By: Faith Forster, Managing Editor and Graphics Editor 

I lived in a household growing up where I always heard my father talking about retirement. So, how did this inspire me? Well, since I was a kid, after I finished my schooling, I planned to retire. 

 Unfortunately, those childhood dreams won’t come to fruition. But investing in your future properly could change the course of your working life and your retirement. First, let’s go through the two types of retirement funds. 

 The individual Retirement account, or IRA, is the typical retirement account. In the IRA, you put your money in, and it gets taxed on the way out. In numbers, it would be putting in $1,000 with no tax, giving you a tax write-off that year.  

 Later, when you go to take out the $1,000 that has turned into $10,000, you would get taxed. So, if you were to be in the 20% bracket, then $2,000 would be taken out for tax, leaving you with only $8,000. 

 Essentially, you get taxed a lot in the back half. The only potential benefit is that your taxes would be reduced for that year, granted after already paying a decent amount. 

 On the other side of things, there is the Roth IRA. Whereas with the IRA you get taxed on the back half, you get taxed on the amount you put in with the Roth IRA, and it’s never taxed again.  

 On the numbers aspect, say you put in $1,000. Then, if you were to be in the 20% tax bracket, $200 would be taken for tax. Later, when it’s grown to $10,000 and you take it out, you get all the $10,000. 

 Between the two, the Roth IRA makes it so you are able to keep more of your money for the long haul. With the IRA tax being deferred, you get taxed on a lot. With a normal IRA, it could send you back to work after you retire.