Dump $ into Roth IRA before starting in IB?

Hey team,

I am considered dumping about 1/3 of my rainy day fund into my Roth IRA for '17 in order to meet the maximum contribution. I will be starting in IB soon and will no longer be able to contribute to it due to the income limitations.

My thinking is when I am older it will be beneficial to have more $ stashed away in a tax free account. Anybody else run into this "problem"? I will be fine without the full rainy day fund amount but am also thinking about using that $ for a down payment/ring in 3-4 years.

Would I be better off pumping as much into my Roth while I can and using the big boost in comp from IB for future personal expenses?

16 Comments
 

You obviously have a lot of options on how to go about this. I was in the same boat as you, a couple of years ago, but I did contribute as much as I could into my Roth. Every once in a while I also do a conversion to put more money in my Roth, sure it is taxed, but the reasoning behind me doing this is that I'm not old and am more aggressive in my investment selection. Ultimately, the growth in my Roth will be tax free and I will have another savings "stash" for retirement.

 

Just use a broker like TradeKing - then you can invest it in whatever equities or ETFs that you want.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

It looks like it has beaten the market 2 to 1 in the last 5 years, and those returns take into account the fees. The vangaurd funds don't really do much other than follow the market, right? Am I making a noob mistake in those observations?

 

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