My first answer is for everyone to set up a Roth IRA  as soon as possible.

Most people have a retirement account at their job or place of employment.  That is most likely a 401K or some other similar retirement plan.  It is a good thing to take advantage of employer plans especially if the employer makes some sort of contribution.

It is good to have more than one way to save for retirement.  Making a contribution to your Roth IRA is a good way to have another way to save.

When should you set up a Roth IRA?  There are a number of different rules concerning Roth IRA as opposed to Traditional IRAs. 

 Since the money you put into a Roth IRA is after tax money, you can withdraw than money at any time without a penalty.  It is even a good way to save money for your kids college education. 

Even though you can withdraw the money you put into the IRA without any penalty, you do have to pay a penalty if you withdraw the interest or income that the IRA made if you withdraw before age 59.5.

Another really good reason to put money into a ROTH IRA is that the money is   protected from creditors and others.

For a traditional IRA, if you withdraw any of the money before age 59.5 you will not only have to pay taxes on that amount (if  the money was tax deferred)  but will have to pay a 10% penalty.

Because the money you put into a ROTH IRA was already taxed, the investment return will not be taxed.  But there are some conditions that have to be met for that investment to be tax free.

The IRS requires that the IRA be set up at least 5 years before the investment will be tax free.  This only means the first ROTH IRA that you set up will start the 5 year clock even if you only started with $100. 

 You can set up as many ROTH IRA accounts as you wish but the 5 year clock starts with the first account deposit. The 5 year clock does not start with each separate account or each deposit into an account.

If you ever close all your IRA accounts then the 5 year clock may restart, so keep at least one open all the time.

Don’t forget the advantages of being able to control your own retirement accounts.  You can even own real estate and other assets in your ROTH IRA.