What is the best way to plan for retirement?

Is it smart to just got with whatever program my job offers? Is it safer to just start my own savings? Should people invest in something more stable like gold?

How old are you? You talk about safety like you are 99. The stock market crash of 1929 and The Great Depression were 78 years ago. Gold is hardly a stable asset. Please read my profile and send me an email. Start by telling me your age.

Whew! Good questions!

Personal Finance is extremely important and I don't want to steer you wrong. Search yahoo for Dave Ramsey and take his financial peace university program. It is wll worth it.

have savings, have own business, enjoy life in happiness...

If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, that should be your starting point for retirement savings. You will also need to allocate some savings to non-retirement needs (houses, cars, etc.). Gold is definitely NOT a stable investment; it is soaring right now but tends to be very volatile.

Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Most folks have a dificult time buying a properly balanced portfoilio of stocks on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

Sources:

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planni...
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetalloca...
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin...
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics

Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/...
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebOb...
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx

Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)


529 plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com

Let me also add that gold is not a stable investment. It rises and crashes frequently. Look at this chart:
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/i...
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/I...

Personal finance is very important and the details can be very complicated or confusing at first. Don't despair. It will get easier as you learn more.

Most financial experts advise putting away about 20% of your gross salary or earnings toward retirement. This is above and beyond your Social Security contributions. If you employer also makes a contribution toward your retirement fund, include that in your 20%. The sooner you begin on the road to retirement savings, the much easier your road ahead. If you wait until age 30 or above, it is more difficult, but not impossible, to catch up.

The key is invest early (when you are young).

Let's see, Gold is down 5% today. You need to read Yahoo's personal finance section to understand how to save for retirement.