What is an IRA

What is an IRA or individual retirement account (IRA)?

An Individual Retirement Account, or IRA is a personal savings plan sponsored by the U.S. government designed to allow individuals to save money for retirement that can be either in the form of tax-deferred contributions or post-tax contributions.


The best thing about IRAs: 

The interest you earn on money invested in your individual retirement account isn't taxed until it's paid out to you at retirement, but don't confuse this with Roth IRAs which are funded with after tax dollars and withdrawals are not taxable at all! Therefore its better off with a traditional IRA than a Roth IRA because you get more benefit from it since there' s no taxes before and when withdrawing rather than just withdrawing from a Roth IRA.

The money you contribute to an Individual retirement account (IRA) can be deducted from your gross income for federal taxes, which is known as the tax-deduction IRA feature. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sets limits on how much you can contribute and deduct each year based upon your income.

Whether or not you will receive any tax benefits by investing in an individual retirement account depends on several factors: 

1) whether your situation allows you to qualify for a deduction of IRA contributions;

2) what type of IRA is best suited for you, either a Traditional or Roth IRA;

3) whether or not you make pre-tax contributions or after-tax contributions; and

4 ) how long you plan to save.

An individual retirement account (IRA) is a terrific tax-deferred savings vehicle, which allows your money to compound tax deferred over many years of contributions and earnings. To understand how an IRA works, you must first understand the difference between traditional and Roth IRAs. Traditional IRAs allow you to deduct eligible contributions from your gross income for that year. However, when distributions are made years later during retirement, they will generally be subject to taxation at the current rates depending on your current income level and adjusted gross income amounts reported on your tax return each year in retirement. The advantage of a traditional IRA is that it offers a faster way of saving towards your retirement due to full deduction for all eligible contributions from your gross income.

Traditional IRAs can be either deductible or nondeductible

Nondeductible traditional IRA contributions offer no tax deduction but the growth of your investments is not taxed until distributed from the account during retirement, and distributions are taxed as ordinary income just like when you receive wages for work performed.

Deductible traditional IRA contributions offer a current-year tax deduction for all eligible contributions made to the account. However, this also means that when distributions are made years later during retirement, they will generally be subject to taxation at the current rates depending on your current income level and adjusted gross income amounts reported on your tax return each year in retirement. The advantage of a deductible traditional IRA is that it offers an immediate tax deduction for all eligible contributions made each year.

The deductibility of your contributions depends on whether or not you meet certain requirements, including: 

1) being under the age of 70-1/2;

2) not participating in an employer retirement plan;

3) having no other IRA accounts except a rollover IRA from another 401(k);

4) receiving taxable compensation such as salary, wages, commissions and self-employment income.

If you are able to take advantage of the tax deductions through deductible contributions, make sure that you claim them on your tax return by filling out Form 8606 or Form 1040 and attaching it to your personal tax return form. You can increase the effectivness of your savings by combining both contribution types (deductible and non-deductible) in the same account. In other words, you can make both deductible contributions and non-deductible contributions to the same account during any given tax year provided that you make no more than $5,000 per year in total eligible contributions. The main difference between a deductible traditional IRA and a nondeductible traditional IRA is that only qualified distributions from the former are fully taxable as ordinary income while all distributions regardless of source will be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from a non-deductible traditional IRA.

The main advantage of a Roth IRA over pre-tax savings plans such as 401(k)s is that your money grows completely tax free within the Roth IRA account since all qualifying distributions will be tax-free. The advantage of a Roth over deductible traditional IRAs is that the amount of your future distribution income during retirement years will probably be lower than it would have been due to the fact that you never had to pay taxes on any original contributions.

In order for withdrawals from a Roth IRA account to escape taxation in retirement, the original contributions and earnings must first remain untouched within the Roth IRA throughout your entire lifetime and until you are at least 59-1/2. Qualifying distributions can be taken out without being subject to current taxation if these requirements are met: 1) they begin after age 59-1/2; 2) they occur "after" you have held an account at least 5 years; 3) they are attributable to an "income event" such as death, disability or reaching age 59-1/2.

Check out our reviews of the top Gold IRA investment companies:

Invest in Goldco IRA'S

Invest in Augusta Precious Metals

Invest in Birch Gold Group

Or read our Ultimate Guide to Gold and precious metals Investing



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