"the world of IRAs. i just opened an account for my wife and i"

hep1974,

Based upon the above wording in your original post, you may have one point a bit confused. You can not have a single IRA for both you and your wife. The "I" in IRA stands for individual. You can establish separate IRA's for both you and your wife. Since you are starting with just $150 you may want to establish one IRA first and designate your wife as the beneficary of that account. Eventually as your investments grow, you can start a separate IRA for your wife.

It sounds like you are asking the right type of questions. My son is also beginning to build his Roth IRA and he will be 21 at the end of January. He has just under $10,000 invested so far. He selected the S&P 500 for his Roth IRA. He has also begun investing a little bit in individual stocks outside his Roth IRA. The recommendation to take a look at the total market index funds is also a good one.

Good luck, Tom