News & Press

Midyear can be a good time to take a halftime break and evaluate your investments — especially this year, after nearly six straight months of stock market decline.

Perhaps stock and even bond losses have exposed flaws in your portfolio. Maybe they offer the potential to adjust holdings to take advantage of new opportunities. Now also might be the time to pursue a potentially important tax strategy.

Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist at Crossmark Global Investments, says that a recession is coming, but it’s not imminent due to the economy’s underlying strengths, including active consumers, corporate balance sheets and the labor market. While waiting for a recession to arrive late next year, Fernandez says investors should be taking advantage of down days in the market to buy up names that are on sale and better balance a portfolio to get through trouble.

Managing an inherited IRA has never been easy, and it soon could become even more complex.

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, which took effect in 2020, requires adult children and other non-spouse heirs to deplete inherited IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts within 10 years of the original owner’s death. Before, these heirs could take withdrawals over their life expectancy, which cut the size of annual withdrawals and allowed untapped assets to keep growing.

Has your teenager landed a summer job? Good! Now, consider putting your child’s earnings to work long term by opening a Roth individual retirement account.

It may seem odd to think about retirement savings when your child could still be wearing braces. But putting money now into a Roth I.R.A. means your child will have decades for the money to grow, tax free.

Given the turmoil in the markets, I’m worried about my IRA. I’m looking for investments other than stocks and bonds that might work for me. What are your thoughts about buying and holding real estate inside an IRA?

The IRS’ recently released proposed regulations on how to handle required minimum distributions under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act of 2019 are effective now.

While the IRS’ recently released regs “are called ‘proposed’ regulations, they are not like proposed tax laws which are not effective until signed into law,” Ed Slott of Ed Slott & Co.told ThinkAdvisor in a recent email.

Putting money into a 401(k) is simple. Taking money out often requires an exit strategy.

The tax breaks baked into retirement accounts don’t last forever. Retirees or their heirs eventually must start draining their balances by taking annual withdrawals known as required minimum distributions or RMDs, triggering tax bills.

Understanding how new tax situations this year could affect your tax return in 2023 could put you a step ahead of the game. CPA Ed Slott joins Wall Street Journal Your Money Briefing host J.R. Whalen to discuss.

A sweeping retirement bill, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022, or Secure Act 2.0, that passed the House late Tuesday increases the required minimum distribution age from 72 to 75 in stages — over 11 years — and reduces the 50% penalty for missing an RMD, Ed Slott of Ed Slott & Co.told ThinkAdvisor on Wednesday.

The bill, which passed the house by an overwhelming 414-5 vote and is expected to be taken up soon by the Senate, also includes “lots of ‘Rothification,’” Slott said, “meaning Congress is stepping up Roth contributions.”