We currently have $12,688.05 invested in my company’s 401(k) plan and $630.00 saved up to begin funding Roth IRA’s for my wife (minimum required to open a Vanguard Roth IRA is $3,000).

The 401(k) money was accumulated (no company match) over the past 5 years of off and on investing without a plan or a goal. Now that we do have a plan and a goal, we have decided to focus on fully funding our Roth IRA’s this year, while still contributing a small amount (2% of my salary) to my company’s 401(k) plan. The Roth IRA money will be invested in the Vanguard 500 Index Fund.

The main reasons we choose to focus on the Roth IRA’s are:

• The average expense ratio of Vanguard 500 Index Fund is just 0.18%, while the average expense ratio of our 401(k) investments is 1.48%
• The Roth IRA principal can be withdrawn penalty-free, while the 401(k) has limited loan availability
• The Roth IRA has no mandatory withdrawals, while the 401(k) withdrawals must start at 70-1/2

Since Roth IRA contributions are limited to $4,000 in 2007 (increases to $5K in 2008) we will be investing a total of $8,000 for my wife and I this year.

My wife and I have been putting investing on the backburner while we paid off some debt this past year. We feel that we’re in a position now to begin investing again.

We currently have $12,242 invested aggressively in my 401(k), broken down as such:

25% – JH Lifestyle Aggressive (1.15% expense ratio)
25% – Pacific Rim Fund (1.72% expense ratio)
25% – Real Est. Securities Fund (1.54% expense ratio)
25% – Natural Resources Fund (1.51% expense ratio)

We also have $700 in ADVENTRX Pharmaceuticals stock.

We’re choosing to focus on fully funding Roth IRA’s thru Vanguard, mainly because my company’s 401(k) plan has high expense ratios and no company match. That being said, we’ll still be contributing 2% to my 401(k) plan beginning mid next month.

Roughly $630/month (more some months) will be deposited into our Emigrant Direct savings account until we have the $3,000 minimum required to open a Vanguard 500 Index Fund. The Vanguard 500 Index Fund closely approximates the S&P500 which represents 70% of all U.S. publicly traded companies, and is considered the benchmark for U.S. equity performance.

We’re shooting to invest 10% of our gross income for the year because we need to build up an emergency fund and want to pay down some additional debt. Next year, we should be able to increase our investing.