Need a good mutual fund family

As someone who makes "payments to myself" after the car is paid off to save for large purchases, I am getting to the point where I should put the several thousand sitting near-idle in a bank to better use. While I know more than enough to choose the right mutual funds for my situation what I don't really know is who is a good "fund family" to use?

Here's the deal. Right now we are talking about only $5K or so, but my plan is keep putting that car payment I haven't been making for 2 years to a good fund or two so when I buy again I can either use a low-cost finance option or other loan with my fund balance as collateral or/and an emergency fund if I get laid off. Better returns in the fun than the rate on the car loan and all that jazz. I would have done this last year except I used my funds for down payment on a house.

So what I would like is any recommendations on goof fund families. Something where I can make selections easily, even online. NO LOADS. And a good variety of investment choices. Anyone care to share the good or bad of where they invested?

Quote: AZDuffman

As someone who makes "payments to myself" after the car is paid off to save for large purchases, I am getting to the point where I should put the several thousand sitting near-idle in a bank to better use. While I know more than enough to choose the right mutual funds for my situation what I don't really know is who is a good "fund family" to use?

Here's the deal. Right now we are talking about only $5K or so, but my plan is keep putting that car payment I haven't been making for 2 years to a good fund or two so when I buy again I can either use a low-cost finance option or other loan with my fund balance as collateral or/and an emergency fund if I get laid off. Better returns in the fun than the rate on the car loan and all that jazz. I would have done this last year except I used my funds for down payment on a house.

So what I would like is any recommendations on goof fund families. Something where I can make selections easily, even online. NO LOADS. And a good variety of investment choices. Anyone care to share the good or bad of where they invested?

I have had a great experience investing with Charles Schwab. I don't currently have any money in mutual funds per se, but I am heavily invested in ETFs. The Schwab-branded ETFs trade for free in your Schwab account. All mutual fund trades come with a pretty big commission though, $49.99 if I remember correctly. You could probably shop around and get that lower with a different brokerage. I'm not sure if Schwab has their own branded mutual funds with no commissions, but I know Vanguard lets you trade their mutual funds free with a Vanguard account, and I have also had a good online experience with them via my first job's 401(k) (never had an individual investor account there, although my girlfriend does).

HTH

AZ- Like you, I have always been a "payments to myself" guy.

I prefer index funds. Commision-free with Schwab (Schwab branded ETF's) and also Vanguard.