The end of the year is fast approaching, yet there is still time to take charge of your taxes.
While that might seem like something only the wealthy would do, there are also ways for the average American to save money — even if you are part of the 90% who take the standard deduction (which is $12,400 for single filers in 2020).
IRA guru Ed Slott doesn’t trust politicians with his taxes—and doesn’t think you should, either.
A well-known retirement expert (and a recovering certified public accountant), Slott leads seminars for financial planners, advises regular folks on how to retire securely and recently updated his 2003 classic, “The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb,” to address Congress’ latest indiscretions.
Hi, I'm Christine Benz for Morningstar.Many people will find themselves in what they hope will be a temporarily low tax bracket in 2020
Hi, I'm Christine Benz for Morningstar.Required minimum distributions are on hold for 2020
Time is running out to take advantage of certain retirement- and tax-related provisions in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which are set to expire on Dec.31, 2020.
Individual retirement accounts have strict rules for depositing and withdrawing money.But there are exceptions, and one of them is attracting attention these days—“substantially equal periodic payments.”
Often referred to as 72(t) plans, this option allows those under the age of 59½ to withdraw funds early from their traditional IRA accounts, for any reason, without paying the usual early-withdrawal penalty of 10% on top of the regular taxes.
“Make sure you commit to the payment plan,” says Sarah Brenner, Director of Retirement Education at Ed Slott & Co., a tax-consulting firm in Rockville Centre, N.Y.“You really need to be sure you want to be locked into the payment plan for a long duration.”
Ed Slott, the Rockville Centre, New York-based CPA, editor of the newsletter Ed Slott’s IRA Advisor, and author of “The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb” (Penguin Books), to be released in March, recently talked to ThinkAdvisor with some advice about how tax law changes.Here are excerpts from our interview:
With jobs to hold down, children to care for, friendships to maintain, food to be bought and cooked, dishes to be washed and laundry to be done, it can be a challenge to keep up with all the details of your personal finances.
In passing, you may wonder: How many more months until my car loan is paid off?Or, before bed, you may get a jolt of anxiety about whether you’ll ever be able to retire.
President-elect Joe Biden hopes to encourage lower- and middle-income workers to save more by changing the existing tax preferences for savings in retirement accounts.A divided Congress is likely to hinder his plans.
