whats ur ultimate goal? is this money to "play" with or money that you want to see grow? scottrade is an excellent place to begin for the novice investor, that is if you would like to learn on your own how to invest in the market. i have a scottrade account and you really can't beat their fees imo.

as for mutual funds...be cautious. a no load fund simply means there aren't any sales charges added. loaded funds are managed by a professional money manager, a no load simply isn't managed and tends to move with the market as steven975 said.

ira/roth ira would be great if you wanna retire more comfortably, however with $10k sittin around, the max you can contribue a year is only $3k. this will be upped to $4k in 2006 and $5k in 2008. plus, once you put money in, you can't withdrawal until ur 59 1/2 without penalties , same for annuities.

if you're really interested in what to do with your money or you want advice, seek professional advice, or do ALOT of research. if this is play money, well....play with it i'm a fin. advisor btw, good luck! pm me if you you need more info..

 

Personally, if can afford to lose that 10k, I'd go into stocks.

Check out www.fool.com , and look at some of their recommendations. You can make that 10k work hard for you. Just take the risk.

10k one year ago in Sirius would bring you up to roughly 75k....
10k one year ago in American Eagle clothing would be about 25K

It's that easy.

That's just my opinion.

 

If I had invested as much then as I wanted to (but was afraid to) we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

Invest in photonic, it is the next big thing.

 

I bought some shares in SIRI already, just watching it grow...=)

also looking/researching other stocks.

But again thanks for all the advices and pointers. I will definitely hit up this board again if I need further assistance.