Retirement plan?

[Csara]

I was watching something on the fineliving channel this morning about retirement savings. Obviously the earlier you start, the better. Does anyone have a special account, an IRA, etc. set up already to start saving for retirement? Do you put $ away every month, year?

[jana]

Yep, definitely. We both have retirement plans, but I'm not contributing to mine really regularly yet. Everything I've heard about investing & saving money says that you should max out the contributions you make to your retirement accounts before you build up college savings for your kids. Yes, we all want our kids to get a good education, but there are other ways for them to pay for their education (grants, scholarships, military, their own jobs, etc.), and once we stop working, how are we going to support ourselves?

You should look into getting, at the very least, a Roth IRA. They're great because you put the money in after taxes, so if you ever need to pull any out, there's no tax penalty for you.

[Csara]

Both J and I do have Roth IRAs, but like you, we don't contribute to them regularly. I also have a traditional IRA that my grandfather set up for me before he passed away.

[stacyl]

Since I started working after college I've had a 401(k) and I have a traditional IRA. I've always contributed at least as much as the company matches (usually 6-7% of my income). Since I stopped working we increased DH's contribution to his 401(k) to cover both of us.

[Jester]

...so if you ever need to pull any out, there's no tax penalty for you.

Be careful though. Here are the ways to pull money out of Roth IRA tax free. Otherwise you will incur penalties.

LINK (http://www.chase.com/cm/cs?pagename=Chase/Href&urlname=pfs/ap/retiresolutions/ira/tapping)

I was just wondering if anyone has heard of or used Mvelopes (http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-1285176-10013761)

It looks interesting and makes alot of sense when you compare it to traditional money manager software like Quicken and MSN money.