Jim Cramer just threw in the towel.

[randomness]

It might be time to buy. :)

From http://gawker.com/5059535/jim-cramer-begs-america-to-abandon-hope:

Whoa, Jim Cramer has fully turned around as much as a man can possibly turn around! The shouty CNBC (poor) stock picker—who as recently as last November was trumpeting "10 Reasons to Be Bullish" ("1. The stock market is cheap")—went on the Today show this morning to virtually beg Americans to pull all the money they might need in the next five years out of the stock market, no matter what the cost. He looks like he's about to cry. This will be one of the defining moments in the media narrative of our nation's impending financial doom.

Comments

[holmes-iv.livejournal.com]

So, quite apart from what's "safe" (from the guy who finally got off his procrastinatory butt and put his Roth IRA into equities... two months ago...), you do want to put money in a Roth ASAP. You can probably leave it in a cash-equivalent account when it's in, depending where you put it, but there are annual contribution limits, and if you end up taking some back out to help with your down payment, you want to have had it in the account for five tax years, so getting the clock ticking is a good thing. And metagaming aside, accruing tax-exempt interest from now to retirement is a good thing on its own terms. :-)

As to how and where, you can probably set one up pretty easily through your bank if you like your bank, or through an online brokerage (I use TD Ameritrade) if not.