Empty Account
The account is open, the money is in — and it is sitting exactly where it landed: in cash. Nothing about opening the account invested anything. An IRA is a labeled bucket with tax rules, not an investment. Two steps remain, and the brochure never shows them.
Every reader sees the same three categories. This page teaches the kinds — it never picks one for you. Picking one for you, from your situation, is what advisers are licensed to do.
One fund built around a year — roughly your retirement year. It holds a mix of stock and bond funds and slowly shifts steadier as the year approaches. Different companies run theirs differently and charge differently.
Funds that copy a published list — for example, a list of large US companies, or a list spanning the whole stock market — instead of picking winners. Usually the lowest yearly cost on the menu, because copying is cheap to run.
Cash-like funds holding very short-term loans. Steady value, modest yield, barely any movement. This is where uninvested money often sits — parked, not growing.
Settlement fund (core position), in plain wordsExpense ratio, in plain wordsContribution limit, in plain words
The Filled Plan pack, the first-account walkthrough pack, the first-30-days plan, the full catch-up tables, the decoder card deck, and the order workbook — one pack, one-time payment.