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Do You Have An IRA?

If you are self employed, or your employer does not have a retirement plan, you can still take advantage of tax deductions for retirement savings. One of the most common, and easiest, things to do is to set up your own IRA online. Many people never take advantage of this because they think it is complicated, or that they need to pay a financial professional to handle the job for them. Actually it has become very easy to do, and you can do it yourself with the help of some very good online investment systems.

I will use the example of sharebuilder.com, because it is something I am familiar with. You can set up online accounts, and one account type you can choose is an IRA. You can also just set up regular savings or investment accounts too. Here are some things that are handy and flexible about the system.

• You can decide how you want to transfer money from a regular bank account, or you can even use their own online bank.
• You may have automatic transfers made every month from a bank account. I like this option because it forces the “pay yourself first” mentality. If you have a month when you have extra cash, you can always contribute more money to your IRA too.
• If you do not like the idea of making automatic transfers, you are free to move money when you feel like it.
• You can allocate your savings into a variety of stocks, money market, mutual funds, or regular savings.
• If you have no idea how to invest your money, the system has some handy tools that will make automated recommendations based upon your own goals, risk tolerance, and age.
• There are also tools for researching different alternatives. Some basic tools are free, though you may have to pay for higher levels of research.
• If you want to switch your investment strategy, you can also do that at any time. You can also buy and sell within the account.

You do not have to be a sophisticated investor to take advantage of these online IRA accounts. Of course, the more you educate yourself, the better you will do. But I am sure that those automatic payments, left alone for a few years, will start to grow into a nice retirement account to help your future be more secure!