The creditor protection rules that apply to retirement accounts are complex and frequently misunderstood. In an effort to correct some of the most frequently misunderstood concepts and provide some clarity in these seemingly murky waters, below we explore 5 Retirement Account Creditor Protection Myths and then give you the real facts behind them.
The financial institution where you have your IRA, what we call your IRA custodian, is allowed to charge fees for maintaining and administering your IRA. If there are any fees associated with your IRA, they must be disclosed to you. The fees are usually listed in the IRA disclosure statement, which is one of the documents you received when you opened your IRA. IRA fees are usually in two broad categories: administrative fees and sales commissions Below we explain how to pay these different types of fees.
Ann and Zelda are both 72 years young and now widows after their 74-year-old spouses died this year. Both inherited an IRA from their spouse in the amount of $100,000. Ann’s advisor had her move the funds to an inherited IRA. The account is titled Alan, deceased, IRA fbo Ann. Zelda’s advisor had her move the funds into an IRA in Zelda’s name. The account is titled Zelda’s IRA. There age and circumstances are where the similarities end. Click to read about their different stories.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at IRA trust beneficiary maneuvers and how to disclaim yourself as an IRA beneficiary. Click to read this week's Q&A with our IRA Technical Expert.
On Monday, we will be celebrating Labor Day, a holiday established to pay tribute to the American workforce. Much of that workforce has access to some type of employer plan and, for more than 50 million workers, that plan is a 401(k) plan. So, with that in mind and in honor of Labor Day, this week we take a look at 5 answers to questions commonly asked by 401(k) participants.
If you are married and participate in your employer's ERISA covered retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or pension plan, your spouse must generally be the beneficiary of that company plan. Even if you didn’t name your spouse as the beneficiary, possibly because you weren’t married at the time you started working there, your spouse is usually automatically treated as the beneficiary of your company retirement plan - but they do not HAVE to be.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at the delicate situation of moving retirement funds (either to another account or through distributions) when still employed. If you are nearing retirement and are looking long-term of your overall plan, these two questions could be applicable to your situation.
The pro-rata rule - another complicated intersection of moving IRA money. It's an important rule to know when thinking about distributing funds from your IRA, so we decided to break it down below into 3 things you need to know.
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