When did you start your Roth?

[asdf]

I'm so glad that this thread got started today, because I want to start a Roth this year and max out my contributions for 2013 before the opportunity is gone. At first I thought the contribution had to be made within the calendar year, which got me a little worried at first, but it was a relief to find out that the contribution doesn't have to be until April 15th. Thanks!

[moneybags]

My kids started contributing to Roth accounts at ages 3 and 6 (yes, they worked). Now that they are in their teens, they still contribute part of their earnings with a match from Mom & Dad. I'm hoping they continue to fund them.

[Petunia 100]

I started at age 40, currently age 47. I had to max out my contributions each year due to my late start. How I wished I had started earlier but I guess it is better late than never. My total balance should be about $35,500 (7 years x approx. $5000 per year (recently increased to $5500)= $35,500) but due to some risky investment choices my balance is about $26,000. My Roth IRA portfolio is mainly in gold and I bought it during its highest level.

Alternately, if you'd just bought the major indexes you'd have more than you put in, not less.

[Permanent Temp]

I opened mine when I was 18 but was never able to contribute much since I had to stop working at 19 to focus on my degree and didn't have gainful employment again until I was 23 at which point I had 3 maxed out credit cards.

I now am ramping up my savings since I just eliminated the credit card debt. I have a car loan I'd like to pay off too but I'm almost 30, I can make an extra car payment each month I am employeed and it would go away in a year. I figured out I can contribute 10% and still make extra car payments so I'm going to start there. Hopefully there won't be a large gap between this gig and the next so I can really contribute.

[Goldy]

I started mine at age 16 but wasn't able to max it out till 22 or so. I'm now 29 with a balance of 68k

[QuarterMillionMan]

To piggy-back on the OP's original question I would also like to add this question, "And how much do you have in your Roth?

[disneysteve]

To piggy-back on the OP's original question I would also like to add this question, "And how much do you have in your Roth?

Keep in mind that the answer to this is pretty meaningless as there are many variables: age, income, other retirement accounts, pension, etc.

I have about $115,000 in my Roth.
My wife has about $47,000 in hers.

However, our total retirement assets are about $300,000 with another $300,000 in non-retirement assets most of which will be used for retirement, so $600,000 all together. Only $162,000 is held in Roths. Since Roths have such a pathetically low contribution rate, they are of somewhat limited value if you want to save 15% for retirement. If you earn more than 37K/year, you need to put money somewhere besides just a Roth to get to 15%.

[bennkar]

I started my Roth IRA in 2007 and maxed it out every year. I also rolled in a IRA worth $11,000 in 2010 when you could do that easily and pay the taxes over two years. So about $47,000 put in, its now over $80,000. No index funds, just decent stock picks, mostly went up , though a few... not so much

As for retirement 457 plan, I've been putting in what I can for about 15 years, maxed out the last 6 years. Its now over $300,000. I'm 51, if I had started early like the OP, ay-yi-yi, who knows what I would have now. Though to be honest for years before I started saving for retirement I used most of my extra funds to pay off the house and pay off college loans, so I'm not complaining.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Just to preface these illustrations in advance that these are not Roth retirement accounts but rather these are; a 457 defined contribution retirement plan and a deferred compensation retirement plan, both of which I have been making contributions to since 2003 (so 10 years).


457 defined contribution retirement plan below;


County government deferred compensation retirement plan below;

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I would sacrifice now for later. But that's me. To the OP a lot of your threads are about saving and renovating your home. You can never take back the years of investing later when you have more to save. I wish we could have saved more later.

We started in 2006 and in another thread I wrote what we've saved since then. In the 7 years we've over $400k in retirement when we started with $2k. My DH didn't have a choice since being on a visa he couldn't save in a Roth IRA/401k. So until 2006 he had no options. I was able to save but the savings amount was like $2k/year at those years.

2000-2001 $4k, 2k year
2002-2004 $9k, 3k year
2005 $4k - saved that

So I could have saved $13k more but I didn't have much so I saved something like $8k, something like $2k/year for 2001-2005 but the real problem is when we had money to invest more in 2005, I had $1500 in my ROTH from risky investments. So big stupid!

But from 2005 on I maxed mine out and my DH maxed his out and I have like $60k in my Roth IRA which is okay but my DH has really made out well with the 401k. $130k in his Roth IRA, and $240k in 401k started since 2006. So earlier the better.

[bennkar]

But from 2005 on I maxed mine out and my DH maxed his out and I have like $60k in my Roth IRA which is okay but my DH has really made out well with the 401k. $130k in his Roth IRA, and $240k in 401k started since 2006. So earlier the better.

$240k just since 2006 (and started at $0)? Does he get a match in his 401k? Even maxing out all that time, I would not expect to get that much unless he can use catch up provisions and has a company match on top of it. Just curious, as I don't get a match, instead I have a pension, and I maxed out. My accounts probably rose ~$190k or so during that time - maybe he has better funds than I did?

[ZZZ]

I started contributing to my 401k (Military TSP) when I was 20 going through Basic Training. I then used most of the money I made in training to max out the previous years Roth contribution and the (then) current year just before my 22nd birthday.

The sooner you put it in, the better.

[sblatner]

I started my 401k when I was 22 - a long time ago. Didn't start a Roth til a few years ago when I finally convinced my husband that it was a good idea to have pre-tax, post tax with earnings tax free and then non retirement. Lots of different kinds of accounts to pull from in retirement.

I think the main thing is to start a Roth or 401k or some kind of retirement vehicle when you are young. You don't have to contribute a lot but if you can get the account open, it is easy to deposit money when you find you have extra. So, if your husband is against 10% or 7%, do 5%. Do $500 each if you can only afford $1000. It'll start to add up. Just check on fees. Some places charge fees if you don't have a minimum balance.

[Togeneral99]

I started my 401k when I started my current job in late 2005.
8 years later and with some employer contributions, I have over 77k in it. I started at 15% but quickly got in over my head in a new home and CC debt and had to drop it back to 6% and I've been trying to get it up to 15+% ever since.

Compounding interest is a wonderful thing but when you run all of the numbers you really can't make up for lost time, so get started ASAP.
Kudos for thinking about your retirement now because I know several people who are in their mid 50's and have less than $150k in their retirement and that is hard to try and make up for lost time

[cardtrick]

Started my 401K at age 24. For the first couple of years after college, I didn't even contribute up to the match. Why? Because I had this great idea to become so wealthy that I could retire by 28 if I wanted. I'm still working on that idea, BTW. I finally started making money off the idea this year. 30K so far this year. Next year should be much better. I started my Roth this year. Unfortunately, I will be above the income limits for Roth this year so I have to do a backdoor contribution. I will max it out every year, going forward. I also plan on maxing out my 401K next year.

401K - $20K
Roth - 0
Pension - 10K cash balance or $300 per month in about 35 years. Present value is much more than $10K. When I leave, I plan on rolling this into an IRA.

I'm 27 years old.