Roth IRA for Kids: If you have a child who works, consider encouraging the child to use some of the earnings for Roth IRA contributions. All that is required to make a Roth IRA contribution is having some earned income for the year. Age is irrelevant. Specifically, for 2012 your child can contribute the lesser of: (1) earned income or (2) $5,500. By making Roth IRA contributions for just a few years now, your child can potentially accumulate quite a bit of money by retirement age. Heres what can happen. If your 15-year-old contributes $1,000 to a Roth IRA each year for four years starting now, in 45 years when your child is 60 years old, the Roth IRA would be worth about $33,000 if it earns a 5% annual return or $114,000 if it earns an 8% return. If your child contributes $1,500 for each of the four years, after 45 years the Roth IRA would be worth about $50,000 if it earns 5% or about $171,000 if it earns 8%. If the child contributes $2,500 for each of the four years, after 45 years the Roth IRA would be worth about $84,000 if it earns 5% or a whopping $285,000 if it earns 8%. You get the idea. With relatively modest annual contributions for just a few years, Roth IRAs can be worth eye-popping amounts by the time your child approaches retirement age. For a child, contributing to a Roth IRA is usually a much better idea than contributing to a traditional IRA for several reasons. The child can withdraw all or part of the annual Roth contributions-without any federal income tax or penalty-to pay for college or for any other reason. (However, Roth earnings generally cannot be withdrawn tax-free before age 59 1/2.) In contrast, if your child makes deductible contributions to a traditional IRA, any subsequent withdrawals must be reported as income on his or her tax returns.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 01:26:56 +0000
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