When you have a retirement account, is it fixed interest to ensure you earn money for retirement? -

Sorry, might be a stupid question, but I m 17, and don t know anything about that. I know that you can put part of your retirement investments into more risky funds, but isn t some of it (probably most of it), put somewhere where you WILL make money, since lots of people cannot take a risk with that type of thing??? Please elaborate!!! Thank you!________Typically, if you are a long long way away from retirement, you ll want to put most of your savings into riskier (though not really really risky) funds. You have a long long time for the market to go up and down, and as long as you are putting your money into well balanced mutual funds and not risky risky stocks or junk bonds, you ll do well in the long run. In any given year, your funds may be up or down, but historically, in the long run, the market has gone up. As folks get closer and closer to retirement, they typically move their money into safer investments. They do this for two reasons. First of all, they don t have as much time to make up for a big loss. If you lose everything in a huge market crash when you are 25 years old, you still have 40+ years until you retire and so you can easily rebuild your retirement fund. If you lose everything at 60 years old, you have only five years left before retirement, so you are stuck. In other words, as you get closer to the finish line, you want to get safer with your investments. Also, when you are close to retirement, you need to KNOW that your money will be there. You can t have your savings jumping around (gaining 50% one year, losing 50% the next) because you need to be able to COUNT on having enough money each year. So you choose more stable funds. I realize this is general. There are lots and lots of web sites that will suggest different investment strategies, and different folks have a different tolerance for risk. But in general - the more time you have before retirement, the riskier you can be with your investments.________Good age to start thinking about this. The key to saving for retirement is to put some money away and then not touch it. At your age, you ll want to put the money into a mutual fund with a good reputable company. That is because you are young enough to absorb the ups and downs the stock market will do from now until the time you retire. As people get close to retirement, they tend to move their investments into something less risky, sometimes into investments that pay a fixed percentage rate of return. Some companies have sites that ask you a series of questions about how you feel about certain situations. Your answers enable them to figure out how you feel about taking risks. If their analysis shows that you don t mind taking risks, they recommend certain investment strategies that are a little more risky but over the long run, should provide a greater return. Avoid putting your money into individual stocks stocks. Most people are not savvy enough to make money that way. A mutual fund puts your money into many, many stock (along with the money of thousands and thousands of other people). Some of those stocks will make money and some will lose. By spreading your money into more winners than losers, you make money.________The only way you could possibly get a fixed return is with some type of insurance product but it is expensive and usually not recommended for most people. (annuities) Investing (finance) is complex. There are multiple retirement accounts and investment options geared to different ages and risk comfort levels. Nothing is a sure thing except things like money market funds but only to a degree. The safest place for money (not lose principal, money you put in) is a savings account. Anything above that involves some risk. You are looking at maximizing the risk vs. return.