With my husband across the planet in Kuwait for most of the past two years, we don't fight a lot.

When we do fight, it's about three things: what I'm doing with the kids. What things are going to be like when he comes back (for leave, or for good). And money.

We started out so well?
At the beginning of our relationship, I had a great job I was leaving, along with my ex-boyfriend, to move back home to Portland and my to-be-husband. It was easy to find a new job (this was 2001), and we settled quickly into the financial structure that existed then. I made most of the family's money and paid all the bills. My husband and I, honestly, were thinking ahead only in general terms. "I want to save money for retirement," we would say. "Let's have college savings funds for the boys," we'd say.

A beginning investor can easily be overwhelmed by the variety of investments and retirement strategies available. When I started a 401(k) program for a small company I worked for, only one person, me, made any elections for several months. Here's a bit of helpful knowledge to make those choices a little easier for you than they were for me.

First, an indelicate question:

Before we can start making suggestions we need to ask: how much money do you have?

Brokers, like, in Boiler Room?

Before we answer the question, "should I use a broker to buy and sell stocks?" we should distinguish what, exactly, we expect a broker to do:

• All brokers are legally permitted to buy and sell stocks, bonds and other securities, like derivatives and commodities, on a stock exchange on behalf of a client.

Many brokers perform additional services (and if you've ever watched a movie featuring stock brokers, this is likely what they were doing):

• Many brokers advise clients on which stocks and bonds to buy and sell, how much, and when
• Some brokers provide additional financial services or recommendations, like asset allocation, estate planning, the tax impacts of certain investments, and even small business or real estate investment ideas. Such an individual might have an additional certification, like the Certified Financial Planner designation.

From the comfort of your own home

If all you want to do is to find someone to carry out an order as you execute it -- to make a specific stock purchase for you when you decide the time is right -- then you do need a broker (someone who, by virtue of having passed the Series 7 examination, is legally permitted to buy and sell stocks and bonds). But you don't actually need to have a personal broker; a person to whom you talk. Online brokerage firms which let you type in stock symbols and quantities of shares and click, "buy," will do just fine. You'll typically pay far less for the service, and you won't have someone's advice mucking up your investing chi.

The buy-and-hold investing strategy explained

If you are trying to decide which investing strategy to use after having learned a bunch of new financial lingo, you might be thrilled to come across the buy-and-hold strategy. What you see is what you get! The buy-and-hold investing strategy is simple:

You purchase stocks and hold them for a long time, decades even, until you retire or even longer.

Phew. That was easy! Now, is it a good idea?

There are numerous ways to save money, but many people think putting funds away is difficult. Rather than stopping themselves from opening a savings account, they could start with easy ways to save money and build their funds to meet their financial goals.

5 Easy Ways to Save Money

I'm writing to you sitting next to a jar. This jar is stuffed full (okay, imagine it gently filled — it's a small jar) of $5 bills. I do not feel proud that this is the best way I've found yet to save money consistently. Somehow, having it sit there on the window sill is a gentle reminder that there are more important things to spend my cash on than the x, y, and z that usually make the list: Continue reading...

A money-market fund is a very low-risk type of mutual fund, meant to be as close to cash as possible while still earning a modest return. It is different from a money-market account, which is a type of deposit account in which the entire principal is invested in money-market funds by the bank. One key difference is that money-market accounts are FDIC-insured, while money-market funds, like all mutual funds, are not.

Short-term savings

Money-market funds are meant to be very "liquid," meaning they are easier to cash out at any time without expecting a loss, and thus are used for many short-term savings needs:

• an emergency fund
• a savings account for a down payment for a house
• a college fund for teenagers
• a savings fund for travel or other near-term needs
• a "parking place" for money while you decide how to invest it

The investments that make up a money-market fund are "cash and cash equivalents." These are limited to highly rated debt issues (think AAA and AA) that mature in 13 months or less. Typically, money-market funds are mostly invested in U.S. treasury bonds, CDs from highly rated U.S. and foreign banks, and commercial paper (similar to bonds, with much shorter maturities, and usually issued by banks or very highly rated companies).

Commodities refer to physical goods, usually raw materials used in manufacturing and production, that are essentially interchangeable. One bushel of wheat produced by an Iowa farmer is assumed to be equivalent to a bushel produced by a farmer in Russia. One ounce of gold just mined in Canada is no different than an ounce of gold melted down in Boca Raton.

Pay now, guarantee future price

Futures, or contracts to deliver a commodity at a future date at a certain price, are the chief security by which commodities are traded. For the seller or supplier of a commodity (usually a farming or mining business), and for the buyer or manufacturer (bread baker, jewelry maker, coffee roaster, microchip maker), buying and selling commodity futures is a way to reduce risk on all sides. If the price is agreed upon today, the parties can ignore the market fluctuations and focus on the business of production and manufacturing.

When you buy or sell a futures contract, the price is set today but payment is not made until the contract maturity (when the goods will be delivered). The buyer must put up a "margin" (which could be cash or Treasury bills).

Bonds are one of a group of so-called "securities," contracts used by companies and governments to raise money for their operations with an underlying asset as security. For companies, the company's goods, revenue streams and properties secure the bond. Government bonds are secured by future tax receipts.

Bonds and stocks are completely different animals. While stocks are equity, bonds are debt, secured by the assets of the company that issues the bond.

The language of bonds

Bonds come with their own unique terminology. The best way to start thinking about them is to view them in the same way as the debt you already understand, like a mortgage. When you take out a home loan, the underlying asset (the thing that will secure your loan) is the house and property on which the house sits. Your house is a security, and you promise to pay back the lender (who is investing in you) with a revenue stream: a portion of your income. Let's look at a few bond terms:

Treasuries refer to various investments offered by the U.S. Treasury Department, the part of the government that makes sure there's enough money for the entire government to keep operating.

The U. S. Treasury funds just about everything the U.S. does, including paying social security checks, giving emergency aid to citizens harmed by natural disasters, and paying the president's salary.

When the U.S. Treasury has more accounts payable (government salaries, maintenance of federal property, interest payments to foreign nations, food stamps and the rest of it) than accounts receivable (taxes, fees, tariffs and the sale of everything from postage stamps to dollar coins) it needs to borrow money, which it does by offering debt securities to the general public and the world. These debt securities issued by the U.S. Treasury are known as treasuries. The amount of money the government can borrow is called the debt limit.

How do I get started investing? is a question much like, What should I do once I graduate high school? In both cases, the answer very much depends on where you are in life; and where you are going. Just as a future doctor might take biology and chemistry at an Ivy League school, someone bent on a life as a French chef might want to work in a kitchen in Dijon. Let's look at a few paths:

The young careerist

You are in your 20s, setting out into a career, and your schooling is over. You work for a medium- or large-sized company.

1. The first thing you should do is to contribute as much as you can afford to your 401(k). If your company offers matching, contribute at least the maximum up to which your company will match. Be brutal; cut spending if you can. Invest in a few different places, if your company allows, such as an index fund and a mutual fund with a low (or no) cost or load.
2. Once you are comfortable with your level of contribution and have saved that all-important emergency fund, start investing slowly by putting a fixed amount each month into a few stocks that are well-regarded by financial minds you trust (the Motley Fool is a good place to go to find your analytical kindred spirit).

The artist, freelancer or entrepreneur

You are in your 20s or 30s, and you don't work a "normal" job--no cost-of-living raises, no automatic retirement savings plans.