Some say you should only invest in risky stocks when you are young and can afford to lose money. Nonsense, first of all no one can just afford to lose money no matter how much time you think they have to recover from bad financial decisions. I could make the same argument in reverse and say only grandpas should invest in risky stocks since they have nothing to lose and will soon pass anyway. You see sometime people talk just to talk and sound like a so called expert.

The truth is you should invest in stock according to your tolerance for risk not matter what age you are. Not matter if you are 20 or 80 if you cannot handle the risk of investing in say a penny stock then you should steer clear of it and find something you are more comfortable with. Simple as that. However, either for need or hobby you find yourself in a position or attitude to invest in such stocks then go for it. Its your money and you alone can make those types of decisions. If you are ok with the risk then go for it. Of course it is not risk for no reason. There is always potential, great potential, for profits that come with those risks.

So if you are a year out from retirement should you be investing in penny stocks? Well do you have money set aside other than you retirement funds? If so then the answer is yes if your personality allows for that type of risk. However, should you be investing with your retirement funds? Probably not but this is the case with anyone who has any kind of savings, not just retirement funds. You should never invest what you cannot afford to lose no matter how safe the investment may seem.

Age should not be a factor when trying to determine where you to put your money in the stock market. Heck, you could even argue that the older you are the less time you have so the riskier your investments should be since you need profit in a hurry. However, there should be no hard rule for this since investing is very much a personal style and you can only do what you are comfortable with.

If you have come across purported industry experts advising against investing in risky stocks because of your age but you feel like you can handle such investments then I would advise to go with you gut on this. Be safe of course, but usually wisdom comes with age so I trust you will not do anything rash in the first place.