Do These 3 Things To Maximize Your Roth IRA

The government sets limits on how much money you can invest in your Roth IRA each year. If you don’t meet that limit, then you’re missing an opportunity to grow your wealth.

For 2018, people aged 50 and older can contribute up to $6,5000. If you’re under 50, then you can contribute $5,500.

The earlier you start investing in a Roth IRA, the more money you can earn. On average, you can expect to earn about 6% on your investment. The exact amount that you earn, however, depends on the investment options that you choose.

Regardless of how much interest you earn, investing early will help you make more money. Let’s say you open your Roth IRA when you’re 29 years old and you invest $5,500 until you retire at 65. Assuming that you pay a 25% marginal tax rate when you withdraw money from the account, your Roth IRA will reach a value of almost $700,00.

If you don’t open your account until you turn 40, your Roth IRA will only accumulate a value of about $319,000. You lose more than $350,000 by waiting 11 years to start investing.

Once you reach 59.5 years old, you don’t pay any penalties when you withdraw money from your Roth IRA. (You do, however, have to pay taxes on the money you withdraw.) If you’re under 59.5 years old, though, you will pay a 10% penalty on the money you take out of your Roth IRA account.

If paying a 10% penalty isn’t enough to stop you from withdrawing money, consider that you will also lose interest by taking money out early. Once you take money out of the account, those dollars will never have an opportunity to earn more interest. That could cost you thousands of dollars on top of the penalty.

A Roth IRA can make it much easier for you to retire without cutting your expenses significantly. Take advantage of your Roth IRA donations so you can get the biggest returns possible. The top online investment companies can help you manage your accounts.