retirement quote

Your Ira And Your Retirement
By Lee Dobbins

Everyone dreams of a comfortable where you finally get to do all those things you never had time for but not everyone knows how to plan financially for it. One of the most popular ways of saving for is with an Individual Account or IRA.

IRA’s are accounts that you out money into for the long term - a savings for retirement. These contributions to your IRA are usually tax deductible which means that you are getting two benefits - saving for as well as helping to lessen your tax burden.

If your employer has a company sponsored IRA (typically a 401K) you may even get luckier. First off, you can have your contribution deducted right from your paycheck and you’ll never even miss it! Second, your employer may match part or all of your contributions. If you do have an employer that is nice enough to match contributions than you should take full advantage and set aside the maximum amount that they will match - it’s free money so you’d be a fool not to!

Another consideration for savings is a Roth IRA. This type of plan is popular with those that don’t have an employer sponsored plan. A Roth IRA, however is different

Article continued below...

from an employer sponsored plan as the contributions are not tax deductible. The benefit, however, is that when you go to take money out, you do not have to pay taxes on the withdrawals. With a typical IRA, the contributions are “before tax dollar” but the withdrawals are taxed, with Roth IRA the contributions are “after tax dollars” but the withdrawals are not taxed.

You should consider your accounts just that - savings accounts for retirement. This means you should forget about that money until you retire. Avoid making withdrawals from the account unless it is an extreme emergency. If you change jobs, be sure to roll over your 401K plan to your new companies plan.

If at all possible, try to avoid withdrawals from your account. For example, if you are changing jobs, roll your 401k (or other pension plan) directly into a Conduit IRA. This type of IRA will maintain your plan's tax-deferred status and allow it to be rolled over to a future employer's plan.

There are many ways to save for and things are never cut and dried so you should seek the help of a financial professional to get the most mileage out of your savings. And remember - its’ never too early to start saving for - the more you have the happier your will be!

Here are some more retirement articles...

Sep Iras: A Path To More Retirement Income?
By Robert D. Cavanaugh, CLU
A SEP IRA is a plan that may allow you to put away more tax deductible dollars for retirement. For employers, SEPs are a simple way to establish a retirement plan for employees without many of the Read more...

Secure Your Retirement With A Rollover Ira
By Sam Subramanian
Secure Your Retirement with a Rollover IRASwitching your job? Retiring? Congratulations! A window of opportunity opens for you with the Rollover Individual Retirement Account Read more...

Retirement In Jeopardy
By Bill Bates, Fri Dec 9th
Enron and United Airlines and so many more are specific examplesof the reasons your retirement is in jeopardy.Lets throw in two more examples, Social Security and "MotherNature".An Read more...

Planning For Your Retirement
By Roberto Bell
At 25, nothing could be further from most people's mind than their retirement, after all, when you're young you should be having fund and enjoying yourself, rather than worrying about what's going to Read more...