Mutual fund help? Savvy people only?

I need help. I want to invest my college savings into a mutual fund in order to earn a better interest rate. The problem is, I have NO CLUE where to invest. If you know where a good place is, tell me it's risk factor, like how likely am I to loose my dough, and projected return, if applicable. Thank you!

1st- no interest rate. real investments don't have 1, With no knowledge the simplest thing is to open an account @ Schwab.com & put money in SWINX an international index fund & SWPIX a S&P 500 index fund. Do not listen to those telling you to read up or do research. People who just need to invest for the future need to index & forget about it. ADX another solid option. Buy & hold. ADX means a small broker fee while no fee for the other 2. Please contact me via answers if further qs. Key is to act NOW vs thinking. None of these are going to zero.

read more on mutual funds and investing to help you better on this site

What exactly do you mean "college savings"? Do you mean money you are saving for college? That is what I assume you mean. How many years until college? If less than 4, a mutual fund is a very risky proposition. You may wind up with less than you started with. About a 25 to 50% probability in my opinion. This is not the greatest time to invest in mutual funds for less than 4 to 5 years duration. The economy is nearing a peak most likely. There is also likely to be a home mortgage melt down. I do rather agree with your 1st responder that an international mutual fund would be one of your best options as far as mutual funds go. At least you would be somewhat insulated from the plunging dollar. As your 1st responder mentioned, they won't go to zero, but they very well might loose 1/5 to1/3 of their value. Can you live with that?

How much money are we talking about? If more than $20,000 you might risk as much as $7,000 but no more. If under $10,000 your risk is going to be substanial. Maybe no more than $2,000 to $3,000 max, if any.

Projected returns: They vary greatly depending on the economy and the fund choice. Rule of thumb is about 10% on average. We are not talking average here though. We have just had 3 very good years of better than 10%.

As for recommendations:

foreign fund: FIGRX as safe as any I expect or less risky than many.

domestic: PENNX. In market downturns this one has a pretty good record.

Time frame is very important when considering mutual funds. I wouldn't advise investing in the stock market if you don't have a minimum of 7-10 years. And actually, we have not had 3 good years of over 10% returns; 2003 was a great year, just getting back some of the losses from the bust. But neither 2004 or 2005 produced double digit gains in the market, before last year's 15%. Right now is actually a great time to invest in the market, just make sure you have a long time frame to invest. When you make that decision, you should look for a good financial advisor. You will pay a fee, but you'll have someone who knows what he's doing to guide and educate you. Usually even after paying the fees, you will come out ahead in the long run without nearly as many headaches or worries.

Well you can go to Vanguard . com they have many funds to choose from. A money market is the safest, they pay about 5.10% to 5 .25 % and you wont lose any money. But if you have 4 to 6 yrs you can invest in the Vanguard Equity income fund. It pays a small div every 3 months ans could return from 12 to 20 % if the market does well.