My wife and I both have contributions to the retirement plans offered by our employers deducted from our paychecks. In addition to those pre-tax retirement contributions, we also make monthly contributions to our Roth IRAs.
For me, the annual contribution limit to my Roth IRA is $5000. (See IRS Publication 590 for complete information about contribution and income limits.) My wife’s limit is the same.
The contribution time-table for both the Roth IRA and the Traditional IRA runs from January 1, 2009 until April 15, 2010. That’s right. We have until the tax-filing deadline of 2010 to make contributions to IRAs for 2009.
So, even if you haven’t made contributions for 2009, there’s still time. We have six months to contribute as much as we can, up to our contribution limits. Remember, once the deadline passes, we can’t go “back” and make contributions for the 2009 fiscal year. We’ll have to settle for making contributions for the 2010 fiscal year.
Between January 1 and April 15, there is an over-lap, and contributions can be made for both 2009 and 2010. We indicate, using the memo line on our checks, the year for which we are making a contribution.
You hit the nail on the head when you say you can’t go back and contribute for a year which has already past. The opportunity cost of NOT contributing the maximum amount to your Roth IRA is extremely high, especially the younger you are.
Thanks for the reminder! I’m at nearly 2K for 2009 – time to put in the work and hit the full 5K.