Economics
I have been doing a bunch more research into investment options. It turns out that I have to fill out a bunch of forms to open an IRA as a minor, so I may just wait until this summer to do that to avoid the trouble.
There are a lot of different brokers online. I looked at E*Trade, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, and Scottrade. Schwab has the highest transaction fees (close to $50 for funds!), but that is probably balanced by more services. I think that when I start investing I will probably go with E*Trade. Not only were their fees pretty reasonable, but I liked their site design; it was simple and easy to use.
I think I will open a Roth IRA. Once I get a credit card this summer, I will have a certain percentage of each of my paychecks go into a savings account, which will in turn be accessed monthly by my IRA, withdrawing a fixed or percentage amount. I could also bypass the savings account a go directly to the IRA. This would have the advantage of placing more of my money in a position to be invested, but allowing me less spending flexibility.
