I finally decided to stop researching and act. This past Monday I moved my Schwab Roth IRA and Traditional IRA over to Vanguard and instructed them to put both funds in VTSAX. I’ve read the full investing series at
http://jlcollinsnh.com/, among many, and even Jack Bogle’s book.
The two different IRA’s in my possession are the result of a Roth 401k plan I had with a previous employer. My contributions went into a Roth account, and their match went into a traditional account.
My question is, should I leave both of these IRA’s separate, or eventually think about rolling the traditional IRA over to the Roth? I know there would be a tax hit, but I’m only 27 and figure that by the time I retire most of the value of both accounts will be interest, so it would be nice to not pay tax on the gains. Or if I leave both separated, should I just contribute to the Roth, or both? I know the limit is around $5500/yr, but does that apply to just one or the cumulative contributions to both?
Thank You, and here’s a link describing my current goal of paying off my student loans:
http://jlyblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/goal-1/