Can you afford to tie up that $18K for four years or more? Mutual funds are great but they're intended for long-term investing. Assuming that's the way you want to go, Vanguard has some great funds. Stay diversified - the Total Stock Market and Total Bond Market index funds would be the place to start.

early retirement ? ... you are funny. Just plan on working until your sixties, like everyone else.

Without knowing your other income and expenses, it is hard to give specific advice.

Bank CD's at 1% are not sexy, but your principal is always there, and available.

You also do not seem to have enough knowledge to be investing (high risk, etc). [I will not quibble with the mutual fund, because those are relatively safe ways to go.]

Condoms.

Uh, you do know that college takes FOUR years, right? And in some cases, longer? I'd keep that $18K relatively liquid...

get into some great stocks, directly, like AAPL and TKMR

I am going to college in two days (yay), and I want to invest some money (i have about $18,000 left) so I have more money when I come out of college, and have some money for an early retirement. I read that the earlier you start mutual funds, the more interest compounds over the years.

So far I put $3,000 in vanguard mutual fund(VFINX), ~$500 in Vanguard ETF (VOE). Any suggestions to help diversify my portfolio? I would like some high risk/high return, and some low risk low return. I am also adding $100 automatically every month to the VFINX fund.

Cheers!