Expert: Gina Boykin - 9/23/2008

Question
Hello mrs boykin whos is the best company t6o invest with im 31 and i havent started saving for retirement where do i start ?

Answer
Are you asking what company you should use to hold your investment account? If so, any of the major discount brokerage firms is fine.  Vanguard, E-Trade, Fidelity, Charles Schwabb, and Ameritrade all have retirement accounts that you can open with as little as $50 per month.  They all have a variety of mutual funds, stocks, and bonds available.  

The best place to start, though, is a website where you can learn the basics of investing.  Investopedia.com and fool.com are great places to learn about index funds, exchange traded funds, and bond funds if you are interested in putting your money in a mutual fund.  You can also learn about investing directly in bonds or stocks.

Once you've gotten the basics, you can go to the brokerage firm websites and compare what they have (based on what you decide to invest in).  Some things to look for and compare are:

-What is the minimum to open an account? What’s the minimum account balance to avoid paying any maintenance fees?
-What is the expense ratio of the fund you’re looking at?
-What are the other fees? (Only look at no-load funds)