2013 IRA

Today, I funded my 2013 IRA, $5,500 into my traditional, non-deductible IRA.  Once the transfer from my Wells Fargo account to my Fidelity traditional IRA clears, I will immediately convert the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.  Since 2010, the income limits for Roth IRAs were removed by the Federal government, but one still has to contribute to a traditional and then convert to a Roth.  On Fidelity, it is easy to do.  I convert the funds immediately, while it is still in cash, as I don't want to incur any gains that I have to pay taxes on prior to conversion.

Thereafter, my plan is to watch the markets this week which have been down and up due to the government shut down and the debt ceiling debate.  I don't normally try to time the market, but if the Dow dips below 15,000 again this week I will make some investments.  For our IRAs, we invest in individual stocks, i.e. Apple or Ford, etc.  I like to use the expert preset strategies to find well rated stocks that are on sale.  

Additionally, I have set up our 2014 IRA savings account over at CapitalOne 360 (formerly known as ING)