Saving money in a Mutual Fund?

I am saving money for a down payment for a house. I have $1500 so for. Would it be good to put that in a mutual fund, or would it be better in a money market account?Also i plan on putting about $500 month in to that account every month.
I know mutual funds can be risky but they tend to have good return rates.

There is one point you neglected to mention. When do you wish to buy this house? If in less than 3 years go with the money market account. 3-5 it might be a toss up. I would split it 50-50. 5+ the mutual fund would be the better alternative. There are tax advantages to investing in an equity mutual fund. Even more tax advantages to investing in an index fund. A money market fund offers no tax advantages.

I comend you on saving for a house. However, I would be leery of mutual funds at this point in time. ANY fund is going to carry risk and for something like what you are saving for, you may want to be a little more on the conservative side. I would certainly recommend a money market as there are still good one out there earning over 4%. That's not bad considering most equities are losing money right now. To go into anything with risk, would probably be a bad idea.

Good luck with this adventure.

Well Josh, it depends on your risk tolerance. Are you able to take the risk of the value of your money going down when the market is bad? If so then the money market is a safer bet for you. Your mutual fund agent or advisor should be in a position to advise accordingly the risks involved as per the fund. The choice is yours and you cannot put the blame on the advisor when the market is bad because it's beyond anybody's control.
Also depends on the time frame of your investment...some funds have given good returns....Ensure that your advisor is a certified financial planner from a reputable Mutual fund company.

Mutual Funds can range from anything from Government Securities to Blue Chip Stocks, to aggressive stocks. so you can be as aggressive as you would like--
--- but do not forget you are taking on some element of market risk. (which hopefully you will get paid for)

what you do, really depends on when exactly you need the money (6mos, 1 year, 3 years, etc)
But if it were me I would try to do some sort of balanced fund, or conservative stocks, especially since the market sold off a bunch this year. (you are giving yourself a chance to make it grow- BUT just remember you have a chance to lose as well, by the time you need the money.)

Good luck!

I would suggest putting it into a money market account, as it would be a waste if you lost all of the money you have saved so far, and will be saving. At least for the time being, as the market is very weak right now and there will be few mutual funds that will come out on top. It could be a different story in nine months to a year, but for now, play it safe and go with the money market account. If you do jump into a mutual fund at some point, which I would not recommend, given your intent, I would suggest playing it conservative, as you are investing for a shorter time-frame, and thus have less time to make up any losses you could potentially incur. I hope this helped!

Best of luck in getting your house!

Brendan Prewitt
President, New York Capital Investment Group LLC

Mutual funds are not typically for Short term. Ask about CD's.

ALSO - if you are a first time home buyer:
There are many federal and state government programs that may provide assistance and money for closing costs. Start calling your state housing authority to see what is available to you in your area.
Below are links to HUD and a couple pf state grant.loan programs. I did not know your state, so I just picked a couple.

It would be financialy irresponsible to put money with a short term need in a stock mutual fund.

If you had put money in January 2, 2008 into;
S&P 500 fund, you would have lost 6.28% of your principle.
NASDAQ fund, you would have lost 11% of your principle.

These funds can be very volitile. A 5 year time horizon (minimum) would be "OK" for a stock Mutual Fund.

Read a couple of books on Mutual Fund Investing (first one could be from the "dummy" series).

If you don't fully understand what you're in, if you don't have a good "asset allocation".... you'll make the "wrong move" and most likely lose significant money.

How about a high yield savings account? You can get about 5% APY, with some accounts only requiring a minimum of $1 to open. This would keep your $$ liquid. Also, the savings account would be FDIC insured. (check fine print to be sure).

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/0...

I use Wamu at 4.75 APY:
http://www.wamu.com/personal/default.asp