The deadline for funding IRAs for 2004 is coming up at the end of the week. If you haven’t maxed out your 2004 Roth IRA at $3,000 ($3,500 for anyone over 50 years old) then you have less than 72 hours to do so.
At the same time, think about fully funding your 2005 Roth IRA. The limit increases to $4,000 (or $4,500) this year. I think the market is slowly trending upward, so if you have the cash, consider investing the full amount (lump sum) instead of dollar-cost averaging throughout the year. There’s no way to predict, but I believe the market is trending upward for the year, albeit slowly.
My no-fee Roth IRA is held with TIAA-Cref, in one broad, low-cost index fund (TCEIX). I would also suggest Vanguard for IRAs if you have enough to deposit to avoid their fees.
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This is very good advice. You should also keep in mind that regular contributions to a Roth can be pulled at anytime, for any reason. Thus, if you are unsure if you can swing a contribution without dipping too deeply into your savings, just do it. You can always take it out later, but the same can’t be said for making your ‘04 contribution later. For more details, see here:
http://www.recycledcognition.com/2005/04/05/max-that-roth/
—recog
You may want to modify your original post to say Roth IRA… it might confuse people otherwise.
jim
I clarified the text, but contribution limits and deadlines are the same whether you have a Traditional or Roth IRA. However, you can’t withdraw your principal penalty-free from a Traditional IRA, only a Roth IRA allows that.
There are other differences as well.