You want to enjoy a comfortable retirement without worrying about how you'll pay all your bills. But that requires a pretty sizable nest egg -- often seven figures. It takes consistent savings throughout your career to get there.
Maxing out your IRA is a great starting point, especially if you don't have access to a 401(k) through your job. With the year half over, you might think it's too late to do this for 2025. However, it might still be possible if you follow these steps.
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Understand what maxing out your IRA means
Maxing out your IRA contributions means different things, depending on your age, the type of IRA you're using, and sometimes your income. The first step is figuring out what maxing out your IRA even looks like for you.
All IRAs have annual contribution limits of $7,000 in 2025 for adults under 50. But those who will be 50 or older by the end of the year can make a $1,000 catch-up contribution, bringing their annual limit to $8,000. These limits apply to all of your IRAs together, not to each one individually.
If you're saving in a traditional, tax-deferred IRA, you can contribute up to the annual limit as long as your annual earnings from your job equal or exceed your IRA contributions. For example, if you only made $5,000 this year, the max IRA contribution you could make is $5,000. Spousal IRAs are an exception for married couples, allowing a nonwage-earning spouse to make IRA contributions, as long as their partner earns enough to cover contributions to both spouses' IRAs.
Roth IRAs are trickier. You fund these accounts with after-tax dollars, which lets you make tax-free withdrawals in retirement. This is a huge advantage, especially if you expect your tax bracket to stay the same or increase in retirement. Most people will be able to contribute up to the annual maximum, but some high earners could run into income limits that cap their maximum Roth IRA contribution at a lower amount.
How to max out your IRA by the end of 2025
Once you know how much you're allowed to contribute to an IRA in 2025, you can work on a plan to max yours out. First, subtract any money you've already contributed to your IRA this year from your annual contribution limit. If you've already put $1,000 in your traditional IRA and you're under 50, then you can only set aside $6,000 more this year.
Next, divide the remainder in a way that makes sense to you. The two most common approaches are by month or by pay period. Figure out how you want to do it and how much you'll need to set aside each time.
For example, if you want to set aside $7,000 and make monthly contributions (including one for July), you'd set aside about $1,167 per month. Or if you wanted to exclude July, that would bump your monthly contribution to $1,400 per month.
The more complicated part of this is coming up with the money. A regular contribution is ideal, but you may not be able to afford to save your target amount out of your regular monthly income. So you have a few options.
You could try to earn extra money throughout the year through a side hustle. If you stash that money into a traditional IRA, you shouldn't have to worry about it affecting your tax bill very much. Or you might be able to get some overtime at your regular job.
If you qualify for a year-end bonus, you could set this aside for retirement as well. This could reduce the amount you have to set aside per month. For example, if you expect a $1,000 bonus, you'd only have to save $6,000 on your own, which would drop your monthly contribution from $1,167 to $1,000.
You still might not be able to get together enough money to max out your IRA, and that's OK. Even if you only save $1,000, that's something to be proud of. And if you're really determined to set aside more, you should know that you have until you file your 2025 taxes to make IRA contributions for this year. You can use the first few months of 2026 to continue adding to your IRA if you want to.
