Roth IRA

It's pretty much a no brainer. Money goes in post-tax, and is not taxed when taken out in retirement at age 59.5 or older on the growth and cash you put in. You can take the cash value of it out without penalty as well at any age if you ever "need extra money" for an emergency (or any reason really). So say for example after 3 years you've put in $18k cash into the account, and you keep a $10k emergency fund on the side, but something comes up that costs you $15k, you could withdraw the extra $5k from your ROTH IRA and get that covered if you need to.

There's also no RMD in retirement unlike traditional IRA and 401k. So you arent forced to take distributions from it like other other retirement accounts if you dont want to.

Best part is you can choose to open it up with whoever and pick literally any investments pretty much out there for it so options are pretty endless. We have my wife's Roth IRA through vanguard and mine is with etrade. You can be as aggressive or conservative as you want with it.

Started mine last year and wish I would have done it 8 years ago. Money goes up quick.

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It is a good thing. Just know if you are a baller making more than $140k MAGI a year then you can't contribute.

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Still can through backdoor method

correct. That is a taxable event... contribute to IRA, do roth conversion. Don't forget about the taxes.

Also what are the restrictions on the spouse Roth ira is she is not working? Can i start one on her name too?

the only problem with a Roth is that you have a limit on how much you can invest

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the only problem with a Roth is that you have a limit on how much you can invest

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Roth IRA yeah, $6k/$7k if over 50 isnt much per person, but I look at it as gravy on top of 401k really. Can also do a Roth 401k which has the same limits as traditional 401k. I put my contributions into my 401k as Roth with my employer match being traditional. So there's kind of 2 buckets for me there.

Although I will say this, if you did $500 per month ($6k/yr) from age 25 through age 59 (going slightly early retirement here) for 35 years...that's still $210k invested and if you get even just an 8% annual return will be worth well over $1.1M by the time you hit 60. That's not accounting for them raising the contribution limits which they obviously would over time.

Problem being almost nobody seems to get this advice or take it seriously enough in their 20s to start then

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There's also no RMD in retirement unlike traditional IRA and 401k. So you arent forced to take distributions from it like other other retirement accounts if you dont want to.

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This turns out to be a big deal -- much bigger than it may look when you're starting out.

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guilty

although I was in school until 25 and made dogshit until almost 30 (thanks 2008 economic crisis!)

i really get mad at myself for not investing in my roth and HSA earlier

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I feel like most people dont really start till their 30s, same here for Roth IRA and HSA. In fact I've had an HSA for probably 4-5 years now and just started maxing it out recently realizing the potential there. Still, getting started in your 30s is pretty dang good and on a great path for a nice retirement if you stick to it. I turn 35 this year and it will be the first year I've maxed a Roth IRA and my HSA.