Comments on: When is it Time to Reduce Retirement Plan Contributions?

By: Money Smart Life » Show Them You Care With a Spousal IRA Contribution

Money Smart Life » Show Them You Care With a Spousal IRA Contribution — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:50:09 +0000

[...] Keeping Up IRA ContributionsOkay, this move probably won’t win you the spouse of the week award from your significant other but they’ll thank you for it later in life. I wrote the other day how I had cancelled my wife’s Roth IRA automatic contributions because she’ll be staying at home with our son. I mentioned this to a money buddy at work yesterday and he set me straight, “Go home and read about Spousal IRA’s”! [...]

By: plonkee

plonkee — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:23:55 +0000

Don’t forget to check that you individually have good retirement coverage – because they are individual accounts, you need to make sure that reducing your wife’s contributions won’t adversely affect her if she outlives you.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:55:22 +0000

Thanks for the support guys! I know you’re right, family is more important than the money. It’s just kind of an adjustment when you’ve spent your entire working life throwing as much money as you can into retirement accounts to suddenly cut way back.

By: limeade

limeade — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 02:54:35 +0000

You’ve got to live according to your priorities. More money in a retirement account isn’t necessarily going to make anyone happier.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:51:46 +0000

Good for you! It’s often hard to make an important decision but the fact that you have “made” one is already a good move.

The best of luck with your new family situation and hopefully you will still find time to blog!

By: KMC

KMC — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:18:41 +0000

Thanks for posting this. We did a similar thing when my wife stayed home – we contributed less or nothing to Roth IRAs for those years.

It takes guts to reject (if only temporarily) the mantra to max out retirement savings to the exclusion of everything else.