Spousal IRA

[Habibi_65]

Hi All,

I wanted to know if my wife could contribute to my Roth IRA. My income in 2017 after deductions (I am 1099 self employed) was $15K. My wifes income was 53K. For 2018 I expect my income to remain the same or a little bit higher but not by alot. Her income may be 65K-70K.

Can she contribute to my Retirement account since I dont really make alot of money? I was thinking she can just give me X-amount of $$ per month and I can go deposit them in my bank account and then transfer to my roth.

This will be my first retirement account that I open. I am 53. Never had an account before.

Thanks!

 

[cathy63]

Are you married filing joint tax returns? If so, then the pair of you can contribute $6500 to your Roth IRA. It doesn't matter who earns the the actual money that goes into it.

 

[Habibi_65]

Yes we will file jointly for 2018. I have a roth IRA open now. There is no money in it yet. How can she give me the money to deposit in it?

Does she just give me cash and I go deposit it into my bank account and then transfer the $$ to my roth?

Or can she transfer money from her bank account straight into my roth?

 

[Lawrencewendall]

I fund my DW ROTH every year. Her ROTH account is tied to our joint bank account and I just push it over.

 

[cathy63]

She could transfer the money directly, but that usually requires setting up the connection online and then going through a validation where they move a few cents back and forth, which might take a couple of days; or else doing a wire transfer which costs money. Also, I'm not entirely sure whether there would be an issue with the Roth account having only your name and the checking account having only her name on it.

To avoid any problems with the account owners having different names, I think the easiest thing to do is for her to just write a check to the brokerage and then you deposit it. The broker can tell you exactly how to make the check out, but it's usually just their name, like "Fidelity Investments". Then you fill out a deposit slip, which you also get from the broker, with your name and account number and either take it to a branch office or mail it in.

 

[HI Bill]

I use a joint checking account to fund my wife's IRA with Vanguard. After the verification process, I haven't had any problems. I just move $ into the joint checking, then straight on over to Vanguard.

 

[CP Soon]

Good post OP as I was thinking similar. We're both over 50, so let's say DW earns $6.5K in one year, can we both invest $6.5K ($13K total) even though there was only $6.5K in earnings? Also, does the $6.5K need to be gross or net wages? Thanks.

 

[cathy63]

Good post OP as I was thinking similar. We're both over 50, so let's say DW earns $6.5K in one year, can we both invest $6.5K ($13K total) even though there was only $6.5K in earnings? Also, does the $6.5K need to be gross or net wages? Thanks.

If the total joint income is $6.5K, then that's the maximum amount you can put in IRAs. In order to put in the entire $13K, then she needs to earn at least that much.