What type of mutual fund should I get?

I am gonna put a portion of each paycheck away for retirement into a mutual fund, I am gonna be doing this for like 40 years, so which type of mutual fund would be best for me to get to get plenty of money in the long run?

at your age a growth fund would be very good investment.

I put most of my stock portfolio into boring old index funds. There are many mutual funds that will outperform them but because of the extremely low fees that they charge index funds don't have to perform as well and are an excellent choice. From a tax perspective they are also great because very few stocks are sold within the fun. The companies with the lowest fees are Fidelity and Vanguard. I use both of them. There are also retirement index funds which blend stocks and bonds appropriate for you age and automatically change as you get older. These would be Fidelity's Freedom funds and Vanguard Target Retirement funds. Just pick the year you intend to retire and thats it.

index funds are good. Since you have a while, you take advantage of volatility. You really do not need to worry about the stock market, because you are looking ata few market corrections.

You want to place a good chunk in moderate risk, small/med cap funds, probably international. As you get closer to retirement you ant to move the money into safer funds, such as those holding more bonds.

There are companies that offer "lifecycle" funds that will do this for you. Problem is, you do not want them to automatically do this during a bear market ( and you end up losing value) You want to move the funds during peaks of bull markets.

Many mutual funds fall in one of 3 major categories - money market funds, bond funds (or "fixed income" funds), and stock funds (or "equity" funds). Every variety has different characteristics and different risks and rewards.
http://debts-to-wealth.com/category/Type...

Go with a balanced fund, they are often called a "blend". Stay away from the specialty funds. It should be a no load, low fee fund. Look at the total expense ratio, which you can check out on Yahoo finance. It should be less than 1%.

It should be set up as a Roth IRA. That will give you the best return over time. If you reach the point where your investments exceed the maximum contribution level, you can open a second fund.

You also need to consider the fund minimums. T Rowe Price has lower minimums than Fidelity and Vanguard. Being able to make deposits more frequently allows you a greater benefit from "dollar cost averaging."

Stay with funds that have been around for awhile and have a good track record. Many funds have gone out of business over the years so avoid the newer ones.

Your plan is a basis for an excellent retirement...it SHOULD go into a ROTH IRA ( if you are sure you won't be needing any of the money until you're 60 )
Log on to Fidelity and you can see a variety of different ways of doing things. Are you going to contribute when you can...or sign up for direct deposits ? Can you use tax-breaks now...you may want a Traditional IRA . ( get a ROTH later )
As far as " which type of fund"...I would suggest you go with something with international or global exposure for awhile ( the world is developing and catching up to the U.S. ) ...You can look at FGBLX , not risky but invested wordwide...or you can get a little risky for your first few years ( maybe build-up a real bundle to start the ball rolling)... then you would try FEMKX ( emerging markets)... I also invest in an international bond/financial fund that pays a monthly dividend ( more shares added every month)...and it has been clipping along at a nice 13% average for years ( FNMIX)
Once you get your money into an account, whichever type of fund you choose, learn to check on it on- line...and don't settle for poor performance....with a little reading and comparing you can stay with good returns ...and get " conservative" when you have a nice nest-egg.
Maybe you don't want an IRA right away..( don't want to tie- up the money) FINE...but open a brokerage account and invest in a fund or ETF...let it work and THEN...when you have some profit, get that IRA cooking !!
40 years... just to give you some idea of where you can be, check: http://www.finishrich.com/free_resources...
Put in a monthly contribution, and a couple of different percentages...add that 40 years....
I'm guessing that with just $50.00 a month ( an extra tank of gas) you would end up " comfortable"...and with $ 120.00 you end up " stinkin' loaded "!!
P.S. The most importantant part of that calculator is the percentage of your return...just see the difference between 10% and the " conservative" 13% ( like FNMIX)

Go with mutual fund if you want 12% average a year but I would recommend the Forex market. The reason that some predict that Mark Vincellete will be on the cover of Time magazine is simply because of his brilliant strategy he developed for the Forex market. He is revolutionizing investing for the average investor. Making huge amounts of money and retiring young is not just for hedge fund managers. Investors who follow this program have been making unheard of returns. Due to compliance issues I cannot reveal the returns on investment but when you demo the program you will see for yourself. Once you see the power of the program you will tell everyone you know about it. That is why the company is growing 40% a month. This is a Forex hedge strategy and anyone can do it because of its simplicity. It takes about 10-20 minutes a week if that. You can follow the strategy with play money until you see how it works and are comfortable with investing. Don鈥檛 take me word for it though. Try it out for yourself. Watch the video presentation on the site below. It will explain everything through the video. www.demofreedomrocks.com. Take care

5000 @ 12% a month = 1.6 million in 4 years. 19 million in 6 years. 12% a month???? Its possible. Thats all I can say without getting into compliance issues.

Probably makes sense to get into growth funds, but combine with various balance/bond to dampen the risk. The worst thing is to bail out when the market takes sharp turn, so you want to make sure you can stay for the long run. Another key thing is to find funds that really outperform its peer. 80% of active managed fund can't beat index, but 20% that does really worth the money to invest with the best manager. A fund may not always outperform the market, that's why you need a mix, but a great fund should always outperform its peer. Check out a site called fundmojo and looks at various stats on a fund before investing. Here is the web site: http://www.fundmojo.com. Good luck

If you don't have the time or expertise to manage your investment there are great funds that will do it for you. Try looking at Target Funds - they have names like Target 2030. They will invest in a variety of stocks, bonds etc and will gradually get more conservative (less stock and more bonds) as you get closer to the year 2030. They are offered by a lot of fund families e.g. Vanguard, Fidelity or T. Rowe Price. Pick a target fund with the date closest to your planned retirement and you are all set. You are not under any obligation to keep your money in the fund so you maintain flexibility. These funds have been the best sellers because investing is important, complicated and timeconsuming.