I am a recent nursing school graduate that has been unemployed for the last year of school. I’ll begin my new career in August (yay!). However, I’ve been maintaining contributions to my Roth during my unemployment via extra savings. My employed husband and I were married during this time of unemployment for me, and we were gifted some wedding money. Am I at risk for penalties for contributing to my Roth even though I’ve been unemployed? Can I claim our monetary wedding gift as “income” if I need to to avoid potential penalties? (the “gift” is currently still only in my name as I don’t have an answer to these questions yet)
Hi Julie,
Congrats on graduating from nursing school and starting your new career!!!
I don’t think that gifts count as earned income. Considering that you will be working soon, as long as you have earned income for 2021 you should be fine even if you were contributing during unemployment 