Then try reading up – I suggest The Bogleheads Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore (and others) – it is written for regular people. Also, check out their web site: http://www.diehards.org – just read the answers to what others ask and you will see that they are very kind to people starting out who might have “dumb” questions.

As you get more money and experience you will want to move out of the Star fund into several index funds.

You can do it. It really isn’t rocket science. There are a lot in the media that what to make it confusing but a few simple index funds can give you a diverse, low cost portfolio and you don’t have to do a lot of trading – every year or so rebalance to your original plan.

Since IRA money is for your retirement, and thus for the long-term, you should not be too conservative with it (no CDs, for example). This argues for a high % of stocks or even 100% stock fund (depending on any other investments you may have, that you didn’t mention).

Shana’s suggestion of one of the target retirement funds is fine. These do tend to be quite conservative but the percentage allocated to stocks drops over time (as you near retirement, which is advisable). The Fidelity and the Vanguard target retirement funds differ in their percentage of stocks for a given retirement date, but are very similar.

But if you have no other stock investments, you could easily go for an S&P 500 index fund, which invests your money in 500 of the biggest US companies. (And thus is well-diversified among US companies.) Alternatively, look for a ‘total market index fund’. Both Fidelity and Vanguard have both of these types of funds.

Whichever you pick, do not judge it by any short-term fluctuations. The market fluctuates, and the ups and downs are important to short-term traders, but considerably less important for your long-term needs.