monthly post about money

[bertine]

A poll, since I am trying to decide. I don't know which to do. One will get rid of debt (which I get stressed out about), one will make my life more comfortable in the future and the other will make my life more comfortable now (plus make my condo more valuable).

[Poll #825767]

Comments

[bertine.livejournal.com]

i have 14 years left on a 15 year mortgage so it will be paid off well before i retire in 30-some years. my rate is 4.65% fixed, so there isn't a real reason to worry about that either.

i already save about 15% of my income between a 401(k) and a traditional IRA. i think i agree with you, the Roth IRA only allows me to save 3,000 (i think) but it would be nice to have some tax-free money when i retire. Plus I am far enough away from retirement that even if i did it for a couple years it would grow pretty well.


personally i think it is funny how divided people are between the mortgage and the roth plus who picked which.


i should get the AARP stuff, that might be helpful info.

[leahderose.livejournal.com]

the roth and traditional IRA have the same contribution limit, you can't contribute more then a total of $4000 this year, in a couple years it goes up to 5000. The advantage of the roth IRA is that all interest you earn is tax free, which will be quite a bit over 30 years. The disadvantage is you have to pay taxes on it now, but unless you're in a high tax bracket this may be a better option then the traditional IRA. With your mortgage as low as it is, you'll be able to earn a higher rate then that on a roth IRA- mine is over 5% this year.