Question 1: I am a 26-year-old professional. My parents just generously gave me $10,000. I want to use this money to begin saving for my retirement. I will contribute $4,000 to my Roth IRA. Any advice on what to do with the remaining $6,000? - Meghan, California

Meghan, you can afford to take some risk, so check out stock mutual funds. T Rowe Price, Vanguard and Fidelity have low cost funds. Index funds are another good alternative.

If you don't have an emergency fund, think about setting aside some
dough for that as well - you'll want three months of living expenses that you can tap at any time. Put the money in a money-market or high-yield

NEW YORK (AP) -- Blue chip stocks rose Monday as news of a potential big telecom deal involving Verizon gave a boost to the Dow and put the index closer to 14,000. Overall, stocks traded were mixed as investors digested the market's huge gains of last week.

While broader market indexes showed slight declines, the notion of a Verizon deal appeared to inject Wall Street with fresh optimism and helped stocks mostly hold last week's sizable gains because buyout activity has been a big driver for the stock market in the past year.

Although Vodafone Group PLC denied a report by the Financial Times that it is weighing whether to make a huge $160 billion bid for Verizon Communications Inc., investors appeared undeterred. The report cautioned

Christopher Hancock submits: Recently, Berkshire Hathaway disclosed its 10.9% stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI - News) worth US$3.4 billion. To no one's surprise, investors around the globe jumped on the Warren Buffett express. Burlington's share price rose 6.5% on the announcement.

And Buffett didn't stop there. Berkshire Hathaway confirmed it has also acquired stakes in two remaining North American railroads. The largest American railroads remaining are Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP - News), CSX (NYSE: CSX - News) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC - News). Our neighbors to the north offer Canadian National [TSE: CNR].

Discuss Warren Buffett strategies in our forum - Strategy Central Board.

I like to invest in stocks that are both owned by great investors and that pay great dividends. When you buy a stock that's owned by a great investor you can have a high degree of confidence that he or she did a lot of research before entering the position. Chances are that their research and knowledge is superior to your own.

Dividends are well worth seeking out because you get paid while you wait for your stock to appreciate. And companies usually only initiate or increase dividends if they are very confident that cash flows will continue to increase or at least stabilize. No company wants to cut their dividends. Buybacks and special dividends are shareholder friendly but are usually just one-time events.

At Stockpickr, I keep track of the highest yielding stocks owned by both

Discuss Buffet and Soros stocks in our forum - Strategy Central Board.