re: Someone Tell Me About Roth IRAs (New ? on Pg 3)

How close to retirement are you? What's your risk tolerance? What worries you more - losing money before retirement or not having enough money for retirement? Do you plan to maintain you current living standards during retirement? What other assets and sources of income do you have for retirement? These are questions to start asking yourself because they will ultimately play into your decisions.

A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account that is taxed at your current marginal tax rates (meaning you pay taxes today). By using after tax dollars today, your account grows tax free into retirement. This is opposite of a traditional IRA which is tax deferred (meaning you pay taxes later). The is beneficial if you will be in higher tax bracket later in life (you are paying lower taxes today than you expect that would in the future). It's also beneficial for tax diversification purposes (who the heck knows what taxes will be like in the future).

Most brokers will have an automated questionnaire and a number to call so that someone that can walk you through the process.

If you want to learn more about asset allocation, I recommend reading the following (in order): The Elements of Investing, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Fail-Safe Investing, and The Ivy Portfolio.

Like Flask recommended, target date funds automatically reallocate to more conservative investments as you get closer to retirement. You should research those.

Unfortunately, there is no fit-all magic right answer. All strategies involve some level of risk and will depend on your personal preferences and situation.

Don't let anyone talk you into investing in products that you don't understand.