<prompt> Human: Hello,I recently just turned 18 and am thinking about opening up a Roth IRA account. I have about 10,000 in my bank account and I make about 2,500 per year with my part time job after taking out expenses for gas and other things. I know the general concept of a Roth IRA and after some research I concluded that this is what I would like to put some money into.So, I have a few questions about a Roth IRA and what I canshould do with it: What exactly should I be investing in at this point? I assume I would like to have a little riskier investments as I am fairly young and have margin for error that may come about. Should I be investing in mutual funds? Or what do you have to suggest? How much should I be investing as well? I have this money readily available, but I am also going to college next year. I will probably be getting some scholarshipsloans but I am not sure how much. Even if I do notshould not invest a lot, it doesnt really hurt to have a little invested and this account started would it?Thank you so much, any advicehelp is greatly appreciated!  <response>: Remember ROTH contributions can only be made with earned income - you can theoretically dump only the 2500 youve made in assuming this income was reported i.e. you received a W-2 or 1099 form. ROTH contributions can be withdrawn without penalty so dont worry about having to pull money out.You should be investing in index funds in the form of mutual funds or ETFs as they offer the combination of lower cost and maximizing return for assets risked. Risk is tied with return, the more risky the investment the greater the return. However that is also the reason you shouldnt throw all your money at a lottery ticket or a poker game. This is the key principal between asset allocation - how to divide your invested money between risky and safer assets stocks versus bonds: Some places to get you started: I recommend Dr. Bernsteins books if you want to get in depth understanding, Bogleheads Guide is a good place to start though.As far as what brokerage to use, Vanguard mutual funds have minimums that you probably wont be able to meet given your limited starting capital but they allow you to purchase their ETFs without transaction fees. TD Ameritrade also offers free ETFs from Vanguard. Schwab has low cost index funds as well with lower minimums than Vanguard. 