Investing Your Retirement Account Money

You have an ownership interest in your retirement accounts. You will probably have investment choices with your thrift savings account, and you certainly have choices with your IRA account. Rely on your financial advisor to the extent that you are comfortable; but as the account owner, you will pay the price or benefit from whatever happens. Learn at least the basics:

• How much money must you save to meet your financial goals?
• How much time do you have to save for retirement?
• How much risk are you willing to take?

The investment terminology might be new to you, but the facts won't be. There are different kinds of investments you can buy with your retirement dollars. You will want to choose a certain mix of investments for your account that reflects the amount of risk that you are willing to take. Remember that as the rate of return you want to achieve goes up, so does the risk. You will want a balance that gets you to your goal with a risk factor that you can live (and sleep) with. The main categories of investment opportunities are:

• stocks
• bonds
• cash and cash equivalents