o.k. investment for an ididot

feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment and could use some advice.   I just opened up a Roth IRA.  I thought it would be similar to a 401K where someone of manage the account and dirsify the funds between different stocks.   Now I realize the somone is me.  Where do I go from here?  I guess my first step would be begginning to do research but Im at a beginners level in this and it doesnt seem like a smart thing for me to pick picking stocks quite yet for a retirement fund.   Where should I begin, what should i be reading, who do I listen too?   and other opinions and advices would be appreciated.    Once again from an earlier post;  Im 36, single (but handsome), no kids, rent - in other words not many assests (if that info helps at all)

Thanks.

 

Oh, (different subject) by the way throw a little bit a cash on the Falcons to win the NFC.

diversify

If your just starting out I'd do mutual funds and let the portfolio manager pick the indidvidual stocks.

 

Maybe a S&P 500 index fund , much safer than a inexperienced person trying to pick stocks.

 

I have all my IRA money with Fidelity Investments, with a brokerage account, but put most of it it mutual funds.

 

You might want to take a look at a China mutual fund,  from what I understand China is very well positioned to come out of the recession.

 

 

Buy,

 

QMM, PAL,BQI, MDW, PAL-WT and thank me later.  Make sure to put in a limit ie price you're willing to pay before you buy.  You can get a lot of shares of each for cheap I've been buying all lately and making some serious change past few days.

 

IF your considering a "mirror the market" index mutual fund I think your better off just buying the exchange traded funds like the SPY (S&P 500) or QQQQ (NASDAQ). their more liquid and have lower admin costs that similar mutual funds.