Basically, if you are saving money for short term use (less than 5 years) a money market savings account is good. HSBC has one paying 5.05% right now.
If you are saving money for long term use (more than 5 years) a mutual fund is a good idea. If you want to save on taxes in the future, start a Roth IRA-- the earnings grow tax free. If you want to save money on taxes now, start a traditional IRA-- the money you put in is deducted from your income the next time you file taxes. Vanguard.com is a great place to start IRAs because the fees are very low on both the IRA account and the mutual funds. They have "target retirement funds" that are managed to benefit people retiring in a certain year. For instance, I will probably retire sometime in the 2040's so I invest in the Vanguard Target 2045 mutual fund. Now it is mostly stocks (more risk, but more return), but as the year 2045 approaches the managers of the fund will switch to mostly bonds (less risk, but less return).
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