The key word in the phrase "Individual Retirement Account" is individual.
In other words, if you want your retirement to live up to your financial expectations, you can rely on one individual: you.

Today, you won't find many employers who will completely fund your retirement for you. Most likely, too, you won't spend your entire career working for one company. That's why an IRA is so important.

With an IRA, you can make tax-favored contributions for yourself from the first year you begin working until the last. And, during both your working years and your retirement, you can manage your IRA assets according to your personal needs and circumstances.

IRA Questions and Answers:

Q. What is an Individual Retirement Account and how does it work?

A. An IRA gives you the chance to set up a tax-favored retirement account for yourself and your beneficiaries. Typically, your IRA is created as a trust or a custodial account with a bank acting as your trustee or custodian. And each year, you can make IRA contributions, which are held and invested for your benefit until you are ready to receive them in retirement.

Q. How do I qualify to open an Individual Retirement Account?

A. All you have to do is earn compensation. This compensation can be in the form of wages, salary, commissions, tips, professional fees, bonuses or other amounts in return for personal. (All taxable alimony and separate maintenance payments received by an individual under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance are treated as compensation for IRA purposes.) You can also set up an IRA if you work for yourself and have income either from a sole proprietorship or a partnership (assuming you are an active partner who provides services to the partnership).