April 15th is a big day, and not just because your tax return (or extension) is due. It’s also the deadline for contributing to your traditional or Roth IRA for tax year 2014.
Many people are surprised to learn that they can actually contribute for the previous calendar year up until that April 15th deadline, provided of course the IRA was opened on or before December 31 of that previous year.
I spoke with a friend this week and he mentioned he had some extra money to invest right now. I asked if he had contributed to his IRA for 2014 and 2015, being that he had enough to fund contributions for both years. And that reminded me to nudge you to do the same.
By the way, the contribution limits for both Traditional and Roth IRA’s is $5500, unless you’re over 50, in which case the limit is lifted to $6500.
There are some nice tax advantages for IRA’s if you aren’t going to need the money between now and retirement time, and contributing to your IRA not only helps it grow, but also adds some importance to the account when it comes to how you think of it.
One of the things I teach in the IRA course here at OptionKick is how to give your IRA more attention to grow it so that it’s there one day for you when you need it. (I also teach a really practical way to create a revenue stream for your IRA beyond the standard contribution limit.)
So if you have some extra capital not currently in use, be sure to contribute what you can and beat the deadline. Your future self will be glad you did it!
Jeff