I know that "IRA" stands for the Irish Republican Army

[Jim Franklin]

and have heard that some photography types have "portfolios" but it seems that these terms have something to do with the financial world and I thought I would just ask someone in the know what they might mean in that context?

[David Parker]

Individual Retirement Account (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Retirement_Account)

[Billy Cox]

An IRA (individual retirement account) is funded with pre-tax dollars and grows tax free. It is a significant shelter from taxation.

[Shea Zellweger]

A "Portfolio" refers to your collection of investments.

[Jim Franklin]

Guess I never made enough to have the opportunity to take advantage of them. Just thought I would ask since I was curious about what the terms meant and how they were used.

Still have no idea as to how come we made less in 2009 than 2008 and had to pay about twice as much to the IRS.