IRA, Mutual funds, pension(what to do?)

[rusty@saving]

need a little advice. now that i am getting back on my feet money wise, i will be able to put money aside for my future.
my question. my company offers a pension, but i heard that you have to retire with the company to get the pension. i would like to stay, but you never know what the future holds...my fiance might get a new job elsewhere, we might need to move, ect ect. an IRA in my opinion would be good and more solid than a mutual fund, but a mutual fund has more chance for growth(am i wrong in thinking this?).
just wanted some advice.

[safari]

I highly doubt that you have to retire with your company in order to receive pension. Usually you have to work for a company a certain number of years to earn pension benefits. For example, in my company it's 5 years. Of course, the longer you work for them, the higher pension you will receive. Regardless of whether you will get pension or not, you need to start contributing to 401(k) plan and also open a Roth IRA account.

[meaghanchan]

an IRA is just a tax-advantaged retirement account. You can hold a variety of investments in there, depending on your own ability and need to take risk- you can hold mutual funds invested in stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, whatever, or just have a money market account.

Your asset allocation (percentage of stocks, bonds, cash) will determine how risky your investments within your IRA are, as well as how much chance they have for growth.

IRAs (especially Roth IRAs, which grow tax-free!!) are great, and I think in your situation I'd definitely choose that over the pension... As you said, you don't know what's going to happen in the future with you, or with your current company.

[LuxLiving]

How would taking the pension preclude you from contributing to an IRA? Let them contribute to the pension for you while you invest in the IRA - you can own mutual funds under the IRA umbrella.

[disneysteve]

I agree with the others. Just because there is a company pension doesn't mean you can't have an IRA/Roth. So do both. The pension doesn't cost you anything.

As for your comment "an IRA in my opinion would be good and more solid than a mutual fund" as others have pointed out, an IRA can hold stocks, bonds, mutual funds, government securities, etc. If you are young with a long time horizon before retirement, your IRA should be mostly or entirely in stocks or stock funds for maximum growth over time.

[rusty@saving]

thanks for the comments! i have not researched an IRA yet, and did not know i could do the mutual funds in it, thanks for the info. very much appreciated!

[Diolla]

Actually IRA stands for Individual Retirement Arrangement and is merely a set of rules saying how the investment is treated by the IRS. Financial institutions call them accounts because it makes it seem more like a particular product that they can sell.

[creditcardfree]

I would sugget going to a mutual fund company website. Fidelity or Vanguard are good examples. Research the types of funds that match your risk tolerance, Once you decide you will fill out an application for a IRA or a Roth IRA (depending on your choice).

Your investment is the mutual fund, but titled as an IRA, which designates how the IRS handles this type of investment. It is possible to invest in a mutual fund without an IRA designation, but then the investment is taxed differently by the IRS.

[Ima saver]

I have mine and my husband's IRA's in Vanguard Index 500 mutual. We each have 2 accounts, one is an IRA and the other is the newer Roth IRA. I would open yours up in a Roth IRA.