Roth IRA after FIRE

nico08

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Messages
429
I think the answer is no, but I wanted to make sure- after you FIRE, you can no longer contribute to a Roth IRA, is that correct? Is that because you need to have earned income in order to contribute to a Roth IRA? Are there other ways to put money into tax advantaged accounts after FIRE? Thanks.
 
You are correct about needing earned income to fund any IRA. However, if you have a working spouse, they can contribute to a spousal IRA for you.
 
Assume rental income = earned income? And does that also stand for traditional IRA?


Thanks
 
Rental income is passive income and thus not earned income. You need earned income (from either a job or self-employment) to contribute to an IRA.
 
Your best bet may be to Roth convert a tIRA, paying the taxes with money from a taxable account. This has the effect of shifting some of your taxable account (equal to the taxes paid) into the Roth IRA, where it is no longer taxed. Think of it this way: withdraw from tIRA, pay taxes from the withdrawn amount, leaving your net withdrawal. Now you can take that net withdrawal, add taxable money to it to bring the total back to the original tIRA withdrawal amount, and put it into the Roth. There is now more after tax value in the Roth than you had in the tIRA.

Also be sure to take advantage of your FIRE low income to make tIRA withdrawals or Roth conversions. The more you take out at low marginal tax rates, the less you have to take in RMD's later at possibly higher marginal tax rates.
 
What about hobby income? I'm not really sure how hobby income works - haven't read the IRS regs on it yet. If I sell a few photos during the year can I then max out a Roth contribution?
 
Thanks kaneohe, that's a good summary of the hobby vs. business rules. Looks like if it's truly a hobby, no earned income.
 
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