I've decided to take a very non-traditional approach to investing my retirement funds. I will not be putting anything into index funds. Maybe when the accounts grow and I get more risk averse, I'll just buy a total market index and forget about it. For now, I plan on just picking good stocks in beaten down sectors.

With that said, I picked my stock for the 2013 contribution. Hecla Mining (HL) is a silver miner that has been around for 150 years. Great small company that has a cash cost of about $5 per oz of silver. Stock is currently trading at extremely depressed levels and the CEO of the company bought a ton of it recently and not many of the insiders have been selling. Only time will tell if this was a wise decision.

I've already started looking for a stock that I would like to own with the 2014 contribution. Looking at agricultural stocks and maybe commodity producers. Everything else just looks too expensive.