Suze Orman and Money Questions

JadziaDax

Does anyone else watch her show? It comes on Monday nights and here's the link to her four must have documents (including will/ trust) for this week:

http://www.oprah.com/own-americas-money-class-with-suze-orman/4-Must-Have-Documents

She also recommends opening a Roth IRA. Does anyone have one and how did you go about opening it?

cwaggoner07

If you have the option to get a 401k through your job, you are not eligible to open a Roth IRA. On that note, make sure your 401k is a Roth, not traditional.

If you are freelance, or don't have a full time employer who offers a 401k, you can go to any financial institution to get an IRA. I have an IRA through Texans Credit Union (a regional credit union).

Hope that helps!

kaitlyn142

...? cwaggoner, that's not correct. I have both a Roth IRA and a 401(k). I think you are thinking of a regular IRA.

The difference between a Roth IRA and a 401k is that the Roth IRA uses after tax dollars, and the 401k uses pre-tax. It's recommended to have both, if at all possible. It changes how you can withdraw your money in retirement.

Jadzia, you can open one all over the place. I like Vanguard.

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/06/07/how-to-start-a-roth-ira-and-where-to-do-it/ is an excellent resource. I'm a big fan of Get Rich Slowly.

ETA: a Roth IRA can only have ... I think $5000? Maybe $6000 contributed to it per year, so starting one as soon as possible is important!

cwaggoner07

Crap ok I think I was on the right track...
But I know that Suze Orman always recommends Roth because of the recent Bush tax cuts and that if you are in a low tax bracket currently it's better to get the taxes out of the way, as your income will most certainly increase later on.

Moral of the story... find a financial institution you trust and ask them for your situation what you should do.

JadziaDax

Thanks for the advice. I have a 403b through my job which matches a certain percent so of course i'm trying to take advantage of that. I'll take a look at the get rich slowly link- thanks again!