The designated age groups in question are under 50 years and 50 years and over. Very simply put, Once you reach 1/2 a century as your age (50 years), your contribution changes to include more that you could contribute when you were 49 and under in age.

The actual contributions, per designated age group, are different on an annual basis. For example, the contribution limit for the years 2002-04 were $3,000 for all ages under 50, and $3,500 for all ages 50 and over. By contrast, the year 2009′s limitations were $5,000 for ages 49 and under, and $6,000 for ages 50 and over. That’s quite a difference, but again, the federal government sets the limitations per year.

It should be noted that neither gender, job category, nor any other factor other than age is taken into consideration, as far as the maximum contribution for IRA is concerned; it’s all about age.

There is, however, some differences as to whether or not you qualify for a traditional IRA, or a Roth IRA. Three differences include whether or not a contribution is tax-deductible or not, whether or not a withdrawal is taxed or not, and whether or not there is a penalty of 10% deducted for early withdrawal without meeting certain exemptions. In all of the former three scenarios, the comparison is traditional vs. Roth; you see how different they are in that respect.

The major difference between whether or not you qualify for Roth IRA is the amount of income that you earn, or your spouse and you combined earn together. The income factor is that you must earn over $95,000 if you are an individual, or your spouse and you must earn a combined amount of $150,000 to contribute together, thus qualifying for a Roth IRA.

The IRA contribution limits for the year 2009, were affected by circumstances which allowed the government to encourage people to save more than they did in the years leading up to 2009. Circumstances include how well the economy is doing, the percentage of retiring people up till that tax year (which always run from April 15 of any given year, for twelve consecutive months to the same date), the unemployment rate, the amount of money the U.S.A. government owes to foreign investor, and other factors.

The thing to remember, when considering a IRA, is that you might have one offered by your employer, which acts like a traditional IRA, but goes by the name of SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees) or SEP (Simplified Employee Pension). Always speak with your company’s human resources personnel, about what you are offered as their employee as well as what amounts you can make for your own IRA plan.

It doesn’t matter how old you are right now – www.freeinvestmentblog.com is a good thing to think about at any age. For the tips about investment, also about retirement investment strategy in particular – please visit thisblog.

And in case you are looking for stock market news, go to this blog.