1. Retirement
• Use 401(k)
• Other retirement investments such as IRA
2. House
• Use Cisco ESPP
3. Child Planning
• 529
• Education IRA
4. Taxable Savings
• Index Funds
• Exchange Traded Funds (SPY, QQQ, ...)
• Mutual Funds
• Individual Stocks

ESPP is a great way to force you to save money, and anyone can afford the minimum contribution to ESPP (1% of salary). If you have existing stock that you own, you can get a margin loan.

They will also transfer money from your back account and invest on a regular basis. You have web access to your account as well.

[Stuart Balfour] Do it by payroll deduction into a savings account, then set up an automatic monthly contribution to a mutual fund in that amount. A 5 year timeframe suggests an intermediate term bond fund for greatest safety of capital (tax exempt bond fund if your income is in the 36% tax bracket of higher). I might prefer to take on a little more risk and go with a balanced mutual fund like Fidelity Puritan or Merrill Lynch Phoenix.  A low cost equity index fund like Vanguard S&P 500 index, is the higher risk equity option.

[Prakash Hazarnis] First max out 401K (13-15 % or 10K annually) then the ESPP (10 % or 25K), then consider financial planning in terms of life insurance + annuity + Educational IRA. And after that you still have worries to save money, take time out and see the world.

[Mitch Barrie] This is an excellent way to invest in securities.  It's called dollar cost averaging and ensures that you buy more securities when they cost less, and buy fewer when they cost more.

Most big mutual fund companies support mechanisms like this, so that you have monthly transfers from your bank account.  Two good no-load, low cost fund companies I have done this with in the past include T Rowe Price and Vanguard.

[Chuck Logsdon] For weekly/monthly advice, check out

• Jonathan Clements, WSJ (excellent)
• Jane Bryant Quinn, Newsweek (recommended by Bernstein; I have her personal finance book which is good)
• Jason Zwieg, Money (recommended by Bernstein)

Just as important, don't read anything from anyone that:

• promises a failproof method
• claims to be able to predict the market
• needs to sell sizzle to get viewers or readers (e.g., CNBC, most run of the mill money magazines)
• claims a stellar record (past is not prologue; numbers can lie, etc.)
• promotes methods that have been backtest against time (heck, would you trust the Superbowl indicator?)

Keep it simple. Diversify. Go for the market average and keep expenses low. Boring wins nearly every time. And when it doesn't, you have absolutely no way of knowing how to pick the winners ahead of time.

I'd call fundamentals:

          price/book
          price/sales
          price/cash_flow
          dividend yield
          debt ratio
          Return On Equity
          profit margin
          ... and some others

I'd call good fundamentals:

          price/book < 1.5
          price/sales < 1 (big company); price/sales < 3 (small company)
          price/cash_flow < 10
          dividend yield > 3.0
          debt ratio < 35%
          Return On Equity > 15%
          profit margin > 10%

You don't get all of these together of course.  Maybe 5/7 is real good,
4/7 is watch list, and 3/7 or less -> bzzzzzt.