A Roth and an opportunity

I got a wonderful deal from ING offering a $50 bonus if I opened a IRA with a minimum contributions of $200. The deposit could be considered either a contribution for 2010 or 2011 but the $50 had to be a 2011 contribution.

The problem with this deal was the contribution had to be deposited by February 7th, 2011 and I had only $11 this month to invest, excluding the $50 required to be invested in T Rowe Price. I wanted to take advantage of this deal, obviously, it had a 25% return but how could I?

Starting in March we were planning to up our retirement contribution from $50 to $200. But where to get the money by February 7th? Thankfully I had money in my EF. In my mind my EF is not just for emergencies but also for opportunities such as this.

I opened the Roth today in a Roth IRA savings account and to repay my EF I will up my contributions in April not March.

People may wonder why I do not just roll over the $200 once the $50 is deposited. The reason is the Roth at T Rowe Price is in my fiancee's name and my only Roth is at my credit union earning less than the Roth at ING.

In April my fiancee and I will roll over his Roth from T Rowe Price to Fidelity and start depositing $200 per month until there is over $2000 in the account, then we will roll the account in ING over to Fidelity as well and begin depositing the $200 per month in my Roth.