Where do I start to learn about investments and retirement planning?
You can use the web for basic information – try the yahoo finance page to start with, and search for “basic finance terms definitions”, for example. The Motley Fool website can help, too, but I’ve found that they do a lot of heavy sales pitches to sign up for their newsletters and for-fee services. They also do a lot of self-promotion, in my opinion. To me, they seem like the Rush Limbaugh of the financial world. Still, there’s good basic information to be had. Your best luck might be to find a basic finance class through your local adult ed program or community college. It should give you a good basic schooling in introductory finance, and get you started. The jump in – the two best things to have on your side are regular contributions, and a long time frame. If you’re young, start putting money in some sort of retirement plan now.
