IRA FAQ

TychoCelchuuu

So I figure I should start up an IRA. I'm 21 years old and, as a current undergraduate with part time jobs and soon to be graduate student with a small stipend, I make no money and I likely will never make any money, so the idea is that if I can keep starving to death in the present, my IRA will assist me in not starving to death in the future, and I'll basically make it from cradle to grave without starving to death.

I know nothing about investing but I've heard that I should open up an IRA (a Roth IRA, because I make no money) with Vanguard or Fidelity or some big name like that. I'm not quite sure how to choose between the two, and, for example, I'm halfway through the Vanguard application right now and they're asking me what I want to invest my money in. They have 95 funds to choose from with helpful descriptions like "Stock - Large-Cap Blend" or "Expense Ratio 0.35%."

My question is, do I need to do lots and lots of research to figure out WTF I'm doing? Or is there some Roth IRA I can open up, sink my money into while I nearly starve to death in the present, and ignore until I'm 65 and need to purchase a bag of rice? Am I better off buying a bitchin' Monet painting and putting it in a safe so that bankers can't waste my money wrecking the economy?

clam2000

I've been funneling my excess money into Vanguards 'Retirement 2055' fund, which is a mixture of others and is targeted for people (hoping to) retire around then. What that means is that it starts out more volatile, and settles down as it approaches it's target date - so more risk now, and less later when you are actually going to be relying on it.