private IRA

You might want to consider Exchange Traded Funds (ETF). They are actual shares of stock that you buy and sell on the NYSE, AMEX, etc. One of the advantages is that you get to pick the price you buy and sell at, unlike mutual funds. Also, the expense ratios are usually quite low.

There are somewhere around 60 or 70 ETF currently available. I only own one, the Standard and Poors Depository Receipt, also known as "Spiders", ticker symbol SPY. This stock tracks the S&P 500. Two other well known ETF are the "diamonds" that track the Dow Jones Industrial Average (ticker symbol DIA) and the "cubes" that track the NASDAQ (ticker symbol QQQ).

funds
i guess i will try to figure out how those funds work. so i pick one or two funds like those and put the money into them....and then do i have to pick stocks or do they pick them for you by default?

Let's suppose you decide to invest in the Standard and Poors Depository Receipts. Just contact your Broker and say "Buy 25 shares of SPY for my account". That's all there is to it. The stock will automatically track the Standard and Poors 500 Index. There's nothing more for you to do. So if the SP500 goes up 5% in one month, the SPY shares will also go up 5% (the unfortunate converse is that if the SP500 goes down 5%, your shares will also go down by 5%).

funds.
THANKS !!!!

at last a great idea.