IRA is an Individual Retirement Account where you can accumulate funds for your retirement with certain benefits. Let’s understand the particulars of IRA. If you invest money in an IRA, you are entitled to receive various tax benefits. IRA is not an investment. It is an account that safeguards or deposits your investment. This means, along with cash, you can also deposit mutual funds, money market funds, ETFs, stocks, and CDs in it. Opening an IRA is not difficult. You can open an account by contacting any brokerage firms like Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch, etc, online brokers like ETrade, Scottrade, and Zecco, and most banks. You have to liberty to choose the type of investment you want to save in your IRA. Banks, however, would not permit you to deposit stocks and mutual funds as most don’t [...] 

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I am quite sure you have heard about this before as it’s being talked by all the experts, all the time. However, most of us forget to build an emergency fund. Hence, I would like to repeat it – the importance of building an emergency fund and how to build it. Quite similar to the recent economic crisis, we face numerous emergencies or financial shortages in our life. Best thing is to accept that such emergencies will come up time and again and be prepared for it. You should, however, make sure that you use this fund ‘only during emergencies’ and not to eat out or celebrate your 30th birthday. Like every other event, building an emergency fund should start with planning. It would involve how to build and it and most important, how much to accumulate. Experts suggest an emergency fund [...] 

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Publication 590, a yearly document that describes IRA contribution details, is out. However, for most people, the document is quite lengthy and boring. And I seriously don’t blame them. It’s true. Here are few essential key points of pub 590, so you don’t have to read the boring document. Contribution limits for 2010 There has been no change in the contribution limits. The figures are similar to those of last year. Maximum of $5000 can be contributed by people of and under the age of 49, while people over 49 years can contribute $1000 more, which provides them an opportunity to contribute up to $6000 in 2010. This additional $1000 can also be known as ‘catch up contribution.’ This limit, however, is per year per person and nor per IRA. By this I mean, you can contribute a total of [...] 

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People today especially youths don’t bother much about how they will survive after retirement, how they will cope with daily expenses. After all, retirement is very far away, isn’t it? Though it’s true, you wouldn’t realize how fast it would creep up. And you don’t plan your retirement when you retire. This planning has to be done early, when you are young, when you are able to save more than spend. I guess companies understand this concept better than individuals. Hence, they provide their employees with a 401K plan when they are recruited. Though this retirement plan wouldn’t help you to be a millionaire when you are old, it would at least keep you from worrying about daily expenses and income sources. 401K Plan – Benefits If your company is providing you with a 401k plan, [...] 

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