#22: open a Roth IRA account

Okay, I fully realize that this one sounds boring. So how did I come up with it? Truthfully, it wasn't my idea. At a lab happy hour where I brought up this list, the discussion turned into a brainstorm session. Amidst crazy suggestions like "skydiving" and "bungee jumping," my boss says, "you know what you should REALLY do, open a Roth IRA account!" My immediate reaction was to laugh it off, but two seconds later, it actually made sense. At some point, I should start a retirement account. And better late than never, right? So on April 14th, one day before tax day, I marched into Bank of America to open up my very first IRA account. In fact, I went overboard on this one and opened TWO IRA accounts, one traditional and one Roth. I know nearly nothing about financial investments, but here are the basics:

-you get tax deductions for your contributions to a traditional IRA account, but at age 59.5 or later, when you can take the money out, you'll have to pay taxes on the interests you've earned.

-you don't get tax deduction at the time of contributing to a Roth IRA account, but you won't pay taxes on the interests later on.

I hope I got that right. Of course there are other rules to make it more complicated, such as when your income is above a certain amount, you are not allowed to contribute to your Roth IRA any more. I will eventually figure out the fine print, but for the time being, I've locked away a small stash for retirement. This turned out to be the most sensible item on my list, because chances are, social security will run out before my generation hits retirement. Preparedness is good for the type A personality.

This photo documentation thing might not work out so well. I considered taking a picture at the bank, but it seemed inappropriate. Then I thought about taking a picture of my bank documents--uhhh, no. Eh, photo or no photo, I am an IRA account holder. Hooray!