Thanks for this! I appreciate the direction! I am very slowly learning all this money stuff.

I appreciate this thank you. I've been diving into the wiki that was linked earlier. Mainly looking at Roth IRA and I-Bonds and thinking about how much money I have. I already keep track of my expenses on a spreadsheet so I know if I'm wasting money, if I have enough room to spend money, etc. Not exactly budgeting but it's something.

Thinking about...
- Savings for expenses under a year (emergency fund, or if something comes up)
- I-bonds for expenses past a year (down payments on a new living situation, battery for my car, potential trips, etc.)
- IRA for retirement

Man, money things are so complicated. ;_;

EDIT: Thinking of brokerage accounts with low cost index funds too but the tax stuff scares me. I don't want to invest and then suddenly have to pay a whole bunch of taxes ;_;

See this is why I'm so lost. I appreciate your patience very much ;_; thank you

Should I even be looking into an IRA if I don't have a retirement fund? Granted, I don't particularly care about being alive that long. If I'm old and my senses start going, just pull the plug :P

Frankly I just don't know much about... investing in general and if it's even worth it despite having so little.

I know there's a max yearly contribution of $6k. I know the earnings won't be taxed. I know with some lurking on Reddit I can find what index funds to put the money in the IRA to.

I can barely grasp the idea of what an index fund is. I don't know if what I am considering doing is feasible (a small portion of what I usually put into savings into the IRA). And even if I manage to open IRA, I don't really know what to do. Do I constantly have to buy index funds? Can I just throw money into it regularly and forget about it? I genuinely don't know anything other than "I can open a Roth IRA with Fidelity and it's an investment... thing."

Ah yes this is a great resource except:

1. I don't have an employer matching fund. I might have one in the future, but not right now. As my position does not offer this.
2. My only debt is my student loan (4.65% interest rate). Which in the United States may or may not be cancelled and there is also some debate in the air about if you'll get a refund if you make payments and then it gets cancelled. I don't want to lose my money to that nonsense.

Which puts me at a loss of what to do.. I mean Roth IRA sounds like that's where I should start but even then I'm still at a loss of what to do.