Is now a good time to start an IRA or should I wait till April?

Question

Basically do you think that the market is going up or down right now and should I wait a couple of weeks or just do it now.

Answer 1

when opening an IRA, the market has nothing to do with it. Or at least it shouldn't. Just remember 2 things in regards to this: 1. you don't have to jump into the market just b/c you open an IRA. You can put it in cash & DCA every month, if you are afraid. Like the clichee goes: its time IN the market, not TIMING the market.
2. why do you want the prices to go up before you buy them? Do you purposly wait for the stores to end a sale to go buy something?

Answer 2

Howdy. Starting and IRA is not the same thing as buying stocks, bonds or mutual funds. You need to open an IRA and put cash into it. THEN, you can buy and sell in the market.

Today is a good time to "start" your IRA. At least get the account open and funded. You don't have to buy anything today. For example, open an IRA today and deposit $4,000 (the max per year for most people). Your broker will "sweep" it into an interest-bearing money market account.

When you are ready, you can purchase investments using the cash in your IRA. The money automatically comes out of the money market to cover your trades.

An IRA is just a type of account. Think of it as a bucket or container that you keep stuff in. Just like your checking account is a container. You put money into your checking account. It stays there safely until your buy something at which time the money covers your check or debit purchase. The cash in your IRA is like that except with an IRA whatever you buy (stocks, bonds, funds, etc) is also inside of the IRA.

Answer 3

An IRA is for the long term. We're talking 20, 30, 40 years.

Over that time, the market will go and down.

Don't try to time things. In the long run, they won't matter, if you manage you account correctly.

In any case, no way to predict what'll happen, anyway. For everyone that's saying that we're headed into a recession and that market is tanking... there's someone else who shows how the fundamentals have never been stronger.

Put the money in now. In fact, better to do it before April 16, so that you can get 2006 tax benefits.