Before you learn about stretching your Inherited IRA, you need to understand IRA basics.  IRAs have been around for years.

Traditional IRAs allow you to invest a certain amount of before-tax earnings on a yearly basis. That reduces your current taxes because you don’t pay taxes on that money until you actually take it out later. The main benefit of your IRA is that it grows more quickly because you aren’t taking money out to pay taxes.

Company retirement programs like 401(k)’s work similarly. Sometimes companies will match a portion of their employees’ contributions, dramatically increasing the employee’s return. If your company matches any of your contribution make sure you take advantage of it!  When you change jobs or retire you can transfer the money from your 401(k) into your own IRA.

Roth IRAs allow you to invest after-tax dollars, but the earnings on a Roth IRA are never taxed.  You aren’t required to start taking money out of a Roth IRA at age 70 ½ like as in a traditional IRA.