Craig Wear, CFP, explains why depositing money into a Roth IRA isn't enough. If you contribute $280,000 over 40 years but never pick investments, your cash sits idle. Actually investing that same amount could grow to roughly $3 million.
Craig Wear, CFP®.
$280,000 (contributed over 40 years).
Approximately $3,000,000.
Contributing is not investing. Stop making this mistake. Here's the biggest Roth IRA mistake people make. They open an account. They deposit money every month. Then they assume they're investing. Wrong. The money just sits there doing nothing. Unless you actually choose investments, whether it's the s and P500 or some other index, it's just not going to grow. But look, here's the difference. Just contributing, say, $280,000 after 40 years versus contributing and investing could be around $3 million a year. Don't just fund your Roth IRA, invest it. Otherwise, you're just parking cash with a fancy label. And although this may seem like super obvious advice, it's amazing how many people make the mistake.
