Money markets, mutual funds, IRAs, variable annuaties?

could you please explain the mening of this terms? I am new in US.

money market: It is basically a mutual fund that invests in very short term debt instruments. Normally it pays interest rates that are about currently 4% to 5% annually.

Mutual funds: these are managed pools of investment money. There are quite literally thousands to choose from. Some are good buy many are not so good. For a beginning investor, mutual funds offer a good option for long term investment. Look to these companies for a wide variety of funds. Fidelity, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price. Look to this company for a selection of funds that invests in small cap stocks: Royce Funds. Look to closed end funds to find funds that sell at a discount to net assets, a big plus. GAM is one. SWZ is another. Both have excellent records. IRAs. There are two different kinds. Roth IRAs and Traditional IRAs. Roth IRAs in general offer investors the advantage that money earned in a Roth IRA is tax free, a very big advantage. You can deposit up to $4000 annually into a Roth IRA with certain income limits which most people do not have trouble meeting. After tax dollars are what are deposited into a Roth IRA. Traditional IRAs are different. Money deposited into a traditional IRA is not taxed until it is taken out. But all money earned by a traditional IRA is taxed at the regular tax rate. So investments made in a traditional IRA are best made in such things that would be taxed at the full rate anyway such as stripped U S bonds for example. Variable annuities: These are sold by basically insurance companies. The insurance company then invests the funds into mutual funds that invest in the stock market. The money earned in a variable annuity is taxed deferred until the annuity comes due. I am not too familiar with the due date ramifications. Something like 5 years or longer.

In my opinion Roth IRAs are a great deal.

One thing I did not mention. There is a penalty for withdrawing IRA funds prior to age 59 1/2.

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Money market is a mutual fund where the money is invested in very short term low risk investments like 1-3 day US government securities. Normally each share is worth $1. Interest is paid daily. You can make deposits and withdrawls daily. Basically its cash that pay interest. Rate is about the lowest. Risk of losing your investment is very low.