<prompt> Human: New to this, but I really wanted to start a Roth IRA and have it count for 2016. Ive been reading a lot of articles that are scaring me with the current political climate and its relation to the stock market. Am I over thinking this? I dont want to put 5.5K in now and have it be wiped out in a month.  <response>: Dont time the market. The optimal time to invest is when you have the money to invest. Also, you can make 2016 contributions up until April 2017 so you dont have to come up with 5,500 in the next couple of weeksPlus, do you not remember election night last month when all the stocks were down, utter chaos was ensuing after hours, record drops happening as the night went on, people thought the entire economy was breaking down in real time and that it was the beginning of the end. But by time the market opened in the morning, it was all good? Yeah, that is why I am not convinced we are going to have some major apocalyptic financial nightmare on inauguration day.There have been other seemingly huge blows that, over time, bounced back albeit, a longer time frame than just election night. The Brexit vote happened earlier this year and that seemed to cause a drop for a while. And lets not forget the 2008 recession, where if you just left your funds where they were, you recouped them.Saving for retirement is a long-term, decades long investment. If one or two rough months is enough to keep you up at night, consider a very conservative allocation. 