IRA Page

Investing for the future is important for everyone to do but as a bartender you need to take special care to be sure you are planning properly.  Most salary jobs also include some type of benefits and retirement plan.  Bartending generally does not have this luxary built in.  That means that you, as the responsible bartender, need to look out for your own future and do what's best for you. 

In the age of the internet though, retirement planning has become easier than ever.  All you have to do is open an account at any online broker and open an IRA.  Generally speaking, an IRA is the best way to plan for your retirement.  Some people choose to go with a traditional IRA and some go with a ROTH IRA.  They each have their benefits and their drawbacks so you'll have to choose which one is best for you.

Traditional IRA

A traditional IRA is simply an account consisting of mutual funds or investments of some variety.  You are able to contribute an ammount(depending on personal details) each year that will then be used as a deduction from that years taxes. 

Roth IRA

A Roth IRA differs in that your contributions are not treated as deductions for the current year.  However, any gains made on this account are not taxable when you begin to draw on the account for your retirement. 

If you begin investing in a Roth IRA at the age of 21, you will have nearly 1.5 million dollars¹ when you begin to draw funds from the account (age 59 1/2).   The earlier you start contributing to and IRA the larger it will be when its time to retire.  Its never to early so get your IRA open today.

¹The Table below assumes $4000 invested annually in a Roth IRA earning an average or 9.5% anually. $4000 is currently the maximum allowed per year but will increase in the future.