Author: Matthew Frankel, CFP, The Motley Fool

There’s no perfect answer to this question. Many people love watching the day-to-day movements of stocks, while others find checking prices stressful.

Here’s when you may want to skip the tax benefits of a retirement account and invest in a standard brokerage account.

Long-term, it’s not a great idea to wait “until the volatility wanes.” It’s impossible to time the market with any level of accuracy.

If you contribute too much to an IRA, take the excess back as soon as possible, as well as earnings that could be attributed to excess contributions.