Making wise decisions

I'm sitting here on this Monday morning looking at the Fidelity Freedom 2040 Fund and also at starting a Roth IRA. I am definitely a long-term planner. No cost-benefit analysis needed here; it's just so obvious.

I know that my parents didn't start saving for retirement until they were in their mid-30s, and now my dad will be retiring next year, at age 61, so I think his investments have worked out pretty well (and he's also starting his own business, but that's another story). I think it sounds lovely to be able to retire at age 61, which means I've got 39 years to plan this out and do my best with my money.

I feel a little out of my depths with the Freedom 2040 Fund information, but I know I can figure it out with some patience. I'm more comfortable just opening the Roth IRA this morning, dumping some of my savings into it, and calling it good. But I also realize I should probably think about it a little more than that. Not that I haven't been contemplating the IRA situation for a while, but when Newsweek says, "A Roth IRA is one of the best savings vehibles for a young person in a low tax bracket," I really pay attention. Linda Stern's article is a good one, and I've got the basics down (I have health insurance, good credit, budget, and live somewhat small), which makes me feel pretty good.

Here's to retirement savings plans!

Edit: Just opened the IRA account with Fidelity Investments, and it was very easy and relatively fast (20 minutes) to link that account with my ING Direct account and start that retirement savings. I recommend it for ease of use. Just one tip: instead of printing all the legal agreements, I just saved them as PDFs to my computer, thus saving paper.