Anonymous wrote:If you max out a Roth IRA, what next? If you don't have an employer-matched 401k.
Can you have two Roth IRA's?

There's no limit to the number of IRAs you can establish, but there is a limit to how much you can contribute per year ($5500). For more people it makes sense to just have one Roth and contribute up to the limit.

If you don't have a 401K through your employer and you are self-employed, you may be able to open an individual 401K. Many financial institutions offer them; here is information from Fidelity: https://www.fidelity.com/retirement-ira/small-business/self-employed-401k. You can call the institution of your choice, explain your employment situation, and see if you qualify.

Otherwise your best bet is just a taxable brokerage account. You could also look into i-bonds, which are inflation-protected government securities: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/products/prod_ibonds_glance.htm

If you max out a Roth IRA, what next? If you don't have an employer-matched 401k.
Can you have two Roth IRA's?

Anonymous wrote:Easiest is a life cycle fund. You pick a year close to when you retire. I used Janus when I started. I think you should start now, even without an emergency fund. Start small and then increase it by half of any raise you get in the future.

the trouble with this is that different companies set up their funds differently (check out the wide range of allocations you can find for the same target date among diff. families)

... you must do your homework and decide what allocation you want now .. IMO life cycle funds are the lazy person's illusion of "set & forget" and you're giving up returns you can easily protect with not very much homework or attention on your own.

Anonymous wrote:Good luck OP. One last thing to think about - if you continue to invest monthly and the stock market dips, you'll be buying low which is a great thing. So don't fear flunctuation at your age! 2008 ended up being a great year for my portfolio since I didn't sell anything but bought quite a bit at the market low.

I'm the 29yo poster and totally agree! I increased my contributions about 50% when the market tanked (total coincidence, just decided to "try" to contribute more) and it was the best move ever. At our age, market dips can be a great thing.