Hey everyone, welcome back. It's Finance Friday, another special edition of Money Girl, where I answer your burning money questions.

Today, we have a great topic that comes from Sammy, who says, a friend told me that contributing to a Roth account means you end up retiring richer. Is that true?

Also, if I don't have a retirement account at work, can you explain whether I should put money

in a traditional or Roth IRA, a savings account, or a CD?

Thank you for your great question, Sammy. Understanding retirement accounts and their

benefits can be confusing. This podcast will review the benefits of using a Roth account at work or on

your own. You'll learn how they save you money, offer flexibility, and stack up against other types

of financial accounts. Thank you so much for downloading episode 919 of the Money Girl podcast.

I'm your host, Laura Adams, an award-winning author, speaker, on-camera spokesperson, and the founder

of The Money Stack.

That's my sub-stack newsletter.

You can subscribe for free or support the show by becoming a

paid member and getting access to live educational events. You can learn more and connect with me at

laura d adams.com. That's also where you can email your money question, learn more about my books and courses,

and sign up for the money stack. If you want to send me a voice message, I'd love to hear from you.

You can record a brief question or comment by calling 302-364-0308. All right, so let's talk about using a retirement account. In general, you should have some

amount of savings before you begin investing. Though we tend to use the terms saving and

investing interchangeably, they're not the same. They're different. Savings are for your

emergencies and any significant purchases you might

want to make within a year or two or maybe three. That money should never be invested because

there's risk its value could decline in the short term. You want to always keep your savings in an

FDIC insured bank account,

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