Congratulations! First, you need to decide which goal you want to focus on: retirement, a house, or a little of both. If you plan to get a house/condo within five years, stay away from stocks. The markets are just too volatile in short time frames. You might consider investing in a laddered portfolio of CDs with different maturity dates or a short-term bond fund. As for the retirement goal, you could select a target date fund with the date around when you plan to retire (e.g., the 2060 fund). Many fund families have these. A total stock market index fund is another option to track the performance of the overall U.S. stock market. Check out the eXtension online basic investing course called "Investing for Your Future" for additional information about investing options.
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