Wants to Start an IRA.

[Guest BigBadUSMC]

Im relativly new to all this. But I was wondering how I would go about openeing a Roth IRA. I want to start putting money into one. any help would be greatly appreciated, because i have no idea where to start or what to do. Thank you. Steve

[mbozek]

Steve: As the father of a marine (2ndMarDiv) let me try to answer your question. I am presuming that as a govt worker you are eligible for for a roth IRA because you are under the maximum income limit of $95,000. A person with wages can make an after tax contribution of up to $3000 per year to a Roth IRA. this amount will increase in future years. Unlike the traditional IRA there is no tax deduction for the contribution. However both the contributions and earnings will be exempt from tax when withdrawn.

You can open a Roth IRA with any financial instituition: bank, stock broker, mutual fund family or credit union ( e.g., navy fed.) Look for an insitution that does not charge fees for opening or maintaining the account or limits fees to a nominal amount such as $10 a year. Fund families that have low operating costs such as TIAA-CREF or Vanguard fund family are ideal for a Roth IRA. If you know nothing about investing I suggest that you read some literature on investments before opening an acount. Since this is long term investing you would be best investing in an index fund which invests in equities such as a Standard and Poors 500 or Vanguard total market index to get growth over the long term with least risk.