Wow ,this thread is really picking up. About ROTH IRA Strategy One: Start Early Lots of young people (and sometimes their parents!) don't realize they can contribute to an IRA. One reader recently commented that her child couldn't contribute because he didn't have $3,000 in income. You can contribute an amount less than $3,000! For example, your college-age child had a summer job and earned $1,400. Either the parent or child can contribute up to $1,400 to either a traditional or Roth IRA. You can contribute the maximum amount earned up to a limit of $3,000 for 2004 or $4,000 for 2005. Strategy Two: Plan Which Investments to Hold in Your IRA A number of factors will affect your "asset location" decision. Because capital gains rates are relatively low now, you may want to hold appreciating assets, such as stocks, in taxable accounts. Income-generating assets, such as many bonds, may be better held inside your IRA. This will not always be the case, however. If you are young and have a long time until retirement, you'll want growth investments, such as stocks, to fuel appreciating assets inside your IRA. Tip: If you plan to hold inflation-linked bonds, hold Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities in your IRA. (I-Bonds can be held in taxable accounts.) Tip: If your portfolio includes company retirement plans, such as a 401(k), use IRA assets to further diversify your entire portfolio. For example, many times your company retirement plan will have good investment options for large-cap stocks, intermediate-term bonds, and cash. But you'll need to use your IRA to further diversify into foreign stocks, mid-and small-cap stocks, real estate funds, or other types of bond funds. Strategy Three: Convert Part or All of Your Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA The Roth IRA has one huge advantage over the traditional IRA: You never have to take required distributions at any age. And when or if you choose to take distributions, they are tax-free. That’s because the Roth IRA requires you to pay taxes up front, either when you contribute the money or when you convert from your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. Converting to a Roth isn't a slam-dunk for all investors, though. For starters, you do have to pay taxes sooner rather than later. Further, there is an element of tax risk involved with Roth IRAs--for example, you could decide to convert now based on current tax laws only to discover five years from now that the tax laws change, thereby making your conversion less beneficial. If your Adjusted Gross Income is more than $100,000, you're ineligible to convert. Finally, if you are younger than age 59 1/2, you must pay the tax for a conversion with assets outside of your IRA or you'll get hit with a 10% penalty on top of income taxes. Thankfully, IRA conversion doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. If you're eligible, you can convert some of your traditional IRA now and convert even more later, thereby managing your tax hit. And the earnings in that Roth IRA continue to grow tax-free for your beneficiaries after your death. Your beneficiaries do have to take required minimum distributions from your Roth IRA after your death. But these distributions can be taken slowly over their own life expectancies. Tip: Take a look at the top of your tax bracket. Convert just enough of your IRA so that you don't push yourself into the next highest tax bracket. For example, if you are married filing jointly, the top of the 15% tax bracket is projected to be $59,400 for 2005. If you earned $20,000 and you had another $5,000 in investment income, that would still allow you to convert $34,400 without falling into the 25% tax bracket. Tip: Use Morningstar.com's IRA Calculator to see if a conversion makes sense for you. Strategy Four: Stretch Out Your IRA by Choosing the Right Beneficiary Option One of the biggest benefits of IRAs (and other tax-deferred accounts) is the ability to defer paying taxes until a later date. That allows the full value of your account to compound over time. Many investors choose to keep the tax-deferral advantage going as long as possible. This process is known as "stretching out" the value of your IRA. The longer you can delay paying taxes, the greater the possibility that your IRA will grow to even higher balances. Tip: As part of your overall estate planning, you'll need to think about whom you want to name as your beneficiary. Naming a spouse as beneficiary to your IRA allows him or her to roll over your IRA after your death into his or her own IRA and name a new beneficiary. That can be an excellent way of stretching out the number of years over which you can take distributions. Tip: If you can't name a spouse as your IRA beneficiary, name a child or grandchild. If you have multiple beneficiaries (such as several children), consider splitting your IRA into separate accounts, each with one beneficiary. Then, after your death, each beneficiary will be able to stretch out distributions based on his or her own life expectancy. If your children are already taken care of in the rest of your estate plan, consider adding a grandchild as your beneficiary for maximum deferral opportunities. Tip: Talk to your beneficiaries. Your heirs need to understand the value of deferral and compounding assets over time. A lack of planning on your part can mean that an uneducated heir may unwittingly pull out large distributions (or all of the balance) to spend on today's "wants" versus tomorrow's "needs." Tip: Put your beneficiary preferences in writing, send them to the institutions that hold your assets, and keep a copy for yourself. You should also consider enclosing a card for the institution to send back to you to verify it received your instructions. Strategy Five: Use Your Minimum Required Distributions to Rebalance If you have a traditional IRA, you'll need to take annual distributions once you are 70 1/2 years of age. Use those distributions as part of your rebalancing process. Once retired, you should have anywhere from three to five years' worth of expenses in cash equivalents or short-term bond funds. Withdraw your living expenses from those reserves. Occasionally you'll need to replenish those accounts. Use your IRA distributions as part of that process. Tip: Don't forget to take your MRD. If you fail to take the correct amount, you'll pay a 50% penalty on the amount you should have taken in addition to ordinary income taxes. Ouch