Once you have some idea of what your retirement needs might be, and the retirement savings options available to you, you can start outlining your investment plan using mutual funds. The strategy you choose for developing a retirement portfolio should be based on a variety of factors. You need to carefully consider:

• The amount of time you have to achieve your goal.
• The level of risk you are comfortable with.
• The amount of money available to invest for retirement.
• The amount of money available for other goals.
• How much time and effort do you want to put forth to manage your investments?

You need to develop a retirement strategy that fits your personal investment philosophy and stage of life. While no two portfolios are exactly alike, the model retirement portfolios provided in the Model Portfolio section should help you assess how to allocate your investments among various types of funds within general investment categories.

Of all the factors that must be considered, the amount of time you have to save for retirement and your tolerance for risk are the most influential in determining what types of investments to consider. You should determine how willing you are to take greater risk to achieve greater returns on your investments. At a younger age, you may want to consider investments that are designed to take greater risks to achieve greater returns over time. However, as you approach retirement age, you may want to avoid risk and focus on income, safety and preservation of capital.

Mutual funds are excellent vehicles to build and maintain your portfolio over the long-term. They minimize the risks associated with individual investments and offer you the added benefit of expert money management.

General Investment Categories:

Maximum Growth

Maximum Growth investments offer the highest potential for capital growth, income or both. They are often volatile and involve greater risk, but with the higher likelihood of providing above average returns. This includes aggressive growth funds, growth funds, small capitalization stock funds($100 million or less), and international funds specialty/sector funds

Growth & Income

Growth and Income investments are generally high quality investments offering reasonably good potential for capital growth, income or both. They also offer some degree of safety. This includes growth and income funds, balanced equity/income funds, international funds, and municipal bond funds.

Conservative

Conservative investments generally offer a high degree of safety and stability, with a minimum amount of risk, This includes money market funds, U.S. government money market funds, fixed income funds, and tax-exempt funds.