Investing before Grad school?

[Cmoney]

Hello All,

I'm relatively new to MMM, and this is my first post.  Here's a quick rundown of my situation: I'm 25, I share a low-rent property, do not own a vehicle, I have no outstanding debt and roughly $54,000 in savings.  My annual income is low, however (about 25k), and I plan on attending law school in 2017.  My employer does not have a matching program but they do provide me health insurance.  Should I begin maxing out my annual IRA contributions with that money?  Should I consider other investments?  Or is it a better idea to hold on to that cash to put towards school?  Up until recently I have been lazy with IRA decisions, and I think that needs to change, but part of me is wondering if I should just wait until after I have completed law school.  Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks!

[onlykelsey]

Why would you wait until after law school?  You definitely should be making your IRA contributions! I saved as much as I could through law school as well, although it was just a couple grand a year, I believe.  I've never heard of a match on an IRA, are you talking about a 401(k) matching program?

[nereo]

absolutely, positively do not wait. 
Fund your IRA for 2015, and 2016 (that's $11k you can contribute now).

Then, figure out how you can go to lawschool without wracking up massive amounts of debt.  Yes, it CAN be done.

[forummm]

I contributed before, during, and after school. I even contributed instead of paying back loans. And took out a loan to contribute. I'd do it again.

[onlykelsey]

absolutely, positively do not wait. 
Fund your IRA for 2015, and 2016 (that's $11k you can contribute now).

Then, figure out how you can go to lawschool without wracking up massive amounts of debt.  Yes, it CAN be done.

Agreed.  Definitely fund 2015 now, and if you really want to think about this for 2016, you have 12 months to figure it out.

Agreed also that you can go to law school without massive amounts of debt (I think I had ~40K), but it sounds like OP has signed on somewhere.  What's the story with law school, OP?  Also, have you looked in to what gets counted towards aid?  I suspect retirement accounts do not, or they count at a reduced rate.

[Cmoney]

I contributed before, during, and after school. I even contributed instead of paying back loans. And took out a loan to contribute. I'd do it again.

Good to know.  I'm currently banking with Wells Fargo, which is where my IRA is held.  I'm thinking I should roll that over to Vanguard before I make the contribution and then begin investing it (rather than going through Wells Fargo's advisors).

[nereo]

I contributed before, during, and after school. I even contributed instead of paying back loans. And took out a loan to contribute. I'd do it again.

Good to know.  I'm currently banking with Wells Fargo, which is where my IRA is held.  I'm thinking I should roll that over to Vanguard before I make the contribution and then begin investing it (rather than going through Wells Fargo's advisors).

Rolling over to Vanguard is a good idea.  However, you do not need to do a Roll Over before starting a new IRA.  You can have as many IRAs held under as many brokerages as you like, as long as your annual contribution doesn't exceed $5500.
Simplicity is of course better here, but ... technically speaking... you don't *need* to do the rollover first (or ever).

[Cmoney]

I contributed before, during, and after school. I even contributed instead of paying back loans. And took out a loan to contribute. I'd do it again.

Good to know.  I'm currently banking with Wells Fargo, which is where my IRA is held.  I'm thinking I should roll that over to Vanguard before I make the contribution and then begin investing it (rather than going through Wells Fargo's advisors).

Rolling over to Vanguard is a good idea.  However, you do not need to do a Roll Over before starting a new IRA.  You can have as many IRAs held under as many brokerages as you like, as long as your annual contribution doesn't exceed $5500.
Simplicity is of course better here, but ... technically speaking... you don't *need* to do the rollover first (or ever).

Thanks for pointing that out.  That was another question I had.