Individual Retirement Accounts

If you’re looking for a safe way to earn money for retirement, consider an individual retirement account (IRA). A North Shore Federal Credit Union IRA provides a safe place for some of your retirement savings, especially important the closer you get to retirement.

A NSFCU IRA offers tax advantages as well: all earnings are tax deferred and current year contributions may be tax deductible - that’s significant regardless of age.

IRA contributions are fully deductible if:

You don’t actively participate in an employer’s qualified retirement plan or your spouse does not participate if you file jointly;
You’re married, filing jointly and one or both spouses are covered by a qualified plan but your modified adjusted gross income is less than $40,000; or
You’re single and covered by a qualified plan, but your modified adjusted gross income is less than $25,000.

You can receive partial deductions if you’re covered by a qualified plan and 1) married filing jointly with a modified income between $40,000 and $50,000, or 2) single with a modified adjusted gross income between $25,000 and $35,000.

Tax deductible or not, IRAs still offer one of the best tax breaks around — tax deferred earnings until you withdraw funds. And don’t think you have to deposit the full $3,000. In fact, payroll deduction makes depositing even small amounts to your NSFCU IRA easy and convenient.

Committing IRA dollars sooner rather than later pays off. Consider the following: Saver No. 1 deposits $2,000 in an IRA earning 6% on Jan. 1 each year vs. Saver No. 2, who waits until the following year on April 15 to start saving $2,000 at 6% each year. At the end of 30 years, Saver No. 1 will have accumulated almost $15,000 more than late Saver No. 2. Saver No. 1 has $173,404.82, Saver No. 2, $158,547.22.

So make the most of your IRA. Your actions today will help you retire comfortably tomorrow. As a way to help you meet your retirement savings needs, NSFCU offers an IRA Share Savings Account and IRA Share Certificates that feature a low $500 minimum and terms from 6 months to 5 years.