For financial and retirement planning, the individual retirement accounts are good. An IRA is an outstanding financial vehicle for retirement planning. IRAs can be structured for almost any age or circumstance. Roth IRAs allow tax free compounding and interest on previously taxed money. What a wonderful way to save.

Traditional IRAs give a substantial tax break on contributions. Many providers offer low or no cost avenues for IRA investing either in mutual funds or money funds. If all the money you had put into social security over your lifetime were investing in IRAs, you could possibly retire now.

Even a poor return on an IRA normally yields more than social security over time. If everyone started investing in an IRA when they first started working and kept at it, there would be no retirement problems in the US today!