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

That certainly does help, but it is just so easy to get into credit card trouble when you're young.

I try to sock as much away as possible so that someday if I don't have this job or want to change jobs (read: make less money), I can do it without too much financial hardship.

That is exactly why I have worked really hard over the past few years to rid myself of debt. I know when I start teaching, I'll have to take a pay cut and I didn't want any debt to deal with.

Roth IRA, whatever that is.

It's where you give Tim Roth your money and hope that in 30 years he gives it back.

The old IRA made you pay tax when you took the money out. The Roth, which is basically what everyone does now, makes you pay tax now. It's better in almost all situations.

My uncle is recommending a Roth IRA, whatever that is.

It is, apparantly, the bomb. You pay taxes on the money you put in it, and you don't pay any taxes on the money when you take it out! Since the point is that your money will grow in the IRA over time, by the time you retire, you'll have only paid taxes on a small percentage of the money - just what was put in, none of the interest/earnings.

I want to open one up but we're not in a place for that. And I could only rollover into a regular IRA.

(when I say pay tax now, I just mean that you pay tax on your regular income as normal. There's no special tax.)

That certainly does help, but it is just so easy to get into credit card trouble when you're young.

I think it helped that I was only using a check card until a few months ago. So I only ever "charged" what I could pay for.

My dad got me a credit card "for emergencies" in college, but the bill went to him, so I never used it. But apparently, keeping that card open gives me years of good credit, even though I don't use it. I have an Amazon.com Visa that gives me rewards, whereas the other one doesn't do anything.

(when I say pay tax now, I just mean that you pay tax on your regular income as normal. There's no special tax.)

Oh, okay, thanks! Yeah, I was getting a little confused.

I have an Amazon.com Visa that gives me rewards, whereas the other one doesn't do anything.

Ah, rewards cards. Also known as "How Nora and Tom get all their kitchen equipment."

P-C, before you do *anything*, I strongly suggest buying and reading Personal Finance for Dummies. It explains all of these terms clearly and gives good advice. I don't think you should invest anything until you either understand what you're doing on some level yourself or have hired someone to help you make those decisions.

ETA: Also, use your credit card and pay it off each month. It will really help your credit score when you get to the point when you want to buy something. Just my two cents.

I just wrote this email to Tom:

There's a discussion of naan in Natter that makes me want Indian food tonight, but another discussion of fiscal responsibility that makes me think we shouldn't go out! Aieee!