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Roth IRA or ?

jasonsbeer

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Looking for the financial wizards out there...or just those with practical experience.

I am 44, have a good paying job, and I am putting 6% of my pre-tax income into a traditional 401k. My employer has a 3% match on the first 6% of income, so I am maxing my company match. I intend to start saving more for retirement. My rate of savings has bounced around over the years due to family events...but I have always maximized the company match.

Question - If I intend to save more for retirement, what options do I have besides my employer's 401k? Pros and cons of those options?

Maybe a Roth or something else I may not have considered? I don't mind guiding my own investments at a mutual fund level. I would not go after individual stocks. I check in on my current investments about once a quarter. I may rebalance, but rarely change the investments I've selected.

Related notes: I have a pension - I would have to dig to figure the estimated payouts. The company has "shut it off", so I think it will pay out the years of service I had when they stopped offering pensions to new employees. In addition, I am building an emergency fund with an on-line savings account that is paying 2.52% APR.

Thanks!
 
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I had a long list of questions but to be honest you really should meet with a CPA. Let them see everything you have and find out what is best tax wise. They should be able to point you in the right direction for future investment. Unless you are willing to post your tax returns, all your loans, income and future financial obligations I don't think anyone on this forum can give you relevant advice.

Just saying that you are getting to the age that mistakes can really affect your retirement.
 

Cigary43

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Having retired at the tender age of 43.....( am 65 now ) strategy is very important and you already have the earmarkings of being thoughtful about how to go about doing this. Social Security isn't going to be a guarantee at the age you are...probably won't even be solvent nor supported...by prognostication it will most certainly be cut and the age extension to upwards of 70 years old.....all that time and funding by workers will then be SOL....tragedy by any definition.

Maxing out your Employers matching funds is smart.....some Employers will even let you go past the 6%....I encourage you to do that because the rate of return is still better than most fixed investments. Your House is a "savings account" so NEVER EVER take out its equity....that's just robbing yourself unless it's an emergency. ReFi your house if possible to the lower rates and lock it in with a 15 year mortgage....by the time you pay it off you'll have a house full of equity funds and if you can....find rental property....we have a condo that our Renters have almost paid down the entire mortgage since 1992.....initial investment was $122K.....now it's worth $475K...not a bad investment and we get a write off as well. 2 properties will amount to nearly a million with us just sitting on our butts....with our SS benes and retirement packages plus savings accounts we have put ourselves into a winning strategy. WE did without for the first 20 years....lived economically ( frugal )...drove our cars for 19 years....not many frills except doing programs where we travelled and received points for free trips and hotels....tons of that out there. Being creative and studying these things will get you there sooner....doing without is not hard...it's just a discipline like most things and you can either spend it now.....or save and live like a king later. I'm here to tell you....living well is much nicer....no financial headaches....the worrying....the what ifs....that can kill you just as surely as any heart attack.

Boudie is giving you sage advice....if you can find a good Financial Planner then you can coordinate with them as to how to proceed....I'm just giving you info as to what I did....it worked for me but your future challenges are going to change with how SS and your pension is drawn up. I just know that Real Estate is doing for me what other investments couldn't touch....equity equity equity.
 

Hopduro

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Max that 401k man, then max out a Roth IRA. There's forums dedicated to this information, I can help, but only surface level. You can post more info there and they'll guide you along.

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