If you own a business and currently don’t have a company retirement plan, consider opening a SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) for 2013 (that's not a misprint in dates). A SEP is a relatively uncomplicated employer retirement plan that uses an IRA as its funding vehicle. Click to find out why business owners should consider a SEP IRA for 2013.
It's never too late (or early) to get started on your 2014 retirement planning. There are certain building blocks that Ed Slott, America's IRA Expert, believes are the foundational keys to a successful long-term retirement plan. He goes through them in considerable detail in the IRAtv video below (click here to watch in browser), and here's a quick-hitting list of the key building blocks.
Interesting things are happening in the courts with regard to retirement plans, specifically 60-day IRA rollovers and inherited IRAs in bankruptcy. Click for an update on what's happening.
Yesterday, President Obama unveiled his Fiscal Year 2015 Budget. As has been the case with previous budgets, this year’s version includes a number of proposed changes aimed at retirement accounts. Six out of the 7 provisions detailed below, or similar versions of them, were included in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 Budget last year.
Let's say that your employer's 401(k) plan allows you to take a loan against part of your 401(k) balance (generally the smaller of half of your vested balance or $50,000). You decided to take a loan and you’ve been repaying it by having it taken out of your paycheck. But now, you no longer work for that employer. Perhaps you retired, or voluntarily switched jobs, or maybe you were laid off. We explain how to navigate this scenario.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at IRA beneficiary language and procedures as well as Roth conversions and recharacterizations, a topic we cover heavily in Ed Slott's 2014 Retirement Decisions Guide. Click to read a Q&A with our IRA Technical Expert.
While Roth IRAs should ideally be used for retirement, the fact that you have unrestricted access to your Roth IRA basis allows you to take a distribution at any time for any reason. Maybe you’re planning on going back to college or graduate school, but you don’t want to go in debt to pay for it. However, if you’re planning on using your Roth IRAs to pay for higher education expenses, there is a big disadvantage you need to know about before you do so. Click for more information.
If you made a Roth contribution for 2013 and are now preparing your tax return, you may be wondering where to report it. Chances are, however, that if you’ve been looking, you’ve been looking for a while. It’s very difficult to find where these contributions are reported. Actually, truth be told, it’s impossible.
If you are in the midst of getting a divorce or you're already divorced, you might be awarded some or all of your ex-spouse's company retirement plan funds, such as a 401(k) plan, as part of the property settlement. If so, there are a few things you need to know before you get those funds. We detail these below.
This week there were five private letter rulings (PLRs) issued by IRS that dealt with IRA issues. Don’t let these problems happen to you or to your clients! Click to learn more about these rulings.
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