TODAY Money financial expert Jean Chatzky joined us for a live Web chat Wednesday to answer your questions.
Here’s one of her answers to questions from the live chat. (See below for the full Q&A and video of Jean’s appearance on TODAY Wednesday morning.)
Laura asked:
“Since the market dropped, I cut back on my contribution to my 401K. Do you think it's a good idea to contribute to an IRA or a Roth IRA with any extra money I have?”
Jean replied:
“I don’t understand why you would do that. A 401(k), typically, is an account where you are allowed to invest the money in a menu of choices. You could move the money around -- but not contributing doesn't make sense to me. Also, the fall in the market is precisely the wrong reason to scale back contributions (unless you need the money in the short term), it's a way to buy low so that later you can sell high.”
Here’s the full chat archive:
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