The Secret to Saving for Retirement: Start Before You're 20

[question everything]

(snip)

Among the options for those who are younger, a Roth IRA makes sense because of the tax advantages. Once a child earns income, they are eligible to open up an individual retirement account. By making it a Roth IRA, children can get decades of tax-free compounding, giving them the potential to build a meaningful nest egg with little money down.

A traditional pretax IRA, which offers an upfront tax break, is of little or no value to a teenager. A Roth IRA makes sense when your present earnings are likely lower than what you will earn in retirement. Unlike a traditional IRA, contributions to a Roth are made after taxes. Teens are ideal candidates, since most pay very low or no taxes.

Roth IRAs for teens are gaining in popularity. The average age of those with custodial Roth IRAs, where an adult sets up the account with the child as beneficiary, is 13.7 years, Fidelity Investments said. The number of these accounts in June grew 28% year-over-year.

If you’re under 18, you need an adult to act as custodian and control the account. There is some paperwork to transfer it to your name later, typically when you reach 18 or 21, depending on your state.

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[3Hotdogs]

1. If you set one up for your tyke, make sure they know the penalty for early withdrawal.

[Shermann]

2. Yes, Roth IRA in your 20's and 30's and transition to IRA + Roth IRA during your peak earning years

That said, I've exhaustively run simulations of these scenarios and the differences in outcomes aren't that significant. The important thing is to reduce expenses and save as much as you can in whatever account you prefer. The amount you save matters most.

Good earners with 401K's can generally salt away a bit more in a Roth IRA unless they are really killing it with their W-2 income. So, there's often no need to choose one or the other: choose both to hedge the tax exposure.

[mike_c]

3. the secret to retirement is good union jobs

I didn't save a dime until my mid-fifties but we have a comfortable retirement today, including buying our first house in our sixties. The secret? Social Security and Medicare. A modest *defined benefit* lifetime pension, with good health insurance to supplement Medicare. A strong union while I was employed. That's the secret.

The American labor market does its best to suppress wages as low as possible. That's not a market that will ever support retirement savings for most people. As long as American businesses low-ball wages as a matter of principle, it will not be possible for most workers to save their way to retirement.

Organize, or work until you drop.

[snowybirdie]

4. How many

20 year olds worry about retirement income? Give them time to enjoy their young lives.

[question everything]

6. Up to the parents.

There are several examples that I snipped but if you read the first couple paragraphs the girl is a beekeeper.

[BlueTsunami2018]

5. There are very few teenagers with that kind of foresight.

And it’s really discouraging that they’d have to think that way. When you’re young you know you’re going to live forever and you want to have fun. In the world today, things are ridiculously expensive and it’s hard for young people to even move out of the house let alone start buying IRAs. Hell, if it wasn’t for my union with our deferred income plan, annuity and pensions, I’d probably have next to nothing. I never would have saved that money on my own. I’m really lucky to have fallen into the trades where they force you to.

So, yeah, this is sound advice but it’s unrealistic to expect kids to even know about such things let alone do them.

[Shermann]

7. Another hurdle young people face is student loan debt

Making significant investments into the stock market when you carry significant student loan debt is a dangerous game. This is essentially trading on margin. Financial guru Dave Ramsey recommends aggressively paying down that debt instead. I think he's right.

[BlueTsunami2018]

8. True. If you join a trade union, they pay you to go to school.

No debt and within 4-5 years you’re making $80-150k.

[Mark.b2]

9. The key point is you can never start saving too soon!

I often get an hour with each of my company's manager trainees. I always take 10-15 minutes of my time to advocate for starting their retirement saving ASAP. At a minimum, they should contribute the maximum to get the max match from the company.

I'm usually pleasantly surprised how most have already been thinking about it.

I always push the make-up period where those of us over 50 can give a higher amount.

I always talk about how the earlier they start, the sooner they learn to live without the $$$.

As an aside, I don't understand why the govt limits me on how much I can contribute to my 401(k). Almost every year after my company's 401(k) discrimination testing, part of my retirement contributions are returned! It's annoying. If I wanted to put 50% of my earnings in retirement, I should be able.

The age for having access my 401(k) should be lower. I'd reduce it to 55. Were I calling the shots, there wouldn't he q minimum.

[question everything]

10. Good thing that you encourage new hires to start savings. And I can see the reasons for

limiting the contribution by the higher earners.

I think that if the age for withdrawal be lowered, many will deplete their accounts quickly.

This is what is nice about Social Security - so far - one cannot deplete their calculate benefits.

[Happy Hoosier]

11. Can a parent fund a Roth for a kid?

My daughter is 21... in college. She has a small nest egg that was a gift from her grandmother on her 21st birthday (a small investment fund). She wants to retain access to that to "start her life" when she's out of school.

I would like her to open a Roth and for her mon and I to dump, say $10K into it over the next couple of years.... and just let that grow for the next 40 years. I don;t think there is any income requirement to fund a Roth, right? If we just gift her a couple thousand every 6 months or so with the intention of funding the Roth, that's legal right? I'll look in to this, but figure I'd ask here.

Just dumping $10K in there now would result in about $250K of non-taxable money. I hope to leave her a nest egg too, but lots of variables in that.

[question everything]

14. Yes, there is an income requirement and the amount that one can contribute is $6,500

Look at IRS Publication 590-A.

[question everything]

13. Welcome to DU