re: Opening Roth IRA

One feature of a Roth that some overlook is that it's a great place to get your emergency fund started because you can pull out up to what you've put in with no penalty at all.

Say you contribute $500 this year and $600 in 2019, and over that time you earned $100 in interest so you have $1200 at the end of 2019. You can pull out up to $1100 with no penalty at all if you need to. If you had put it in a savings account instead your $100 interest would be subject to income tax. But in a Roth all gains are tax free.

If you go this route be sure to keep whatever portion you consider emergency funds invested very conservatively - you don't want a market turndown to hit right when an emergency happens. When I say "conservatively" I really mean short term bond funds or the like instead of stocks. Once you build up enough to take care of your e-fund needs you can start investing in stocks instead.