Types of Accounts: Roth, IRA, savings etc

The two main questions will be how long and how much?  Also depending on how open you want to be I recommend being out of debt or close (not counting your house). Best financial advise is when you have help looking at the full picture.  Debt, income, retirement funds and goals. Budgeting will help you invest more.  

INVESTMENT CHOICES: (general info skip if you understand them already)

     ROTHS are ideal. Dave Ramsey highly recommends them.  However how long you plan to hold comes into effect.

ROTH rules to know:

1. Contributions: Tax free in /tax free out - An investor can take out the exact amount of his or her Roth IRA contributions at any time, for any reason without having to pay any tax or penalty.  Earnings are different!
2. Earnings:  ideally need to stay in for five years. 

1. If needed before 5 years paying for college or first home purchase.  No penalty but would be subject to normal tax bracket.
2. If needed before 5 years to buy anything else.  10% penalty and pay normal taxes
3. If needed after 5 years paying for college or first home or over age 59.5.  No penalty no normal taxes.
4. If needed after 5 years  but before turning 59.5 and not paying for college first home then no normal taxes but 10% penalty applies.

My personal Roth is through Vanguard.  I’m mostly invested in VTSAX and I prefer not to invest in the funds that say target retirement. Most mutual funds have sales charges generally 5% through a financial advisor one nice thing about Vanguard is there is no rep so you don’t have that charge. 

     Non-Roth options 

1. Bank - Savings and checking accts avg 0- 0.25%. However, if you search some checking accounts earn 1-3% if you make so many purchases a month. www.depositaccounts.com may help you however it doesn't list all banks especially if you live in a smaller town. 
2. Non-qualified accounts.  These can be mutual fund only or in brokerage accounts.  Bad thing is taxes are upon sells of the fund rather than postponed like IRA's or indefinite like Roth's.
3. IRA- invest pre-taxed money.  Especially are age Roth's are better however if for some reason you are rich and don't qualify for Roth this is an option or if you have an old 401k they generally rollover to Traditional IRAs.
4. 529- These are strictly for school/college.  Much more restrictive on choices than Roth. Some states do give you a tax credit for investing in them.  
5. Stocks, ETFs, Bonds - I don't generally recommend these for beginners as they are riskier.  I do enjoy trading stocks personally but I set aside money separate from retirement money.  I would always start with mutual funds first as they invest in many companies rather than relying on one specific company's performance.  

I still have mixed feelings on 529s and so did a coworker I respect.  Some states are better than others.  Iowa's is okay.  He recommended Alaska because they offer the most choices but you don't get the state income tax deduction if you use a different state.  As of now we are just funding our Roth IRA.  They can be a nice way to have money set aside that you have limited access to. 

COMPANY RECOMMENDATIONS:

For DIY investing: Vanguard, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade.  These all are pretty similar.  They have so many individual mutual fund choices which we can dig into deeper. 

Wanting an experienced professional:  When looking for a rep I like ones who can sell all products and not limited to a particular company often "Independent" is in their title.  You can look up rep/agents/advisers history, experience, complaints all on www.finra.org under broker check (I am even listed on it). I also prefer reps who have their Series 7 rather than just a Series 6 as they "generally" have more overall knowledge.  My father in law is getting in the business and soon will be working for Edward Jones if you want to go this route or you can find someone local.  Generally you have to pay approximately an upfront 5% for mutual funds.  I LIKE ADVISORS if you don't want to do the research.  Good ones try to help your full perspective finances insurance, getting out of debt to be able to invest, helping set up goals.  Just like budgeting I recommend reviewing it at least annually even if you don't make changes. 

General thoughts: 

I can help with DIY investing.  Not sure if you have a preference on which company to use.  I have the least experience with Fidelity however I've heard really good things about the website.  I can show you once the account is opened how to pick particular mutual funds.  Some mutual fund families have minimums example $3000 initial purchase.  

If you have 401k/403b/TSP etc I'm willing to help look at those also.
In the army? check out Dave Ramsey's recommendation... http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/3-steps-to-confident-military-retirement

Your turn feel free to ask more specific questions! 

The how long is really important.  The market is really, really high.  That doesn't mean it can't go higher but the market naturally does 10% corrections all the time.  I wouldn't be surprised if this was within the next two years which if you only want to invest for 3 years could make the market  risky.  2008 was more rare as that was maybe a 40%(?) drop. When investing it is good to separate your funds similar to a budget.  Example: Goal of $5k in 3 years.  $20k needed in 15 years(kids college) and want to have a goal of $100k-$1m saved up for retirement at age 60.  I have xx dollars to invest now and xx in savings to help with the first goal of $5k.