Gift a Roth IRA? Bad Idea?

[travelover]

My step daughter is getting remarried this summer. She has stated that they have enough "things" but would welcome cash gifts. I have been trying for years to get her to start investing for her own retirement (she is 37).

Would gifting her a Roth IRA be a bad idea?

 

[Animorph]

I did that with DS after he finished college ahead of plan. I gave him $10k for two year's worth. He actually did get it into a new Roth account at Fidelity, as contributions for two years. Then, about six months later, he looked at it and realized he actually had to buy something with the cash! It wasn't like his 401k account at work. So he finally bought into a target retirement fund I believe. At least that's the story.

 

[donheff]

I have been putting a couple of thousand into a Roth I set up for my 27 YO daughter for a few years. She is fully funding her work 401K but not otherwise saving at this point. The Roth seems a better destination for gifts than a taxable account.

 

[travelover]

I have been putting a couple of thousand into a Roth I set up for my 27 YO daughter for a few years. She is fully funding her work 401K but not otherwise saving at this point. The Roth seems a better destination for gifts than a taxable account.

Thanks. My hope is that the money will stay in the Roth as opposed being used for a vacation or electronic toys. It seems a little presumptive of me to tell her how to spend the money, but then again, she has not gotten into the savings habit.

 

[sengsational]

I opened one for each daughter in the year they started making money (federal work study and a catering thing, both during full time college, so minimal real bucks). Put it into a total market index and turned off paper statements (not Vanguard because the minimum was too high). They could technically sell, but I doubt they will, since it's a retirement account, AND, they hate to hear me say "I told ya so".