[srad1292]

Choose an online firm such as Charles Schwab or Fidelity. Find a mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500. Put money in there when you can. If you're young and want to take more risk for a chance at higher returns, you certainly can. But the idea behind the simple S&P 500 mutual fund is that the mutual fund will be comprised of the top 500 companies in the market and so your gains will pretty much match the gains of the market itself. It's a simple way to just put money into the market and get safe returns. You can read "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" by John Bogle for more details on this. I actually have about an 80/20 split between two funds. The 80 would be towards the S&P 500 and the 20 would be towards the equivalent but for international markets.