With the calendar well into May, wedding season has arrived in full force. You have probably heard the saying that marriage has its benefits. Well, this is especially true when it comes to the IRA rules. If you are married, you may have some IRA options that would not have been available to you if you had not taken the plunge and tied the knot. Here are 4 IRA benefits you may have if you are married.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag answers questions on the tax "sweet spot" in retirement, the tax and penalty impact on a non-spouse beneficiary's inherited Roth IRA distributions and the future of the stretch IRA.
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 potential annuities that can be rolled over to IRAsas well as a follow-up question on a younger spouse inheriting an IRA. Click to read this week's Q&A with our IRA Technical Consultant.
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.
Come rain, sleet, or in this case, a Nor'easter of snow, we still deliver The Slott Report Mailbag with questions about IRA required minimum distributions (RMDs), beneficiaries when one wasn't listed (hint: the spouse isn't automatically the beneficiary) and the Roth IRA conversion rules.
You are married and have an IRA. You know you need to name a beneficiary for those funds. But what if you do not want to name your spouse as the beneficiary? Are you required to name him or her? Find the answer below.
Summer is almost here, as the unofficial start to the summer season begins with Memorial Day weekend. To celebrate, we open some IRA, tax and retirement planning mail and answer several of your most pressing questions. This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at some intricate IRA issues along with a question about the provisions in the new tax law.
Retirement planning is about time...and it sure does fly. Maximizing your time and planning early (while thinking about how to minimize risk later in life) is quintessential to any successful plan. This week's Slott Report Mailbag examines ages (particularly ages 59 1/2 and age 70 1/2) as they relate to retirement planning.
Let's assume you have an IRA or retirement plan or annuity or even life insurance. All of those things have a beneficiary form. They do not pass through your will and they are not probate assets as long as you have completed or updated the beneficiary form.
