You can start a Roth IRA at any age, including as a minor, the moment you have earned income from work, as long as your modified adjusted gross income falls under the IRS phase-out thresholds. There is no minimum age and no maximum age. What controls your eligibility is whether you worked for the money and how much you make overall.
No Minimum or Maximum Age
The IRS sets no age floor and no age ceiling for Roth IRA contributions. A 14-year-old lifeguard and a 75-year-old consultant are equally eligible, provided each has earned income. Traditional IRAs used to block contributions after age 70½, but that rule never applied to Roth IRAs and has since been removed for traditional IRAs as well.1Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
The practical wrinkle for young savers is that most brokerages require account holders to be at least 18. A parent or guardian can get around this by opening a custodial Roth IRA on the child’s behalf and managing the investments until the child reaches adulthood under state law. The money still belongs to the child, and the child’s own earnings set the contribution ceiling. If your teenager earned $2,800 from a summer job, $2,800 is the most that can go into the account for that year, even though the annual cap is higher.1Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
You Need Earned Income
Earned income is the gatekeeping requirement. Without it, you cannot fund a Roth IRA regardless of how much you hold in savings or investments. The IRS defines compensation for IRA purposes to include wages, salaries, tips, commissions, bonuses, net self-employment earnings, and nontaxable combat pay.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A – Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements
A few less obvious categories also qualify. Taxable alimony received under divorce agreements finalized on or before December 31, 2018, counts as compensation. So do certain taxable fellowship and stipend payments received by graduate students, even if the amounts aren’t reported on a W-2.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A – Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements
What doesn’t count matters just as much. Investment income, rental income, interest, dividends, pension payments, Social Security benefits, and annuity income are all excluded. This trips up early retirees living on investment portfolios who assume they can still fund a Roth. If none of your income comes from working, you’re ineligible for that year.
2026 Income Limits That Can Block or Reduce Your Contribution
Even with earned income, your ability to contribute shrinks and eventually disappears as your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) climbs. For the 2026 tax year, the phase-out ranges are:3Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
- Single or head of household: full contributions below $153,000 MAGI, reduced between $153,000 and $168,000, none at $168,000 or above.
- Married filing jointly: full contributions below $242,000, reduced between $242,000 and $252,000, none at $252,000 or above.
- Married filing separately (if you lived with your spouse at any point during the year): reduced from $0 to $10,000 MAGI, none at $10,000 or above.
The married-filing-separately category catches people off guard. If you lived with your spouse at any point during the year, you’re effectively locked out of direct Roth contributions unless your MAGI is under $10,000.3Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
The 2026 contribution cap itself is $7,500, or $8,600 if you’re 50 or older. You also can’t contribute more than you earned. If you made $4,000 for the year, $4,000 is your limit. And the cap covers all your traditional and Roth IRAs combined; splitting between them is fine, but the total cannot exceed the annual limit.1Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
Starting One Without Your Own Earned Income: The Spousal Roth
The main exception to the earned-income rule is the spousal IRA. If you file a joint return and your spouse has enough earned income to cover both accounts, you can contribute to your own Roth IRA even if you personally earned nothing. The same 2026 income limits apply: the spousal Roth is fully available when joint MAGI stays below $242,000, partially available between $242,000 and $252,000, and unavailable at $252,000 or above.3Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
You must file jointly. Married filing separately does not qualify for this route.
If Your Income Is Too High: The Backdoor Roth
Crossing the phase-out ceiling doesn’t leave you completely shut out. The backdoor Roth strategy involves contributing to a traditional IRA, which has no income limit for nondeductible contributions, and then converting that balance to a Roth IRA. The conversion is reported on IRS Form 8606.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606
The catch is the pro-rata rule. If you already hold money in any traditional IRA, SEP-IRA, or SIMPLE IRA, the IRS treats all your traditional IRA balances as one pool when calculating the taxable portion of the conversion. You cannot cherry-pick just the nondeductible dollars. If most of your traditional IRA money came from deductible contributions or rollovers, a large chunk of the conversion will be taxable. The backdoor Roth works cleanly when you have no existing traditional IRA balances. If you do, talk to a tax professional before converting.
When You Have to Contribute By
You have from January 1 of a given tax year through April 15 of the following year to make your contribution. A deposit made on March 10, 2027, for example, can be designated as either a 2026 or a 2027 contribution, as long as you haven’t already maxed out the year you’re applying it to.5Internal Revenue Service. Traditional and Roth IRAs
A common mistake: assuming that a tax filing extension also extends the IRA contribution deadline. It doesn’t. The statute requires contributions to be made by the original filing deadline, without extensions.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 219 – Retirement Savings Once April 15 passes, that year’s contribution room is gone permanently. Military members serving in a designated combat zone get 180 additional days after their last day of service, plus whatever days remained in the original contribution window when the service began.7Internal Revenue Service. Miscellaneous Provisions – Combat Zone Service
Why Starting Early Matters Even With a Small Amount
Getting money into a Roth IRA does more than build a balance. It starts the five-year clock that determines when your earnings can come out tax-free. To pull investment gains without tax or penalty, you generally need to be at least 59½ and have had a Roth IRA open for at least five tax years.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs
The clock starts on January 1 of the tax year of your first contribution. Opening a Roth on April 10, 2027, and designating it as a 2026 contribution means the five-year period began January 1, 2026, and you satisfy the requirement on January 1, 2031. That’s a reason to open the account as soon as you’re eligible, even if you can only put in a small amount. Your own contributions can be withdrawn at any time, for any reason, without tax or penalty, since the money going in was already taxed. The five-year rule only affects the earnings layer.