Options for retirement investing if no company 401K available

Well you can do a ROTH or a traditional IRA subject to income limits. People often prefer a ROTH as you pay tax on a little and no tax on the big. You pay tax on the $1000 or so you earn this year, but 30 years from now, when it is worth $20K or so you pay no tax. (The numbers here are only meant to be relative.)

With an IRA, you get to deduct that amount from your AGI, so you don't pay tax on part of your income. For someone in a high tax bracket, say 33%, there is some value to this as they can view it as making an immediate return on their money. (Rather than paying the IRS $333 and having $667 in my investment account, I have $1000.)

Keep in mind that if you go IRA, or ROTH you have until 15 April 2015 to contribute for the 2014 tax year.

Also keep in mind that a ROTH or an IRA is not an investment, they are designations of investments. Money designated as either one of those can be in a bank savings account, a mutual fund, certificate of deposit, or even used to hold gold or real estate.

I would suggest for most novice investors, that are pretty young (under 40), your best bet is to open an account with Fidelity or Vanguard and invest in a indexed mutual fund. Then take time to learn about different mutual funds and other investments. Their customer service teams will walk you through the process.

In most cases you are better off with a ROTH than a IRA.