If I have 2,500 a year to invest what would be my best option. I am 28 single and already have a 403(b)? IRA??

Is a Roth IRA the best bang for your buck if you only have about 2,500 a year to invest. CD's? Gold? Help me out I am 28 and this is a good time to worry about this stuff.

Open a self-directed Roth with a good discount broker such as Schwab. There, you can choose from all of the many no-load mutual funds available. Put it into a top-rated large-cap fund (go to Morningstar.com to research funds), and when you get to around 10K in the account, you can start to split up the money, or what they call 'asset allocation', into other areas - small-cap, blended, international, etc.

If you don't have the inclination to learn about mutual fund investing, buy one of the 'target' or 'lifestyle' funds, who will do the asset allocation for you. The big fund families all have them, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc, but I'm not necessarily recommending either. These funds are more aggressive the farther out you are from retirement. The funds are associated with a given year, for the time you expect to retire. At 28, assuming you work to 65, you would look for a good fund targeted to the years 2040-45. If you were retiring in the next few years, you would have your money in a very conservative 2010 fund.

You can also deal exclusively with one fund family, but I don't recommend it. No one family can claim to have all the best funds in every asset class, or sector of the market. And if you deal with just one and find something better, you have to sell and then wait a qweek or so for your money to reinvest it elsewhere. If you have a single umbrella account with Schwab or similar, you can sell Fidelity one day and buy something else the next.

Good luck!

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It's always important to ask yourself "what do I want to use the money for?"

a Roth would be great for "saving for retirement" but bad for building a spare change fun.

As a single person you should have savings of around 6 months of income or access to that kind of cash... if you don't have that kind of savings don't open up another retirement account but a regular self-directed brokerage account. The money is taxed as you go but it's yours without early withdrawal penalties.

As a CFP and CFA, folks(friends included) are always wanting to know where to invest... take care of the little things like 6 months of income, good disability insurance, budgeting, and not having un-collateralized debt. THEN focus on investing.

just my .02

If you have a retirement account at work, start there. They may have a match of your contribution so that would be free money for your retirement account. Let's say they match up to 6% of your salary. That would be a 100% return plus you are lowering your tax bill for the year because you put in pre-tax dollars.

try http://goldenbullstocks.com and do your own research