Comments on: Roth IRA or Traditional IRA? How about neither?

By: Time to Try Timing the Market? » Pants in a Can

Time to Try Timing the Market? » Pants in a Can — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:25:57 +0000

[...] that Roth IRA idea I was throwing [...]

By: Brainy Smurf

Brainy Smurf — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:55:16 +0000

You’re right fizzg. If you don’t have the option of contributing to something with an employer match, it’s definitely something to look into — better than nothing I suppose.

I guess I just don’t understand the excitement over them when the limitations are so great. When the time comes that your family is able to contribute 15 or 20 percent of your income (even if it doesn’t increase), you won’t be able to because of the limitation.

You’ve already hit the ceiling — but your pile of money isn’t growing very fast. Tax benefits or not, sometimes I think plain old limitless mutual funds are the better route… More money grows more faster…

By: fizzg

fizzg — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:23:20 +0000

For those of us who aren’t even near that contribution level yet, they’re a decent option. 5k is still more than 10% of the combined income of my hubby & me; this also means that we most likely will be in a higher tax bracket when we’re older, as we’re in almost the lowest one right now. I have a TIAA-CREF account through my work, but there’s absolutely no matching, and so that incentive isn’t there either.

By: Brainy Smurf

Brainy Smurf — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:36:58 +0000

Phew! Good to know that I’m not totally alone on this one… ;0)

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:49:02 +0000

Oh, and as you know my IRA was a traditional, not a ROTH.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:48:01 +0000

And depending on how your IRA is invested… you could lose money (like I did after 9-11, then it built back up and I’m slowly losing it again!).

401K is a much safer bet I think! I haven’t contributed to my IRA in 9 years… no regrets! (I’m 35!)