Retirement!

Is it wrong to be so excited about having a Roth IRA? Because I'm pretty excited! Pretty much I'm thinking about all the sweet stuff I'll be able to do when I'm 59.5 :-P I'll put in as much as I can now since I'm not sure what the future will bring as far as expenses go. I hear kids and houses are pretty pricey... I think I'll be able to make the maximum contribution for at least 2 years (2009 and 2010) then I'll work from there depending on our situation. Compound interest is my frieeeeend. Even if I didn't add any more money to the account, with 8% expected rate of return until I retire at age 65, it'll be worth something like $125K. Assuming I make no additions after this one, that is. However, if I manage to put in $3-5000/year, that'll become roughly $1.1-1.8 million by age 65. So $225K becomes almost 2 million... not too shabby. All that depends on the funds I choose and everything, so I guess we'll see how it goes. I'll let you know when I'm 65 :-P

I'm also excited because my funding is now from a fellowship again, not a grant, so I don't have to pay Social Security- wahoo, extra ~$150 this month! June and July were sad in the savings department compared to previous months. I'm just going to save it anyway (I know, I'm lame) but it's still exciting to think about what it will be used for when I actually need to spend it. I've got everything I need right now so I might as well save it for our trip or a house or a crib or something in the future. Of course I guess in actuality it'll go towards my parking permit or my textbooks but I like to dream big.