IRA advice needed

[TheRealMattKain]

Anyone have any advice for opening an IRA? I have a little less than a month to get my 2007 Roth IRA started. I'm new to investing, so I'm looking for something that will work well for a beginner. At present I'm looking at the 2040 Life Cycle or Target Date mutual funds offered by Vanguard, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price. They all have very low expense ratios, no loads, and are auto-adjusted over time (more aggressive early on, more conservative later on). On the other hand, I've read that it might be better to just get a low expense ratio index fund (like the Vanguard S&P 500 fund) since few mutual funds (inlcuding the Target Date/Life Cycle funds) beat the market index.

I'm a complete newcomer to this so any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated,
Matt Kain

[jazzytrav]

My best advice would be to see a financial planner. A lot of times they will give a free analysis for your first time, especially if you carry an account with the institution.

[TheRealMattKain]

My best advice would be to see a financial planner. A lot of times they will give a free analysis for your first time, especially if you carry an account with the institution.

That was one of the first things I tried. I went to my bank (Wells Fargo - I live in California) and met with the retirement specialist. It did not go well. It's a long, long story (which I'll share if anyone is interested), but our conversation resulted in my banker crying. Needless to say, after this experience, I have little to no confidence in the opinions of anyone at Wells Fargo.

 

MK

[jazzytrav]

Ick...that can't be good. I'm lucky enough to work for a financial institution and we have a great financial planner, but since you're in California I can't really help you much along those lines.

 

Not sure if you want to disclose this or not, but if anyone here has any knowledge on these things, they may want to know your age, as well as how long you plan to work before retiring.

[TheRealMattKain]

Ick...that can't be good. I'm lucky enough to work for a financial institution and we have a great financial planner, but since you're in California I can't really help you much along those lines.

 

Not sure if you want to disclose this or not, but if anyone here has any knowledge on these things, they may want to know your age, as well as how long you plan to work before retiring.

Good point. I'm 30, and I'm looking to retire around age 60-65.