New attending questions

[Beechcrest]

New attending who just finished fellowship with a few questions:

 

Does the traditional roth income restriction go from April to April or January to January?  I am a new attending so it might make a difference for me.

 

Also can I fund a traditional roth till April, correct?  I have maxed out my 401K match, HSA, and payed off more of my med school debt (low rate not much left) in the first few months of work.  Should my next move be maxing out my roth for my wife and I since our income will be the lowest this year?  How do I logistically open a roth?  Do I go to Vanguard?  Or should I go where my 401K is.

 

Finally, I have a 401K with Charles schwab.  Any recommendations on what investment to pick?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

[Peds]

1) calendar year

2) by traditional roth, do you mean by the traditional way? depends on income. it is easier to do it all in the same year but doesnt matter.

3) yes your income qualifies for your wife is she does not work. you both can put 5500 into a rIRA but based on income might need to be backdoor method.

4) yes you go to vanguard or fidelity, you can do it all online.

5) if you tell us what investments you have, we can tell you what to pick.

[Veiled]

The reason @Peds is asking about traditional vs Roth is that those are the two types of IRAs (traditional IRA and Roth IRA). You can't have a "traditional Roth IRA" according to the IRS, but perhaps you mean "not a backdoor Roth IRA," as Peds said.

Just trying to help clarify in a friendly way. Sorry if below your level.

[jfoxcpacfp]

Beechcrest wrote:

New attending who just finished fellowship with a few questions:

 

Does the traditional roth income restriction go from April to April or January to January?  I am a new attending so it might make a difference for me.

Click to expand...

The amount you can contribute to an IRA is calculated/limited based upon your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) which is the bottom number on page 1 of your 1040.

To answer a question you didn’t ask ...since your income is at the lowest level it will be in 2017, possibly until retirement, you should also consider converting any pre-tax IRAs or rollovers from prior employment into Roth IRAs - you have until 12/31 to do this for 2017. You’ll need to calculate a tax projection to make your decision. The reason for this is that you’ll want to do backdoor Roth conversions (presumably) in the future and $$ in pre-tax IRAs will prevent you from doing this without taxes due.

Might find this post helpful: Explaining Backdoor Roth IRAs

[VagabondMD]

Based on your last question (which investments...), it really depends on what is offered, what is your time horizon, what is your risk tolerance and is probably beyond what can be answered in a forum post.

I would offer two suggestions for you as a new attending:

Read the Four Pillars of Investing (by fellow MD, William Bernstein), a fundamental investing book that will provide many of the tools and information that you need to make solid investing choices.

Try to pick low cost index funds and weigh them heavily on the stock side. If you have funds titled Total Stock Market Index and Total International Stock Index (or similar), start with these.