A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account, where contributions are made with after-tax dollars, meaning the income on your paycheck that you make after your employer has deducted taxes. You may make these non-tax deductible contributions to a Roth IRA up to a certain limit each year. Under certain circumstances, you may withdraw money from this account, tax free, before retirement or you can withdraw all of it, if you like, tax free, after the age of retirement (59 1/2). You may continue to add to this account up to the annual limit for as long as you like. You currently do not have to pay taxes on any distributions inside this account, so that your money may grow tax free.