I recently set up a Traditional IRA with BuyandHold.com

I made my entire 2001 contribution last year and have already made my entire 2002 contribution.

All of this cash is sitting in a money market - so I tried to set up an automatic monthly investment plan for a stock this morning - at least as a start.

Apparently, what I see as one pot of money - they see as two - the system forced me to choose which year's funds would be used to make the monthly purchases. OK, so when I chose 2001 - it wouldn't go through unless I also set up a monthly investment amount to be drawn from 2002 funds. This frustrated me because what started as one monthly transaction now became two - with two separate transaction fees.

In other words, the system forces you to split up your investment amount.

I called them to inquire - they told me that this is an IRS rule - that you can't use funds from 2001 to make investments without also using 2002 funds simultaneously to make investments.

I am confused. I know there are rules regarding contribution limits and time periods for making contributions - but are there also IRS rules for how you invest the money once it's already in your account?

Any thoughts?

Thanks, MSpice