OK, technically it starts on 8/19 with my first automatic deposit of $330 that I just finished setting up.
I finally get the importance of the Roth, and while I am glad I got it together to do a 2004 contribution...I *hated* owing money on the eve of being consumer debt free. The psychological "weight" of that credit card balance isn't something I want again if I can avoid it, so I took the auto-contribution plunge.
Since I am starting late in the year, I will still have to find ways to do some catch up contributions to make the limit.
Making this commitment (while it makes a ton of sense to me) will severely impact my initial goal of having $10k in an emergency cushion by the end of the year (especially after a reduction in my income) so I still need to revisit that.
Just remember that Roth contributions can be withdrawn penalty-free at any time. Technically, they are still there for you to use in an extreme emergency.
ReplyDeleteHi FG! Thanks for commenting :) ...and thanks for the reminder. I had indeed been forgetting that contributions were eligible for early withdrawal (without penalty) and only
ReplyDelete_earnings_ are subject to the penalties and taxes if the distribution isn't "qualified". Whew.
Thanks again! (small load off the currently fizzled brain)