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Then you’ll have more room in your budget to put toward investing. Turn your home into a wealth-building tool.Get a side hustle, rent out a room in your home, or sell stuff lying around the house collecting dust. Cancel some subscription services, eat at home more, and look for better deals on car insurance. Look for savings in your monthly budget.Here are a few ways you could save extra cash to invest in your retirement:
Even if you’re just starting out, you could still give yourself a substantial nest egg by the time you retire. It’s never too late to invest for your retirement. But don’t let this market or your imminent birthdays keep you from taking the next step. If you’re behind, you might feel like you’re never going to catch up on your retirement goals. But if you use money for non-medical expenses, you do pay taxes on it- like you would with a traditional IRA. And once you turn 65, your HSA acts like a traditional IRA-which means you can take out money for anything you’d like, not just medical expenses. To make contributions to one, you have to be enrolled in a high-deductible health plan.
Take advantage of your HSA. With an HSA, you can save-and even invest-money to pay for deductibles and other medical expenses tax-free. And like we mentioned before, your real estate investing funds should be separate from your retirement savings-that’s why we don’t include real estate as part of the investment calculator. Don’t put yourself at financial risk by financing a rental property. But the most important one is this: We want you to pay cash for your real estate investments- no exceptions. Buying a rental property can be a great way to earn passive income, but there are some very important guidelines we recommend you follow-like staying local and having an emergency fund set aside just for your rentals. You can put as much money as you want into a taxable investment account (or brokerage account) and take money out whenever you want, but you’ll have to pay taxes on any money your account earns. Max out your 401(k) and tax-favored investment options. When you have extra money to invest, the first step is to max out your 401(k) and/or Roth IRA. That’s great! Next, you can think about putting your retirement savings into high gear and consider other investing options. If you’re still not saving 15% of your income with those options, then go back to your traditional 401(k) and invest the rest there if you can. Then, if you qualify to contribute to a Roth IRA, max that out. Traditional: If you don’t have a Roth 401(k), invest up to the match in your traditional 401(k). And the majority of your Roth 401(k) or Roth IRA balance is likely to be growth at retirement age. A Roth lets you make contributions with after-tax money, and then you have tax-free growth and tax-free withdrawals in retirement. Roth: Second, do all the Roth you can through employer-sponsored or individual accounts. Fully vested simply means 100% of your employer’s contribution belongs to you, and whether you’re fully vested right away or over time varies by employer.
You can think of it as a 100% return on investment-if your match is fully vested. Who wouldn’t? So, if your employer offers a match with their retirement plan, invest enough to get it all.
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Match: We will always take free money. And the way we look at it, a company match beats Roth beats traditional. If you have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan like a 401(k), you can start there. Not sure where to begin? It depends on the choices available to you and your eligibility. We recommend that you invest 15% of your income into tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts.