Brandon Roth #3

So far for my second week of my internship at Dorsey and Company, I’ve had the opportunity to learn much about retirement plans.  Monday and Tuesday, I worked with financial advisor and bond trader Steve Rueb.  Alongside Steve was Skip Chatelain and the two of them worked together to help explain the process and hard work that goes into planning a client’s future retirement plan.  Over the course of the past couple of days, I’ve gained some insight on how much work it takes to plan someone’s retirement along with the major factors which come into play.  I’ve learned how the IRS can affect and take away much of your assets as time progresses as well as how interest rates can affect the growth of your assets.  In addition, I was shown how to calculate exactly how much one must currently invest and put away annually, to have “x” amount annually after they retire at a certain age.  Along with a series of math equations and spreadsheets, I learned about 401ks and IRAs.  I’ve learned that there are two types of IRAs and ironically one of the types is called the “Roth IRA.” The other type is a traditional IRA which is similar to a 401k.  Although these 3 are similar in the sense that they are retirement plans, they have many distinctions which make them unique.  Tradition IRAs are taxed when you withdraw money during retirement yet a Roth IRA is taxed as you input money into your account and never taxed after that.  A traditional IRA is good if you think that interest rates will be lower when you retire than the current rates.  On the other hand, a Roth IRA is good if you believe interest rates will be higher when you retire than the current rates.  So far through week 2, it’s been a little more stressful but I’m still enjoying the experience and looking forward to the next few days.