Roth 401Kand Mutual Fund question

[wilspeak]

I am a Gold and Silver Stacker. What do you think about Silver and Gold Stacking? I have a Roth 401K that I have a few thousand dollars in. The problem that I have is the last time that I checked I am only earning about $5 per quarter and I am being charged over or around $35 for administration fees. The fees are eating up what I am earning. I deposit about $100 a month to the 401K. I want to get out of the 401K, But I don't want to get hit with the early withdrawal fees and high taxes. Would a mutual fund be a better investment option?

[terran]

Gold and silver are not investments, they're speculations -- you buy them hoping someone else will buy them from you for more than you bought them for. An investment should pay you for owning. So yes, a mutual fund would be a better investment by virtue of it being an investment. The preferred version of a mutual fund would be an index fund that passively tracks a large market such as the total US stock market (the S&P 500 would be nearly as good) or the total international stock market.

[wilspeak]

Thank You Terran

[seattlecyclone]

Note that most of the investment options in your 401(k) likely are mutual funds. You don't need to decide between your 401(k) and mutual fund investing. A 401(k) is just a container for investments, which may be mutual funds or whatever else your employer lets you buy in there. If you're asking whether it's better to have mutual funds in your 401(k) or outside it, I'd say that the tax benefits of the 401(k) are probably worth the restrictions for most of us.

[MDM]

Are your gold and silver holdings in the Roth 401k or are those two completely separate things?