Fund picks and pans stocks

Net Advisor says:

For long term investors, I would suggest "Dollar Cost Averaging" using major index funds such as:

S&P 500 Index
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S&P_500

Mid Cap 400 Index
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=^MID&d=t

Russell 2000 Index
http://www.russell.com/Indexes/characteristics_fact_sheets/US/Russell_2000_Index.asp

Dollar Cost Averaging
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging

I would contribute the max each year to a (no fee) Roth IRA.
Read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roth_IRA

You may try. Schwab where you’ll get more help than from Fidelity or Vanguard.

If choose a broker, fins one that has no less than 10-15 years in the market.

Banks can’t manage money. I have been right on this one since I got in this biz 19 years ago. I would not get any financial advice from a bank. I frequently run circles around bank "investment professionals." There are poorly trained, have little to no market experience, and usually have the minimum licensing (Series 6, 63).

When choosing funds, seek no load index funds (above).

I like full service brokers (biased cause I worked at a top firm). They will cost more in fees, but if you get a good advisor who will spend time with you, you will get an education that is far more valuable than the fees you pay.

See my post history for more.

The Old Guy says:

The cheapest and easiest means of investing in a mutual fund product is to go directly to the fund. They will let you establish an account, and if it is a major fund company all this can be done on line.

I had my daughter and others open an account with Vanguard. All accounts were opened on line, along with orders. And I was a broker/dealer.

As long as you are going to stay with the same fund company, going direct in the cheapest and easiest. Vanguard was built servicing such investors.

The cost for buying, selling or exchanging funds is all dependent on the fund company since they are all different.

Mik says:

Depending on your knowledge etc etc..

I would start off by going directly to a bank.. the bank you currently deal with.. they’ll have financial professionals that will do some financial planning for you to see what type of risk profile, etc etc.. and what your overall needs are..

If your starting out smaller.. (under 25,000$) a bank is a great way to start as they will do regular reviews with you to show you how the funds are doing, update your risk profile at least annually and this will be a great way to get some education experience at no cost.

The Mutual funds themselves will have a MER (Management expense of roughly 0.75-2%.. depending on the type and makeup of the fund) But you will not pay any commissions or extra fees etc..

The MER comes off your return.. and you will not notice it..

For example if you have $5,000 and your fund MER is 1% and the fund returns 8.6% in one year.. your portfolio will be roughly $5380 (Return of roughly 7.6%)..

Good Luck