Roth question

[FLA]

I just remembered I worked two days in January (grossly unsafe, poor choice), they put my money in my 403 b for those 2 days. If I could participate in that, does anyone know if I could also fully fund a Roth for the year? OMG, that would be awesome

[Atretes1]

You can put earned income in a ROTH up to 5500. So if you made 5500 those 2 days then yes you can fully fund a ROTH. Otherwise, its only what you earned.

[disneysteve]

You can put earned income in a ROTH up to 5500. So if you made 5500 those 2 days then yes you can fully fund a ROTH. Otherwise, its only what you earned.

Correct. The only other piece to this is if you are married and your spouse works. In that case, you could fund a spousal Roth with income he/she earned.

My wife doesn't work but I fully fund her Roth each year. Since she's over 50, I put in the full $6,500 for her and $6,500 in my own Roth.

If you are single, though, you are limited to your own earned income.

[FLA]

that stinks, I can probably put $12 into a Roth this year, lol. I am having a hard time not investing in retirement. I shouldn't do anything now, but when I know where I end up financially, maybe I can try non-retirement investing.
Single people seem to really get the shaft sometimes. I understand being able to contribute to a spouse's Roth if they are SAHMs. By why after that? They're probably in their 40's and should be able to work. If we're gonna do that, then singles want something in return. How about disabled people who worked for 23 yrs, being allowed to contribute to some sort of retirement vehicle? Because they would be working, they didn't choose not to. Not that this is not my exact scenario, but this exact scenario would be nice. Joke, sorta

[disneysteve]

maybe I can try non-retirement investing.

As long as you have money to invest, there's no reason why you can't invest. It just won't be in a tax-sheltered account. You can minimize the effect of taxes by choosing your investments accordingly. Index funds, for example, generate very little in capital gains so there is not much to pay in taxes each year. Exchange traded funds even less so. Depending on your age and allocation, TIPS (inflation protected Treasury bonds) are another thing to consider.