Awesome answers to everything! Didn't really need an answer, my first car was a two-cycle three cylinder Saab sedan. It sounded like a very loud chainsaw. Front wheel drive, easy change thermostat to go from Summer to Winter, and one of the first front wheel drive cars around. I've been mixing oil and gas all my life. I use a 1983 Husqvarna 44. It runs great, hot knife through butter when cutting wood. The new ones use 50 to 1 and I've always used 40 to 1 with this one. So that's my two cents. Keep writing these awesome answers. This is a great website!

USAA has a good rep so I don't think it should be a problem for you to leave it there for a while. SmartMoney's website I believe is free for access, but I could be wrong - I'm a WSJournal subscriber and the two are owned by the same company so there's a lot of cross-links on the websites. It isn't easy finding an good independent fiduciary advisor, but for people who need help developing a comprehensive financial plan (which is not the same as earning a high ROI on investments), I think it's essential. Most middle-class folks would find it helpful to talk to a neutral third party who can ask the hard questions and analyze your total financial picture. One thing for everyone to be aware of is that when I refer to financial planning, this is not only a legal term, it actually refers to creating a 'road map' that takes you from your current financial situation to achieving your short, medium, and long-term goals. It is aiming for a moving target, so any life-changing events - life, death, marriage, divorce, change of job - means some fine-tuning may be needed to your plan. To produce a good plan requires time spent in not only gathering all your financial info and analyzing it, but defining your goals. Some will be achievable and some will not be. Only you can define and prioritize them, and a good advisor will help if needed. You can get a financial plan, separate from investing advice, from any certified fiduciary advisor. Cheaper ones are computer 'plug in the numbers' produced, so always make sure you understand the base assumptions, and have multiple scenarios run to be sure you're covered for any contingencies/emergencies you haven't foreseen. Establish the total cost of meeting, gathering info, analyzing, and producing the plan(s) up front before signing anything. It takes time to do a financial plan, and anyone promising you it will be easy and fast isn't going to do a comprehensive job. It's an advantage for the fiduciary to be an insurance agent OR to be very familiar with insurance analysis, because many people could use advice on how to use different types of insurance to mitigate risk in various areas of their life. At a minimum you should contact at least three fiduciary advisors, obtain references, and investigate them thoroughly, before working with one. Even if all you need is a financial plan, do the research, but confine the requested references to clients who received a financial plan at least three years ago and are willing to discuss its usefulness. It is not uncommon for people to pay for a financial plan and then follow the suggested actions on their own; e.g., do their own investing, etc., without engaging the advisor to handle their portfolio. OTOH, a financial plan that goes unimplemented is just a useless piece of paper. We used to have to gently 'nag' our clients that they still hadn't completed certain checklist items on their plan, so it depends on how good you are at doing tasks that many people put off....until it's too late.

Thanks - but I guess I am confused again on several points. 1) I do have a separate account for a roth IRA created a few years ago. I was hoping to contribute the max $5k, to my Roth and the max $5K to a reg IRA (after tax), in addition to what i already contributed to my old 401K (which I will be rolling over into an IRA account.) Is there a limit on what the yearly total of the three account contributions can be? 2) Since I was previously putting about 30-35% of my income into my 401K in previous years, trying to get as close to the max as I could, i am worried about a big tax hit this year (6 months of full income with no 401K deductions to reduce it), so was looking for an option to reduce my tax bite. 3) If need to keep all my pre and post tax IRA records, it sounds like I will have a lot to do on retiring in 5-8 years, going thru all my old IRA records (hmmm, about 30 years worth of monthly statements from a variety of companies), I had thought this was true, but apparantly I got some bad advice from an accountant a few years ago, who assured me there was no reason to keep all my various accounts (pension and 401K rollovers, and post and pre tax iras) separate. Argh! such fun to look forward to - but I am pretty sure I saved most everything - got the cardboard boxes to prove it.

Jen, sometimes things change when you least expect them, and thank goodness for a retirement plan! DH and I started getting things pulled together a bit later than most couples, he was 62, and *talked* about retiring at 70, and I was 61~that was 14 years ago. DH was forced into retirement at 69, when it was discovered he had bile duct cancer, with a very poor survival rate. He passed away 7 months after the diagnosis. Being an auditor/accountant he was quite a planner and had a pension plan already in place, and had started taking SS when he got the diagnosis. I had started taking mine at 62, when the business I was working at went bellyup. We also put together a porfolio since he had many stock options with his company, as well as stocks gifted by his grandmother. We added bonds and a few other options, as well as a 401K, which is now part of an IRA. When he passed away he had several life insurance policies, and I decided to purchase 3 annuities which are 'adding up quickly' as I only started taking RMD's last year. Considering your relatively young age, an annuity might work for you. In all honesty, my 'lifestyle', which I don't consider high end, the SS/pension is quite enough, and the RMD's go into a separate savings account. I never understood DH when he talked about 'saving for retirement', but thank goodness he was a *thinking* man! I get way too many emails with re:to retirement/savings, and thought this might be of interest to you. You're a very smart young woman for thinking of what could be *your* future. Best of luck, Jen! http://www.frugalrules.com/betterment-review-investing-option/