Definitely check out Slade’s adventures as a Kindergarten Cop.

I must admit that when I hear of Roth IRAs, I think of Supersoldiers or Van Halen (and the villains from Patriot Games).

But with a Roth IRA, it’s like a 401k or 403b where you pick stocks/bonds to put your money towards. I like Kiplinger’s take on the stock market: “think of them as on sale”. Very Confessions of a Shop-Aholic.

I guess Roth IRAs are tax-exempt as long as you don’t touch them until retirement. If you delve into the earnings part of it before that, though, it’s like a 10% fee or something. Erin Burt talks about more of the requirements. Part of it is that there’s a $160,000 married couple income limit to be able to put in the $5,000 each time.

I’m a librarian. No worries.

Here’s a cool calculator that might help motivate you to think about down the road.

I know one thing, though. I’m going to set up a direct deposit for a little section of my paycheck to go straight into a savings account labeled “CAN’T TOUCH THIS”. It’ll then help me manage my money better by me not seeing it. I’ll start with the Obamabucks that are part of his Making Work Pay program mixed with a little bit of my paycheck.

I’m also checking out investing in CDs (I know. iTunes, right?)(or certificates of deposits…one or the other). Though they lack the “liquidity” (I can’t touch the money for a while), that’s what I’m looking for. You lend the money to the bank for five years, they give you your money back with CD interest return rates. You have to wait out the five-year contract.

Another thought: when I pay off my student loans (which I hear is possible in this next decade of my life, officially getting old this year) I want to put that money each month that would be a student loan payment into “CAN’T TOUCH THIS”. I can then yell, “Hammertime!” and shuffle sideways out of my credit union. It will make the small sacrifices worth it.