Where should I invest my money and how do I?

I am 20 years old and in college. I am already thinking ahead to my retirement. By the time I get out of school a year and a half from now I expect to have $30,000 saved up and $45,000 in loans to pay off. I will not need a car for at least 5 years, probably won't need one for like 8 years so thats not a problem. Where should I put my money to get the most out of it?

1. Open retirement accounts as soon as you can (you'll need earned income to do so). A Roth IRA would be good. A 401(k) with an employer matching contribution would be better. See the first two webpages below for more on the employer match and retirement accounts.

2. Invest in lifecycle or target date funds to begin with. They are managed for you by the fund staff, who allocate your investments into a diversified portfolio. Diversification is a good idea, even at your age (although a lifecycle fund for someone like you would be heavily weighted towards stocks). The benefit of the lifecycle fund is that beginning investors don't have to do the money management, and can learn from watching the fund managers. The third webpage below tells you more about lifecycle funds.

3. Pay off your student loans as fast as you can. Don't live like a pauper, but debt is a drag on your wealth accumulation. Interest payments enrich banks, not you.

Good luck.

I recommend a stock mutual fund. My choice for new investors is a fund that tracks the S & P 500 index. The fees are the lowest, maybe 0.4%. S & P are constantly updating their index of companies. Over a 50 year time frame, the fund will probably increase 10% per year on the average.

first off wow- you are doing awesome
since you are young and not close to retirement you should be aggressive about investments but also put some into something secure such as an IRA.
If I can make a suggestion- Ameriprise which is owned by American Express has highly educated and well trained financial advisers who will look at all your goals and map out a plan perfectly for you. They are very low cost - it would probably cost you about $300-400 for your first year and this way you can really maximize your investments with a professional- My husband and I use them and we have many friends who do also- that have incomes ranging form 25k yearly to about 600k yearly so they do it all.
I am in FL so i can give you the general contact info since they work nationwide- good luck !
Ameriprise Financial - ameriprise.com
if you are in Florida - call Kelly Boyle 561.226.5878
to get more info you can e-mail her and she can probably provide you with a local office her e-mail is:
kelly.a.boyle@ampf.com

Buy a house.