Have you made your 2015 IRA contribution? If not, why not? Here are five myths that are commonly cited as reasons for not contributing to an IRA. Don’t miss out on your 2015 IRA contribution because you wrongly believe one of them applies to you.
It's time for another edition of The Slott Report Mailbag, where we answer a parent's question on whether her son's Roth IRA contributions were done within the rules, assess whether an IRA account can be converted to a Roth IRA before age 59 ½ and examine an employee's pro-rata complexities with moving after-tax 401(k) funds to both a traditional and Roth IRA.
IRAs and 401(k)s share a lot of similarities. They are both retirement plans. They both can help you lower your tax bill today, provide tax-deferred growth and help provide an income source in retirement. That said, there are also many differences between IRAs and 401(k)s. Some are relatively benign and probably won’t impact you very much, but other differences can make one type of account far superior to the other in your particular situation. With that in mind, today, we explore 5 things you can do with an IRA that you can’t with a 401(k).
Can you deduct a loss in your IRA or Roth IRA? The answer is yes, if you meet the criteria. It is much easier to deduct a loss in a Roth IRA than in a traditional IRA because Roth IRAs generally hold more basis than a traditional IRA. Basis in a traditional IRA comes only from nondeductible contributions and/or rollovers of after-tax funds previously held in an employer plan. Basis in a Roth IRA comes from Roth IRA contributions, Roth IRA conversions and most rollovers from designated Roth accounts (i.e. Roth 401(k) funds). Here are the six steps.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at possible miscues and how to handle them. What constitutes an excess Roth IRA contribution? One individual below has to deal with the 6% penalty while another doesn't. We explain why.
Roth IRAs can be powerful retirement planning tools. They allow you to put money aside today that can grow tax free for the remainder of your lifetime, and there are no required minimum distributions, like there are for traditional IRAs. Of course, nothing worth having in life comes without a cost, and the Roth IRA is no exception. Here's how to grow your Roth IRA account without growing your bill at tax time.
When you take a distribution from your traditional IRA, you will owe taxes in most cases. Uncle Sam wants to be sure those taxes are paid. The good news, however, is that there is a lot of flexibility when it comes to withholding on your IRA distribution. Here is what you need to know.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at the issues involved when an IRA beneficiary must take missed required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the original account owner, answers a question about the backdoor Roth IRA conversion and outlines the process of making SEP IRA contributions and converting those to a Roth IRA.
If you are like many Americans, your IRA may be one of your biggest assets. You may be surprised to discover that this important part of your retirement savings plan may be more vulnerable than you might think. Here is what you need to know about protection of your IRA in bankruptcy and beyond.
The IRA rules are very complicated. The RMD (required minimum distribution) rules are very complicated. Annuity rules are very complicated. Put them all together and what do you get? Usually, just a mess of chaos and confusion. Today, we look at what happens to RMDs when you annuitize your IRA annuity over your lifetime or over a joint lifetime (your lifetime, plus the lifetime of another person). The answer provided below is excerpted from our soon-to-be-released must-have resource, The Definitive Guide to Required Minimum Distributions for Baby Boomers.
