Start a Roth IRA before or after Marriage?

I'm going to get married in a few months. Neither of us have a roth IRA. We make below the cutoff salaries for single and married. Is there any benefit to starting individual ones now, or wait till we're married and have a combined one?Start a Roth IRA before or after Marriage?
IRAs are individual Retirement Arrangments. You cannot have a combined one.





Your concern should be divorce, where your spouse may be entitled to a portion of your IRA if you get a divorce.Start a Roth IRA before or after Marriage?
There is no such animal as a 'combined' one. Start a Roth whenever you feel you have the money--which seems to be when you are single.
Combined doesn't exist. You can have yours, which is also half hers, or she can have hers which will be half yours.





Common property laws stipulate that when you get married half of what you own is hers, and half of what she owns is yours. This includes debt.





Anyway, I prefer 401k over roth IRA because of the tax deduction. This especially holds true because usually your employer will match your contribution, which is essentially free money.





Start saving for retirement as soon as possible, reguardless of the route you would like to go.
I think that you should each start one now for the 2007 tax year. Then after you are married, you can continue to contribute each year after that. The sooner you start, the more you will have at retirement.