The Slott Report

According to recent statistics and government reports, retirement assets, and IRA assets in particular, are on the rise. Here are 5 incredible facts about the current retirement market.

If you participate in your employer’s SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees), you need to be aware of the “2-year rule” that applies when moving your SIMPLE IRA money to another IRA.

In a marriage where one spouse (Annie) has earned income and the other spouse (Bernie) has little or no income, an IRA or Roth IRA contribution can be made for Bernie based on Annie’s income. However, what happens if Bernie makes his contribution early in the year and later in the year he and Annie are divorced or separated?

Ed Slott shows how to take retirement savings on a permanent vacation from taxes and avoid Uncle Sam in his new Public Television Special, Ed Slott's Retirement Road Map! This program is filled with the ingredients that made Ed's previous programs so successful - wisdom, humor and insight, helping viewers navigate the potholes, detours and road blocks to a prosperous and worry-free retirement. Learn how to move your retirement savings from accounts that are forever taxed to accounts that are never taxed.

It paid to be a loser at this year’s Academy Awards, at least for some. Instead of taking home the golden Oscar, losing nominees in the big categories – best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best actor, best actress and best director – took home some serious swag.

IRS Publication 970 explains the tax benefits that may be available to individuals who are saving for or paying education costs for themselves or certain family members such as children. It includes information on Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), qualified tuition programs (also called “529 plans”), student loan interest deductions, education savings bonds, and the education exception to the IRS 10% penalty for early IRA distributions. Read more to find out how you can use your IRA to pay for higher education.

We are in Las Vegas for our 2-Day IRA Workshop. On my way from the airport to the hotel upon arrival, my cab driver and I got into an interesting discussion on retirement plans. Is there a retirement plan for cab drivers? Does Las Vegas temptation cause many to squander retirement savings?

We are in Las Vegas this week for our 2-Day IRA Workshop. Of course, the mere mention of Las Vegas conjures images of big, lavish casinos, so that got us thinking. Are there parallels between your IRA and a casino? Sure there are some, but the reality is (as you might expect), there are some pretty big differences. Here are just three of them.

You can invest your IRA funds in just about anything. However, you’re not allowed to invest IRA funds in collectibles, life insurance, and S Corp stock; but other than that, almost everything else would be allowed. It’s important to understand that when we talk about investing your IRA funds, we’re talking about investments inside your IRA. Someone recently learned a hard lesson when he invested his IRA funds outside his IRA, which caused a taxable IRA distribution that the IRS wouldn’t allow him to fix.

You just hit the magical tax code age of 70 1/2 and decided it was time to move those employer plan retirement funds to an IRA. You must take your required minimum distribution from the plan first. What happens if you don't? IRA Technical Expert Beverly DeVeny outlines the consequences and how to correct them.