Old 403B/designated Roth, new 403B, no TIRA or Roth IRA

[casiemccartney]

Hello, I read a lot of the articles here on the basics and am hoping someone can shed some light on my situation.

• I have a 403B (Fidelity) and designated Roth (TIAA) from a previous employer before med school.


• I have a new 403B (Transamerica) with the current hospital of residency.


• I have no TIRA or Roth IRA.


• My spouse has a Roth IRA from previous employer.


• I am married and plan on filing separately for income based option for med school loans.


• I would like to open some kind of IRA and read the pages on backdoor Roth.

In order to achieve my goal which is to open an IRA, I have these questions I could not easily find on the world wide web.

1. What should I do with the balances, which are minimal ($1600 total) in my old 403B and designated Roth accounts? Should I rollover both into my new 403B or new TIRA or Roth IRA?


2. If so, which company should I open the new IRA account with, considering that I hope to do the backdoor roth and from what I read here, I should have TIRA and Roth IRA in the same company?


3. Looks like if you're MFS, you are ineligible to contribute to a roth IRA. However, am I still eligible to OPEN a new account, in order to ultimate do the backdoor Roth?


4. Does my spouse's old Roth IRA play any role?

Thank you so so much in advance for your advice as I keep going in a circle thinking about all the implications.

[jfoxcpacfp]

1. There is only 1 account, the 403b, which has a designated Roth, correct? So you have ~$2k pre-tax and ~$2k Roth? For this amount, I'd go ahead and roll the pre-tax into a Roth (pay the taxes) along with the designated Roth.


2. We use TDA, but it's a personal preference for each investor. Find a company that has easy-to-access and understandable reports. Fidelity is another good choice, also eTrade.


3. The fact that you're MFS is immaterial for a backdoor Roth IRA.


4. Nope.

[casiemccartney]

Thanks so much Johanna.

1. Sorry I wasn't clear about the balance, it's about 2K total. It was split half and half into those two accounts created with separate companies.

3. I see that MFS means you can't contribute to Roth IRA and wanted to know if that meant I also can't open a new one. So I can still open a new one as long as I don't directly contribute into it while maintaining MFS?

 

Thanks again for all your help!

[jfoxcpacfp]

casiemccartney wrote:

3. I see that MFS means you can’t contribute to Roth IRA and wanted to know if that meant I also can’t open a new one. So I can still open a new one as long as I don’t directly contribute into it while maintaining MFS?

Click to expand...

Actually, anyone with earned income can open a Roth, but you are limited based upon your filing status and income level combinations. For example, if you are filing MFS, you can't contribute to a Roth if you have AGI over $10k  However, anyone can make a Roth conversion. There is no limitation for that.