It’s no secret that millennials and other young workers today value technology in terms of helping them manage their financial affairs. However, the value that savers place on technology is not limited to young savers. In fact, Boomers are seeking out and incorporating technology into their financial lives at an increasingly rapid rate... a fact that numerous studies and surveys have found.
You are 70 ½ or older this year so you have a required minimum distribution (RMD). But, you don’t need the money or you don’t want to increase your income and pay more in income tax so you don’t want to take your RMD. What happens if you just ignore your RMD and do not take it?
Fall is in the air and the holidays are just around the corner. For many retirement account owners, this means that an important deadline is approaching. Most of those who are 70 ½ or older will need to take a 2016 RMD by December 31, 2016. However, that deadline does not apply to everyone. If you are age 70 ½ or over, when would an RMD not be required to be taken from your retirement account by the upcoming December 31 deadline? Here are some exceptions that might apply to you.
What is there to say that hasn’t already been said (10,000 times)? The election of Donald Trump to be our next President shocked the pollsters, the American public and, by all accounts, even the President-elect himself. Reactions are obviously divided, to say the least, but one thing that has united most retirees, regardless of the side of the aisle that they sit on, is the question, “What does this mean for me?”
The deadline of October 15th has passed for recharacterizing Roth conversions done in 2015. (You have until October 15, 2017 to recharacterize your 2016 Roth conversions.) Now that you have recharacterized a 2015 conversion, what comes next? Can you reconvert those funds? The answer is yes, after a waiting period.
Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are fact of life for most retirement account owners once they reach age 70 ½. However, if you fit the definition of “still-working” you catch break and can delay your RMDs. What happens when you finally decide to throw in the towel and begin your well-earned retirement? Well, RMDs must start and that’s when things can get a little complicated. You will want to proceed with caution because a missed RMD is a costly mistake. There is a 50% penalty on an RMD that is not taken. That is not the way you want to start your golden years!
"I leave the remainder of my assets to my children." Of all the provisions that may be found within your will or trust, this would seem to be one of the more straightforward of such items... right? Well, you might think so, but that’s not always the case.
We are all going to die someday. That is pretty much guaranteed. What is not guaranteed is who is going to inherit our “stuff?” We can use a will, a trust, and beneficiary forms. This story is about a man who did not use his beneficiary form.
For IRA distribution purposes, all IRAs (except Roth IRAs) are considered one big giant IRA. It doesn’t matter if you have one IRA that was rolled over from a former employer, and one SEP IRA with your current employer, and one contributory IRA where you put annual contributions, and one after-tax IRA where you put contributions for which you do not take a deduction. All four IRAs will be considered one IRA any time you take a distribution.
When managing your retirement account, you should be aware of the unexpected ways those employer-sponsored or IRA accounts could actually COST you. Jeffrey Levine details 3 of those situations in the article below.
