I have some more questions. I've been reading about a few mutual funds (Vanguard, Dodge&Cox, and Fidelity). Beforehand, I must admit I haven't educated myself that much that I feel comfortable with buying stocks (neither is there a promise I will ever do that).

Since I'm not going to buy separate stocks, does it make sense to open a Non-retirement account in any of the mentioned funds? I intend to open a RothIRA this year and contribute $3,000 in it. But I will still have some extra money (another $3k-$5k) to invest and I would like to do that.
When people open Non-retirement accounts, do they follow the same logics as with Retirement accounts, that is look for no-load funds, buy and hold long-term, etc.?
Which makes more sense: opening an account within a fund, sell it if I don't like it and invest with another mutual fund OR open an account at Scottrade and when I don't like one mutual fund I just transfer the money to another mutual fund of a different company?

Thank you, Aida