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Client is age 76 and still working. The 401(k) plan allows “still working” contributions past age 70 1/2, as well...

I made an excess contribution in 2019. I withdrew the excess contribution via my broker in January 2020, and assigned...

One important difference between IRAs and company retirement plans is spousal protection. Except for community property states, spouses of IRA owners do not have any rights to the account. By contrast, many workplace plans must provide spouses at least some financial protection. In the world of company plans, spouses have potentially two types of protection, depending on the type of plan. Spousal Consent to Plan Distributions. The first type of protection requires certain plans to pay a married participant’s benefit as a specific type of annuity – unless the participant elects another form of payment and the spouse consents. The required annuity type is called a “qualified joint and survivor annuity” (QJSA). A QJSA pays a monthly benefit over the participant’s lifetime and, if the spouse outlives the participant, pays the spouse a monthly benefit over the spouse’s remaining lifetime.

I have a large Roth Annuity that I will allow to grow to it‘s maximum 20 year guaranteed annuitization value...

My husband switched employers in July 2019. He rolled his Traditional 401(k) into a Traditional IRA at our local credit...

Have a new client who’s husband put a revocable trust as the Primary Beny on his Thrift Savings Plan (IRA)....

Any help with this is appreciated, as I’m having difficulty finding much information online. I have an IRA worth $280k,...

An initial ROTH conversion was completed in 2018 for tax year 2018. A second conversion was completed in 2019 for tax year 2019. There was no ROTH IRA account prior to 2018 and the account owner is over 59 ½. The 5-year holding period will be satisfied on 1/1/2023. Does each ROTH conversion transaction have a separate 5-year clock to determine whether earnings are tax free or is it just the initial transaction? Thank you in advance for your assistance. Dan Answer: Dan, For those under the age of 59 ½, yes, each Roth conversion has its own 5-year clock. However, the account holder you are inquiring about is already over 59 ½. As such (and since this is his very first Roth IRA account), he only has to concern himself with the 5-year clock on the 2018 conversion.

I have a situation where a spousal beneficiary (wife) left funds in an inherited IRA rather than roll the funds...

For those who inherit IRA accounts in 2020 or later, the SECURE Act permits five groups of people to stretch required minimum distribution (RMD) payments over their life expectancy. As I touched on in a recent Slott Report article (“The Stretch on a Stretcher,” Jan. 13), these five groups fall under the new term “Eligible Designated Beneficiaries,” or EDBs. Two of the five EDBs are self-explanatory: 1.) Spouses. 2.) Those not more than 10 years younger than the deceased account owner. These people do not need to be related to the deceased account owner. The third group requires a little more detail. 3.) Minor children of the account owner. The minor child cannot be a grandchild of the account owner and qualify for the stretch. He or she cannot be the minor child of the neighbor, and cannot be a niece or nephew and qualify. The minor must be the deceased account owner’s child. Even then, the stretch is only allowed until the minor child reaches the age of majority or is still in school, up to age 26.