Let’s face it. Some of us are not going to finish 2007 with a net worth in the millions. That might be our goal, and we might plan to go after our goal with a fierce determination, but 2008 will find us once again googling terms like: make your first million, become rich fast, make millions, make more money. And we’ll be back reading the same old variations on the “Think and Grow Rich” theme, wondering why it apparently works for others but not for us. The reality of the matter is, you need more than just the desire to be rich and the discipline to apply the strategies outlined in whatever TAGR(Think and Grow Rich) formula you are following. If you’re trying to sell a product or service for which there are hardly any buyers, no amount of positive thinking and creative visualization is going to help you become rich selling that product or service honestly. In addition to having the desire and the discipline to do what is necessary to achieve wealth, you also need to have a viable means by which you plan to get rich.

How long have you been trying to get rich yourself? Long enough that you might be rich now if you had been focussed on accumulating wealth over time and focussed your search on finding practical and reliable ways to grow money and build wealth instead of looking for ways to make a million dollars fast, and ways to get rich overnight doing nothing?

If you’re 50 now and have been distracted by thoughts of making millions since you were 20, how much money do you think you might have now, had you religiously invested part of your weekly income in an IRA account for example? If you’re 20 now and thinking who wants to wait 3 or 4 decades to become a millionaire, you might consider that 3 or 4 decades from now you might still be looking for ways to “get rich fast”. At least if you’re growing your money in the meantime while looking for ways to get rich before you’re too old to enjoy your money, you might just find yourself able to retire in style.

The idea isn’t to stop focusing on trying to make money now. If your ambition is to become a millionaire you should keep after your dreams; but in the meantime, it can’t hurt to think down the road.
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A Guide to IRA Accounts
by: John Mussi

An Individual Retirement Account (or IRA) is a retirement plan account that provides some tax advantages for retirement savings. There are a number of different types of IRA accounts, some being employer provided plans and others you set up yourself.

Traditional IRA

In a traditional IRA, the money is deposited before being taxed. It accumulates tax free on earnings until being withdrawn at retirement, at which point the money is taxed.

Since the money is contributed before taxes, you take a tax deduction for it (some exceptions), then let it grow until retirement. So, when you retire (presumably in a lower tax bracket) the money is taxed.

The main restriction on this one is that your annual contributions are only tax deductible if you’re not covered by a pension, 401K, or any other retirement plan where you work. You can contribute only certain amounts per person into a Traditional IRA each year if you’re under age 50, or slightly more if you’re over age 50.

SEP IRA

A SEP IRA is a provision that allows an employer (typically a small business or self-employed individual) to make retirement plan contributions into a Traditional IRA established in the employee’s name, instead of to a pension fund account in the company’s name.

SIMPLE IRA

A simple IRA is a simplified employee pension plan that allows both employer and employee contributions, similar to a 401(k), but with lower contribution limits and simpler (and thus less costly) administration. Although it is termed an IRA, it is treated separately.

Education IRA

In the past, Education IRAs were fairly low brow with a very low maximum contribution. As of 2002, however, these investments became really useful by allowing you to contribute a much larger amount per child per year (subject to some income limitations). The money goes into a custodial account for benefit of the child to pay his/her qualifying education expenses.

Also, you can now use an Education IRA to pay for any kind of education, public or private, grade school, high school or college. It can also be used to pay for virtually any education-related expense, too tuition, fees, books, supplies, room and board, uniforms all that stuff.

Some rules to remember

Most retirement plans can be rolled into IRAs after meeting certain criteria, and most retirement plans can accept funds from an IRA. There are a few things that cannot be funded into an IRA, however. They include collectibles including valuable coins or life insurance. IRAs cannot generally hold real estate unless it is held as a form of security such as a real estate investment trust (REIT), or if the IRA is held by a custodian who makes all transactions. There are certain special restrictions on real estate held in an IRA, and IRA’s are exempt from most bankruptcy proceedings. /p>

Unlike 401(k) accounts, borrowing against IRAs is generally not allowed. However, the rules regarding IRAs allow assets in them to be transferred from one account to another. This can be used to temporarily “borrow” money from the IRA, once per year. The money must be placed in another IRA account within 60 days to qualify as an “indirect rollover” and avoid taxes and penalties.

If you open an IRA account at your place of employment, most will allow you to keep the account even after you no longer work for them. Be sure to check with your employer on all policies concerning your IRA and whether or not the account will remain active after your employment has been terminated.

Copyright © John Mussi