aninternetuser

Thanks for the replies everyone! I should add that she is not working at a public school but a charter school instead which probably explains the limited options. Tony, your thinking basically reflects what I was leaning towards. Given the short time she will be in the state it probably isn't worth opening the 403b. I actually have my own Roth IRA through Fidelity as well with index funds exactly as you specified. I think I will get her setup with a target date fund to start out. Krow36, given her budget I think it is unlikely that she can contribute more than $6,000 per year. She does have a decent sized emergency fund going last I knew. As you note, Equitable does have high expenses just looking over the available funds they showed me and those surrender fees aren't great either. So, I think the best move then is to stick with the Roth IRA and invest in one of the Fidelity Freedom Index funds? Looks like the expense ratio is about 0.12% for those which is quite low from what I understand.

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum. I'm in the process of helping a family member with her 403b. She is a young teacher with a couple years of experience working at a school in upstate New York which offers a 403b through Equitable. She plans to stay in New York for only a few years. Unfortunately, there is no employee matching and no other available options like Fidelity or Vanguard. She does have a Roth IRA through Fidelity that I helped her setup not too long ago. Is it worth contributing to this 403b? Or would it be better to mainly focus on the roth instead? I have a list of fund options for the 403b that an advisor from Equitable gave her that I could post here as well. We're newbies at all this so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!