Whats the best place to put my extra money to save for retirement?

Question

I am 40 , are roth IRA's only good if you are younger. Should I buy some good stocks with it like microsoft. What should I do?

Answer 1

Go to Las Vegas, and bet all the money you have

Answer 2

well.. younger compared to starting earlier? If you are 40 now, you still have at least 25 years before retirement. Start now. Yes a Roth Ira is good. I opened up an account on Sharebuilder, and I save and then buy once a month. I get to choose which stocks.. or ETFs I want to invest in. There are rules of course, but since the Roth is after taxed income, your gains are not taxed... unlike the 401k. You can choose multiple funds or just one. Any that you choose, you should evaluate and decide where to put the money.

Answer 3

1. If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, open an account, especially if your employer will match some of your contributions.

2. If you don't have access to an employer-sponsored retirement account, open an IRA. Or if you are self-employed, open a SEP-IRA or a SIMPLE IRA. A Roth IRA would probably make some sense, especially if you plan to work for another 25 years. But if you can't make up your mind, open a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA, and put half the permitted contributions in the Roth and the other half in the traditional IRA. That way, you hedge your bets.

You can get more information about retirement accounts at the first webpage listed below.

A good investment vehicle, whether you have a 401(k) or some kind of IRA, is the lifecycle fund. This is a kind of mutual fund where professional money managers handle all of the investment allocation and diversification for you, so you don't have to actively manage your money. They make long term investing easier for people who can't spend hours a week researching investments. Lifecycle funds are discussed in the second webpage listed below.

Answer 4

At age 40, Roth's are a slight gamble... You will win if income tax rates are significantly higher in 25 years for people with your net worth at that time, otherwise you may lose. But the difference is unlikey to amount to much.

You might want to avoid buying specific currently popular stocks since the money is for 25 years from now. How sure are you that there will even BE Microsoft Corporation by the 2030's?

A safer plan would be to put regular payments into a good growth mutual fund inside an IRA, you can learn how to do this (it's easy) at http://www.fool.com/Retirement/Retirement01.htm

The most important thing to do is SOMETHING rather than nothing!

Let's say you earn $40K/year now, and start putting aside 10% of everything you earn into an aggressive fund that averages 12% annual growth, you'll have about $600,000 when you reach 65, which is unlikely to be enough to live on unless you live frugally and are VERY healthy. But it's never too late!

This calculator will help you figure how each extra dollar invested will affect your future:

Answer 5

I don't have the time to go into detail but;
Most of the answers (so far) have no idea what they're talking about.

First:
A ROTH IRA is not a savings account, a CD, stocks or Mutual funds. A ROTH IRA is a title of an account that allows you to put after tax money away and it will not be taxed for any earnings (thereafter).

Next:
Going straight into stocks is not a great idea for a "new-be". Start with low-cost, no-load mutual funds. Look to Vanguard, Fidelity, T.Rowe Price for some good ideas where to start.

Have an "asset allocation". Without it you'll be lost.
Read a couple of books on "Retirement Investing". One that has received good press is from the "Dummy" series.

A financial planner is a good idea if you have no desire to learn this stuff. They will cost you thousands of dollars over a lifetime... but it's much better than asking questions on Yahoo Answers or doing nothing.

Answer 6

Do you have the option at work to invest in a 401(k)? If your company matches, that's probably your best bet to start off with. There are many different opinions on Roth IRAs. I would suggest using a financial calculator online to determine if a Roth is a good solution for you. If you have "extra" money to invest for retirement, it sounds like you may already have a nest egg. If that's the case, then a solid blue chip stock like Microsoft may be a good vehicle. However, use caution as to what percentage of your savings you have in stocks; you don't want to be too overweighted in individual stocks.

Answer 7

I have been doing alot of research on this myself.

I am 26 and the people that I have talked to say that the roth IRA is good for everyone, no matter what age.

The whole point is that when you retire, you've already paid most of the taxes that would come out at one time. The catch is that there will still be some taxes.

You should really talk to a financial advisor through your bank....they can lead you in the right direction depending on your life style and personal preferences.

Answer 8

You should do Roth IRA through mutual funds. This is retirement money so you don't want to go too risky with blue chips unless you just want to. Find a good mutual fund with good returns and don't be afraid to change/sell if it's not performing.

Answer 9

Your never too old to put money into a Roth. Try Trowe price. you can start with as little as $50 a month, but you would have to make automatic payments of $50 monthly. Not to bad. Most brokers want @ least $2500 starting. Good luck!

Answer 10

I looked into buying stocks, but my dad said that most stock companies will only accept you as a client if you put down a minimum of $1000 in their business which I can't afford right now. I looked into Charles Schwab and that is what they said in their paperwork as well that they mailed me. I would highly suggest a 401K, much less risky than the stock market as you never know what that will do...look what happened a few months ago with it dropping something like 600 points in one day. It is never too late to start a 401K plan. Good luck!

Answer 11

roth ira's are great for any age. You can't loose any money on them. Stocks you could loose money. I would start with a roth ira then experiement with stocks and bonds.