Is a Roth IRA really worth it?
IRA’s have not been beneficial to investors for quite a while. I am not certain that putting cash into a ROTH IRA is wise vs buying a hard asset and letting it appreciate or inflate in value. Like gold or farm land or real estate.
Permalink Submitted by Jose Morales on Thu, 2012-07-26 16:18
An IRA, Roth or otherwise, is not an investment. They are a government created savings plan meant to encourage people to save for their retirement. The investments within either a Traditional or Roth IRA can be pretty much anything that you can invest in outside of an IRA, with a few prohibited items to take into account.
Permalink Submitted by Barbara Ohlinger on Thu, 2012-07-26 20:12
I think a govt savings plan that consistantly loses value is not a good thing. What would be a better long term place to put a person’s savings?
Permalink Submitted by Jose Morales on Thu, 2012-07-26 20:27
I don’t think you understand. Investments are held within an IRA, the IRA is not the investment. It is the investment held within the IRA that either increases or decreases in value. The investment would have the same potential to increase or decrease in value regardless of whether it is held with in an IRA or not.
Permalink Submitted by Barbara Ohlinger on Wed, 2012-08-01 15:02
A ROTH IRA is of no value if your investments decrease. If investments increase then it provides tax savings. But all these IRA and retirement IRA plans in general are a joke with stock values decreasing. With deflation cash is better anyway.
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Wed, 2012-08-01 18:56
You can certainly invest in a golf ETF like GLD in your TIRA or ROTH IRA. The ETF is backed by actual gold bullion. It won’t pay any dividends but has the potential to increase in value. Bonds have also produced better total returns than stocks over the last few years.
There has also been alot of recent criticism of 401k accounts. While some plans contain unreasonable fees, the bulk of the criticism is not due to plan failures but to the poor investment returns in the last decade that leave people short of their retirement goals.