opinions needed on what mutual fund..

BarbBQ said: "will yield the best return for a middle aged lady that is new to all of this stuff. thanks before you answer!"

alhamid said: "if you want bond fund, check out [url=http://www.pimco.com/TopNav/Home/Default.htm]pimco[/url] very good."

BarbBQ said: "thanks for your answer. do all mutual funds have minimum deposit amounts? it looks like you have to invest 5,000 dollars to get started there. i think something about half of that would be more comfortable for me. i'll have to take a look around the net."

dsm091 said: "USAA funds are 3000, so I know there is more out there. What would you like to invest in?"

HappyHarry said: "Almost all have at least a $500 deposit. Otherwise lots of people might just trade them like stocks."

Sunny said: "i highly recommed vanguard gnma and/or wellington. welligton is pepered with about 20% stocks. gnma is returning over 3% a year with over a 4% yield. thus 7% in a very safe fund is pretty good. wellington has many 20 plus returns over the past 30 years. both are COUNTERBALANCERS, meaning they are designed to hedge somewhat if the market takes a turn..of course nothing is guranteed. sunny"

mar31977 said: "you can now get 5% from ING SAVINGS account. Or you can go with ING fund LETRX with a 5 year return of 40% and 2005 did 60%"

LanceJ said: "[QUOTE=BarbBQ]will yield the best return for a middle aged lady that is new to all of this stuff. thanks before you answer![/QUOTE] Stay away from bonds right now. When the stock market and economy does well, bonds get hammered. Late last year was the time to be reducing your bond weighting in favor of a higher equity allocation. I would recommend selling bonds altogether."

thezster said: "[QUOTE=HappyHarry]Almost all have at least a $500 deposit. Otherwise lots of people might just trade them like stocks.[/QUOTE] Additionally, they have a 3 month limitation on trading out without a penalty. Gotta hold it for a while to realize any gains......."