I need advise/information on investing and retirement...?

I am finally at a point in my life where I need to start seriously considering my retirement, albeit I should have started 10-15 years ago, I'm ready to jump in both feet.
I am 35 years old, I have a great career as a system administrator in which I pull down just under 60k/yr. I do not own a home but I am considering buying within the next year. The company I work for will begin a 401K program early next year. I currently have a car payment, two credit cards I stay on top of, a department store credit card which I also stay on top of. I try to put away $500 a paycheck into savings, sometimes more, sometimes less.
I would lke to know where a good place to start is, should I get an IRA, can I if I opt into the company 401K? Should I try to pay my car off quickly? Should I buy a home now and is that a good investment considering all the bad news I hear about the housing market?
I realize this is more than a single question but, any advice on where to start would be great!

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.

Buying a house instead of renting will save you a lot of money in the long run. You don't have to pay rent and you build equity in your house instead. Housing prices may drop some more, so you may want to wait a few months before buying. However, housing prices are difficult to predict, and they may start rising again.

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

Contribute 4K annually to a ROTH IRA. You should probably start off with an low rate broad market index fund. T Rowe Price and Vanguard are a couple of good options.

If you are happy with what is available in the rental market I would hold off on buying at least until my car was paid off and I had at least 10% for a down payment.

pay off credit cards and car loans first. thats an absolute must. after that, decide if you want to buy a condo or house. check your local realestate market to see if it's a good time to buy.

put 4k in a roth ira now!!! as soon as the 401k comes available put at least the matching amount in and if possible keep adding to your roth ira!!! pay down the credit cards -- right not is not a good time to house hunt --- do these now and you if you stick with the course you will have a happy retirmement!!!