This week's
Slott Report Mailbag shows that retirement planning involving IRAs can be complicated, and consumers just like you are confused about the rules and concerned they are making fatal, penalty-induced errors.
As always, we stress the importance of working with a competent, educated financial advisor to keep your retirement nest egg safe and secure. Find one in your area at this link.1.Dear Mr. Slott,I am and have been an avid follower of your programs on public television and have purchased your books as well as CD/DVDs. I respect your opinion very much and badly need your help. I have been disabled since 2008 due to an aortic dissection and will be turning 65 in December 2012.
Did you see that debate last night? No matter what side of the aisle you happen to sit on - or even if you sit in the aisle itself - you have to admit that was a far more spirited and contentious debate than the last one. It seemed like President Obama and Governor Romney argued about everything. Not to mention there were a couple of times that I actually thought they were going to come to fisticuffs. With so much not to agree on, I began to wonder, is there anything they can agree on? So here's my take on 5 IRA items even President Obama and Governor Romney would have to agree on.This article is just a
Monday October 15, 2012 was the deadline to recharacterize an IRA contribution for 2011. Now that we are past that date, is it possible to get an extension for time to do a recharacterization?
Probably not.When you recharacterize, you essentially change your IRA contribution from one type of IRA to another. In most cases, a recharacterization involves reversing a Roth IRA conversion. Some or all of the conversion can be recharacterized with its net income attributable (gains or losses). A recharacterization can be done for any reason but certain rules must be followed. For example, both
You inherited an IRA or a Roth IRA. Since you are not age 70 ½ yet, you did not think you had to take required distributions (RMDs) or maybe your advisor told you that. WRONG!!!A non-spouse beneficiary generally must take his first required distribution in the year after the account owner's death.Here are the rules for a beneficiary that is named on the beneficiary form (or is named through the document default provisions). These rules do NOT apply to beneficiaries who inherit through an estate. They may be the same for a beneficiary who inherits through a trust, but that is a way more complicated situation and you should be working with a knowledgeable advisor to determine how RMDs to the trust will be calculated.We are going to assume that you have set up a properly titled
The Slott Report was designed WAY back in 2010 to
educate financial professionals and consumers on the complexities of IRAs, taxes and retirement planning. We continue that mission each Thursday with our
Slott Report Mailbag. This week we answer your questions on company plan allowances (can you move the money after a certain age?), trusts and beneficiaries and RMDs (required minimum distributions).
As always, we stress the importance of working with a competent, educated financial advisor to keep your retirement nest egg safe and secure. Find one in your area at this link.1.I have approximately $400,000 in a 401(k) and will soon be 70 ½ years old. Is it possible for me to
Recently, Presidential candidate Mitt Romney indicated that a $17,000 cap on itemized deductions could be used as a way to
help pay for his plan to cut tax rates across the board.This has caused some to wonder how their deduction for an IRA contribution would be affected by such a provision.Thankfully, the answer is both favorable and easy to understand. It wouldn't be! That's because IRA deductions are
not itemized deductions and therefore, would not be impacted at all.
If you are thinking about making a charitable donation for this year, you might use money from your IRA to do so. If an IRA distribution is used to make a charitable donation, the IRA distribution will be taxed even though the money went to a charity for a worthy cause. If you are under age 59 ½ on the date of the distribution, you will also be subject to the IRS 10% early distribution penalty,
unless there’s an exception such as disability. We covered that exception in an answer to a question in last Thursday's mailbag.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag includes questions on whether an employer plan allows for distributions and rollovers when an employee stops working for that employer, how to compute the taxes on an IRA and an inherited IRA and whether or not a disabled individual can take an IRA distribution before a certain age.
Please, please don't make the mistake that so many people make and think you make too much money to make an IRA contribution. There is no limit on how much income you can make in order to make an IRA contribution. None, whatsoever. Yet, each year I speak with countless financial advisors and CPAs who are advising their clients that they cannot make an IRA contribution for the year because their income is too high. That is not true and don't you believe it for one second!
A "Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees" (SIMPLE), is a retirement plan for small businesses that uses a special IRA (called a SIMPLE IRA) as the funding vehicle. November 1, 2012 is the deadline for employers who are continuing to offer a SIMPLE IRA plan for next year to send you a notification.
