Thread: Roth IRA... a good time?

thinks,

Absolutely, Personal IRAs should be a priority for all concerned...Depending on age and a few other factors determines either a ROTH or Traditional....

Traditional IRA money deposits are tax deferred as are the gains until you begin taking the money out of your account

Roth IRA you pay the tax on your deposit up front, however the GOLDEN part of this equation is that you never pay tax on any of the capital gains....ie; you might invest $12,000 over the next 4 years and if it were to gain to say $50K you would not be taxed on any of the $50K. Additionally, if you ever needed to take any of your original contributions back out, you may without penalty because you already paid taxes on the $12K.

Make your contribution.. it is not until you invest in either stocks, or funds or bonds that the money goes at risk

Good Luck.........smart move!

thinks wrote:

I'm thinking about making a contribution to our Roth IRA for 2004.... I've got my check out. Would anyone agree to go ahead and send it in this week?

Does anyone else make contributions to a Roth or something other than your TSP? Looking forward to any discussions.

I agree thinks. This is not 2000-2002 again.

Roth is a great idea.

Tom

Thanks to you both and I'll just add that I really enjoy both of your posts because they're so informative and thoughtout.

I went ahead and mailed the check.

The best time to start your Roth IRA is, well, yesterday!! Sooner rather later!! Just do it!! Okay, you get the idea.One thing you may want to do withyour Rothis to invest in value stocks or international small stocks. Don't just put it into anotherS&P fund - diversify.

I make the max Roth IRA contribution on January 2^nd from my cash reserves. The sooner you make your IRA contributions, the sooner you get tax-deferred growth. I also have a regular margin account, into which I contribute 5%-25% of my income monthly.

The priorities: TSP (since it lowers my taxable income), IRAs, then regular brokerage account.

10-4 Rolo....

How do you pull that off Rolo, if you dont mind saying. Frugal living,high income, a combination of both? I find it pretty admirable you are maxing both TSP and Roths, and still have 5-25% left over for a personal portfolio. Married or Single?

The Roth contribution also helped our taxes for 2003 and I believe will for this year again so that's a nice bonus too.

Roths only help a current year's taxes in that the earningsgrow tax deferred. There is no allowable deduction for Roth IRA contributions. Hope you didnt take a deduction for a Roth IRA contribution :-).

If you're wondering why the IRS keeps up with Roth IRA contributions, its because you are allowed to withdraw the contributions tax free (not the earnings) simply because you already paid taxes on them...... or you should have :-).

Azanon

For 2003 if a persondid a IRA one received the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit. I can't remember right now more about it w/o looking but recall something along the lines of one w/o retirement benefits so I didn't do the deduction but was able to use the credit.

Really??? I haven't heard of that, and i did my taxes using Quicken. Considering I had Roth IRA contributions for 2003, i'd be disappointed to find out that there was a credit I could take.

If you come across a link showing that guidance, i'd be interested in seeing it.