女兒的投資計劃落空
女兒經常和老爸討論投資的事，對稅收和投資的邏輯有一個大致的了解。昨天上完班，回家的路上，她告訴老爸：“Dad, I have an idea. I am earning money and will have a couple of thousand dollars by the end of this summer. How about open a Roth IRA account for me?”
老爸知道她的想法的邏輯，Ruth IRA到拿出來的時候是Tax-free。而她的收入太少，現在是不用交稅的。
“There are a couple of issues I am not sure. 1. Each mutual fund account has a minimal balance, such as 2500 dollars. I am not sure that you can keep that. 2. The legal age for it.”
女兒說：“I have enough money--you still owe me 3000 dollars, and I have 800 bucks in my bank account, plus the earning of this summer.”
知道女兒這裏沒弄明白， 就告訴她：“No, the amount you can put into a Ruth IRA account each year is 4000 dollars or the amount you earn during the year, whichever is less. So you can't put your save into it.”
“I see. Probably I can earn more than 2500 dollars this summer. Why is my age an issue here?”
老爸告訴她：“Roth IRA is not a custodian account. Rememeber, your current bank account is under both your name and mine. So you have to sign for yourself. Under 18, I don't think you can represent yourself legally.”
“That's not fair! I can go to the bank to withdraw my money now without your help. Dad, would you please figure out this for me.”女兒請求老爸幫忙。
“I will check the publication 590, and then call a broker to figure out.”
到家了， 老爸在網上找了一圈，沒有年齡限製，但好像都是往上，到７０歲以後還能存。沒有提往下呢。這不，老爸隻好給fidelity一個電話，和fidelity的“專家”聊。結論是必須１８歲以上。
女兒的第二個投資計劃就這麽落空了。
（注：女兒的第一個投資計劃是５年前，她賣老爸種的菜，加叔叔阿姨們給她的禮金，共２５００，交給老爸投資。當時銀行利息太低，才１％，她決定借給老爸，拿５％的compound利息。老爸把她的錢和自己的錢，共２５０００,用dollar-average的辦法，放進fidelity的Value Fund。前後三年不到，拿回來３５０００多一點。不過，她隻有５％的compound利息，所以， 有三千來塊吧。）
（二00七年六月二十一日）
