P-C, I am impressed with your financial situation and the amount of savings you seem to have. You should be proud of yourself. An IRA would be a great idea for you. Just don't let your family break you with the gifting thing. You're going to want that money when you get a little older.

If you are young and have excess cash, contributing to an IRA is an excellent thing to do. Thanks to the glories of compounded interest, it will serve you well in retirement.

How much do you recommend I contribute? I think my uncle was recommending something like a thousand dollars a year or something. Where can I find out more information about such things?

Wait a second. WHAT THE FUCK? Holy fucking shit. My savings account right now pays 0.50% interest?? And ING can make that 4.4%?? What the crap?

You should be proud of yourself.

Well, I think the fact that my parents paid for college probably helped.

I'm sorry if I have sounded preachy at all.

No, no, no! I'm the preachy rambly one!

I think in the long run we will find it easier to be on the same page. an dif one of us is saying Save and the other Spend - we can argue form facts, not emotion.

So wise!

All of this money talk is making me VERY thankful that I'm taking the math class that I am this semester. It's an Honors course, so not one that's usually offered at the university. But, I think it should be a requirement for every student before they graduate. It teaches about the math in everyday life--savings, loans, annuities, voting, population, and that's just what we've studied so far. We're not even half-way through the semester! It's been most useful.

Ok. Now that I'm caught up, I must get back to work.

Is 4.4% considered good these days? My annuity is at 4%.

And ING can make that 4.4%?? What the crap?

It is the magic of the ING! For reals.

It is the magic of the ING! For reals.

And! It just keeps going up! Every once in a while they send you a random e-mail that says, "We just raised your rate!" It's AWESOME!

I think the current max on an IRA is 3K per year. I think.

Is 4.4% considered good these days?

For a savings account that you can access without restriction or minimum balance, yes.

In a total change of topic - I am feeling kinda match-makery. Well not as in a romantic match, but I'm conspiring to get my mom and one of her old friends back in touch with eachother.

I had this wild idea of trying to locate this gal for the party (that is in TWO WEEKS). Her daughter owns a store in town, so I stopped in recently and was surprised to find that the daughter remembers me. Her mom is now living in Canada and would not be able to come down. But we have swapped e-mail addresses and I've asked her to be hush hush about the party.

Now if I could just get over my own petty issues and call one of my old friends who hasn't bothered to call me in months and was "unavailable" when I was in her state, I could have my own "reunion".