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Supple Cow · 06-23-2004, 12:45 PM

Sorry if this is too elementary, but I searched through other threads and didn't really find anything that tells me what an IRA is. I know that it's for retirement and that I'm not supposed to touch it for years and years. I'm 20 now, and I'll be making a few thousand from my internship this summer to invest in something like this, but I don't really know the difference between an IRA, a CD, a money market account, etc. For instance, are these all funded privately or are there investment opportunities backed by the government (besides government bonds)? Which ones are safer to invest in? What are the time frames involved? The last opportunity I had to learn any of this was my high school economics class, and that wasn't very helpful. Thanks.

06-23-2004, 12:45 PM	#1 (permalink)
Supple Cow Americow, the Beautiful Location: Washington, D.C.	What's an IRA? Sorry if this is too elementary, but I searched through other threads and didn't really find anything that tells me what an IRA is. I know that it's for retirement and that I'm not supposed to touch it for years and years. I'm 20 now, and I'll be making a few thousand from my internship this summer to invest in something like this, but I don't really know the difference between an IRA, a CD, a money market account, etc. For instance, are these all funded privately or are there investment opportunities backed by the government (besides government bonds)? Which ones are safer to invest in? What are the time frames involved? The last opportunity I had to learn any of this was my high school economics class, and that wasn't very helpful. Thanks. __________________ "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." (Michael Jordan)