Both the traditional individual retirement account (IRA) and the Roth IRA offer key tax advantages. A traditional IRA allows you to deduct all or part of your contributions, depending on your level of income, and your balance increases with deferred taxes. With a Roth IRA, you invest the money after taxes, but you can withdraw money tax-free if you're at least 59 and a half years old and have owned the account for at least five years. Plus, compared to workplace plans, you have access to more investment options.
To ensure that you get the most out of your retirement savings, it is important to find the best Gold IRA custodian to help you manage your investments. I already had a traditional IRA open for my wife, who had previously left a job offering a retirement plan and needed to get it back. As with anything else, you're only doing your due diligence by weighing the pros and cons of a traditional IRA against what you need from an individual retirement account. However, the way these two accounts work is different, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Investments found in a traditional IRA don't face any tax consequences if they remain in the account.
When evaluating the pros and cons of traditional IRAs, you can't forget the tax-deferred growth benefit you get. I have deposited both of them in an account with an estate advisor, but for the traditional part of the list, I have earmarked it for my son's tuition. Of course, I'm not qualified to make financial decisions on behalf of anyone, but after evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of traditional IRAs, there is very little risk of having an opportunity to improve your future. You can complete what is known as a “clandestine” Roth, in which you make a non-deductible contribution to a traditional IRA in order to convert it into a Roth IRA.
A traditional IRA is definitely considered a long-term investment strategy and will not meet expectations if you plan to withdraw money early. Now, you should be careful not to steal your future to buy a home when you're young, but without penalty, it's certainly an option for someone who has accumulated a decent amount of cash in a traditional IRA. You don't necessarily have to contribute every month, but there are plenty of good reasons to at least consider opening a traditional IRA. Deposits in a traditional IRA should only be money that you don't plan to need until retirement.
Another major drawback of a traditional IRA is that there are limits to the amount you can contribute each year. While Roth IRA contributions are made with after-tax dollars, traditional IRA contributions are made with pre-tax dollars. Believe me, there's nothing wrong with that, but I soon discovered, when analyzing the pros and cons of traditional IRAs, I needed to set one up right away. I now contribute to each of their 529 every month and contribute to the traditional IRA, which can also be used.
