A few quick questions about investing/retirment...(for a 23yrs old)

Hello all, im new to this forum and investing in general.

I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could give me some advise on a few questions i have...

I'm 23 yrs old and i graduated from college last year. I got a full time job shortly after graduation where they do two to one price matching on a 403b retirements fund.

In addition to this i have been considering invest a couple grand of my own money in a index mutual fund on my own. At first i wanted to just buy the funds straight up through vanguard but my dad told me I should just put it into Fidelity because thats what my 403b plan is through, and it would make managing it all easier. I was curious can i do a retirement fund with fidelity then have my 403b fund add to it or would they be completely separate?

Is have all my investing with one company a bad idea?

...Can i take this money that i add out at any time (if i need it for an emergency) or will i be penalized by having to pay the original taxes that the retirement fund is setup to avoid in the first place?

I am interested in investing outside of my plan but don't know if it would be more beneficial to invest in a separate mutual fund or just contribute a larger amount to my 403(b).

"can i do a retirement fund with fidelity then have my 403b fund add to it or would they be completely separate?"

Completely separate. Since it's completely separate, you can put in anywhere you want (in fact, my husband has a ROTH with Vanguard, and had his 403b in Dodge and Cox).

"At first i wanted to just buy the funds straight up through vanguard"

Rather than invest directly in a mutual fund, I STRONGLY recommend investing in a fund tucked safely in your other retirement investment option, a ROTH IRA. As such, it's protected from the usual slings and arrows of life, like bankruptcy, lawsuits, etc. A ROTH also allows you to take withdrawals upon retirement without paying taxes.

"Is have all my investing with one company a bad idea?"

It COULD be -- if a company's fund management strategy changes, or if the company just sucks and employee moral plummets, it can affect the investment decisions of the individual fund managers, and thus affect a fund's performance. But that's completely theoretical. The main thing is, is the fund you want with Fidelity? Or Vanguard? or Dodge and Cox? or someone else? BTW, this doesn't mean that if (for example) you choose Vanguard, you can never buy a Fidelity fund -- many fund companies allow you to purchase funds outside of their own families.

"Can i take this money that i add out at any time (if i need it for an emergencyor will i be penalized by having to pay the original taxes that the retirement fund is setup to avoid in the first place?"

Basically, NO, you can't remove money without penalty. There are some exceptions, which include purchasing a home. But I well remember that at 23, my concept of "emergency" was rather fluid, and could mean the engine exploding on the car, or a really cool sale on boots. Those kinds of emergencies? -- big fat no! In the case of your 403b, any withdrawal would be a loan, which you would have to repay (so you lose three times -- you lose the money you would have made had you left it alone, and you lose the money you have to repay as interest, and you lose the money you should have been putting in (money that is now a repayment)). You really need to bank on your 403b money and your IRA money being "gone" -- that is, not available for you to spend, until you're old and gray.