I Finally Maxed My Roth IRA

This week I have been very busy with school, work and the end of tax season. Last Monday, I received a letter from Transamerica Funds, the custodians of my Roth IRA. I originally opened an account with Transamerica because they had an S&P 500 based fund and was able to contribute a low $408 to open my account. In the letter, they indicated that, upon shareholder approval, they would liquidate their S&P 500 based fund by the end of the month. I still needed to make a $2000 contribution to my Roth for 2004, anyway, so I took that opportunity to open a Roth IRA with Vanguard. I also am in the process of transferring the remainder of my Roth IRA to Vanguard. I’ve always wanted to open an account with Vanguard, but they have a $1000 minimum, and I couldn’t afford to make that kind of contribution last year. After confirming a few account details like custodial fees, I opened an account online. It was incredibly easy and took about 10 minutes or so. I finally was able to max my Roth IRA, according to my plan. I took $1000 from my mid-April paycheck. I am abstaining from a lot of extras this month to be able to do that. I “borrowed” the remaining $1000 from my ING Emergency Fund. It wasn’t ideal, but I’m glad I was able to max my Roth IRA this year. On another note, my Quicken arrived, so I will probably be up late tonight setting everything up.