<prompt> Human: Hello!I have come to realize that I need to invest some of my money instead of just letting it sitting in the bank. However, I want to be smart about this and I am looking for suggestions on various avenues for investment. How much of my money do you think would be wise to use? More information: No debt- car paid off, no loans etc.Gross income about 55k per year 401a through my company I contribute 5 they contribute 8Monthly bills, rent etc,- 600 Thank you in advance! And please ask questions if I forgot to mention something important. Assistant: You could buy a house or a condo. You have enough for a 20 down-payment and that way you would get the benefits from the property appreciating. If you dont want to buy a residence, you should start investing. Maybe something simple like an SP index fund.Human: I probably will be buying a house in the next 2-3 years, so I think saving for that is smart but also investing in something simple like you said, thank you!  <response>: If you will be buying a house in the next few years I would strongly advise against putting any of your downpayment money in stocks. Stocks are entirely too volatile to count on being able to get that money out exactly when you need it without suffering a loss. Instead, you should look into either CDs with a local bank or credit union, or Treasury bonds. If you have additional money that is not needed for the house, you should look at investing that into broad based index funds in an IRA Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, SP 500 Index, etc. 