An individual retirement account (IRA) is an account used to save for retirement. A Roth IRA is a special type of tax-advantaged individual retirement account to which you can contribute after-tax dollars. The primary benefit of a Roth IRA is that your contributions and the earnings on those contributions can grow tax-free and be withdrawn tax-free after the age 59½ assuming the account has been open for at least five years. In other words, you pay taxes on money going into your Roth IRA, and then all future withdrawals are tax-free.
