figuring out finances

So, I've been on a bit of a finance kick lately. I got a bit lucky joining Google, you know, so I have a little money sitting around in a bank account which I feel guilty not investing. I figure there are three levels of passively "holding" money:

1. put it in your mattress (aka low, low interest checking account)
2. find something that *might* keep up with inflation (ING, emigrant direct)
3. put it in a diversified set of no-load funds, rebalance once a year, watch the moolah roll in, retire happy and rich in 40 years

all of those are pretty passive, and since they are, why not put in a little time up front and go for #3? I'm in such a good situation -- good income, no mortgage, no kids, simple life. also, i am quite lazy and don't like work very much, so the sooner I can get out of it the better! I am very fortunate in that I have a money-oriented dad who started me a Roth IRA when I was very young. This is my one VERY IMPORTANT piece of advice to any of you reading this: if you can, put money in a Roth IRA!!! there's a limit of like $4,000 a year, and I know you can't touch the money till you're 59.5, but you are going to be able to take that money and all the interest it's earned out tax free when you retire.

Ok enough preaching. I read this book by Suze Orman, which is a little bit annoying but still very good called The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke. Ok, I am not two of those things (I'll let you guess which one I am) but I still found it VERY useful.

I'm currently reading Personal Finance for Dummies. Don't laugh, some smart people at Google recommended it to me. It's not as easy a read as the Suze Orman book, and I find some things it suggests oversimplified and a little fishy, but I know very little about funds so I'm reading those chapters.

So, the point of this very long and drawn out post: be nice to me now, because I'm going to have tons of money when I'm 59 and a half!