invest anything further into that after 10 years, that money will grow to close to $1,000,000 by the time you are 65. This nest egg will sustain for your future. This is the secret of compounding.

Just be disciplined enough to not to touch this money, no matter what.

I wish many young people think like you.!!

You can thank me later.

First of all good for you. I would sugest you pay all your debts and live debt free and never buy credit because the interest you earn will never be greater than the interest you pay so thats like hustling backwards. You should always fund the investments where you get a match like your 401k where the employer matches some of your investment thats free money. Roth IRA are tax deffered and tax free if you don't touch them untill retirement so have that automatically taken out your check (before tax= more free money). You should also have a 20 yr or 30yr term which will cover you untill your kids leave home and your retired and debt free ( insurance is meant to protect you from loosing income should the inevitable happens. once youre financially free you dont need it). Never invest in a whole life product which promises savings but is really atrick to get your money and make you pay more interest ( buy term and invest the difference, this way you dont borrow your own money). Rember always pay cash, never hold debt ( you want to earn interest not pay it), keep an emergency fund ( for real emergencys only), invest for retirement, live within your means and try to pay off your mortgage as fast as possible and when you do in vest that money like you were still paying your mortage. You guys are on the right track. Congradulations!

Please open a on- line account at http://www.tinyurl.com/eplss and fund your account to start investing on line in shares @viewing the position and always go by the expert suggestion only .

Buy a safe and start buying gold and silver coins. Buying silver bars is your best bet right now. Buy silver right now for around $12/oz and watch the spot price rise. Silver is money and it easily converted back to cash when needed. It is private and not taxable. Also watch gold spot prices, when it gets below $560 or $570 then buy, buy, buy!!!. You should have some gold Eagles and the new gold Buffalos.