"Bill Woessner" <woessner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:b7e9629a-f93f-49f2-84e7-5ad098cf5d05@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> In retrospect, it seems pretty clear that we have contributed too much
> to our retirement accounts over the past few years. One possible way
> of correcting that would be to withdraw our Roth contributions. We
> have $24K in Roth contributions, which is about 1/4 of our total
> retirement savings. However, I'm loathe to do that because once done,
> it can't be undone. And I kind of like the idea of that money
> generating tax-free retirement income.
>
Bill, I think you'll find the general consensus is that at your age you
cannot have saved too much for retirement. You and your wife have done
well
to this point. One cannot predict the future and, while we always believe
things will continue pretty much as they are, life occasionally takes a
turn. Be thankful that you have established a good and solid foundation
for
your older age. Withdrawing any of it now is likely a mistake.
Without more information it is difficult to truly answer your question as
to
the best way to balance present and future needs. It isn't clear that you
should stop all retirement savings, but I agree that cutting back for a
time
may be prudent so that your emergency fund is built back up and that you
have the sort of cu****on for non-retirement purchases that you need.
As Dave pointed out, contribute enough to your workplace retirement plan
to
get any employer match. You can tem****arily suspend IRA contributions to
build your emergency fund. If one of you has only an IRA and not a
workplace
plan, however, you should continue those IRA contributions.
Dave suggested that you start making car "payments" now in anticipation of
that car purchase. You may need to delay the purchase in order to be able
to
pay cash, but you thinking of paying cash is wise. You'll have a new
house,
but houses have a way of eating money in unanticipated ways. Decide on an
amount that seems reasonable for home maintenance and start making those
"payments" too.
Elizabeth Richardson
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