<prompt> Human: This post is not for me, rather for my mother who has two separate 401-ks. She is still employed full time, and as of a week from now will have no major expenses she has paid for me and my two brothers bachelor degrees in full. She has been putting off investing her money for retirement from her 401-ks the past few years, but now she is looking for what her best options are for investing this money. Im not sure on the amount right now, but my initial thoughts were investing the maximum amount in some form of a Roth IRA each year tax free interest seemed a good idea and they tend to be safe. Aside from that, I really wasnt sure how she should be investing her money if she plans to retire at 65 13 years. Any tips on where to put money mutual funds, bonds, etc or allocations to be able to make decent interest in a shorter period of time but not risk everything. Sorry if this is jumbled up or confusing in how Ive worded it, but any insight into this would greatly help my mom!  <response>: Roth IRA each year tax free interest seemed a good idea and they tend to be safeRoth IRAs and 401ks are container accounts. It can be like a savings account with very little risk or it can own the riskiest penny stocks in it. The holdings are what determine the risk, not the account itself. She is still employed full timeIf her employer has a 401k account with a company match, she should put in enough to get the maximum value of the match. That is free money. After she gets to that max, the start contributing to the Roth IRA. If she maxes that out, then go back and contribute to the 401k to the max.As for what to invest in, I strongly suggest a targeted retirement fund in both the 401k and Roth IRA accounts. These are perfect for folks who arent into actively managing their accounts. As she gets older, the fund will automatically shift her investments into more and more conservative choices. With 13 years left until retirement, her investments cant be too conservative or she will loose value to inflation. Consider something like Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 FundPlease read the I have X, what should I do with it? FAQ and check out this Retirement Graph 