This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at a dilemma we see in many households: expected income exceeds Roth IRA contribution limits, so the family elects to open a Traditional IRA, only to see by year-end that the expected income fell under the contribution limits. Can this family convert the Traditional IRA money to a Roth? Also, we examine the process of taking a required minimum distribution on an account valued at zero, and answer an inherited IRA question about the proper way of distributing funds.
What if you could avoid 100% of the income tax on your IRA? Or at least reduce the tax to as close to $0 as possible? While a totally tax-free IRA may seem like something that only exists in your dreams, there are some circumstances in which it may be possible. Here's how to make your IRA dreams come true.
On Monday, we posted an article to The Slott Report detailing 3 reasons why you may want to use a Roth IRA instead of a 529 plan to help save for a child’s college education. Since then, we’ve received a fair amount of feedback from readers and follow-up questions, many of which asked if using a Roth IRA to pay for a child's education expenses now would impact their aid in the future. We have the answer.
For some time now, the cost of a college degree has been rising at perilously high rates, and as a result, the dream of one day going to college, for many, remains just that ... a dream. With college tuition and associated costs rising so dramatically, it’s no surprise that people are looking for new and creative ways to save for these expenses. One such alternative method involves the use of a Roth IRA over more traditional college savings vehicles, such as 529 plans and Coverdell education savings account. Here are three reasons why it may be a good move.
If you have a Roth IRA, you may want to move it to a different IRA custodian. Whatever the reason, you can move your Roth IRA funds to another Roth IRA at any time. There are two ways to do that; using a rollover or a transfer.
With college expenses at some of the best schools now exceeding $60,000 per year, education related expenses are fast becoming one of the biggest obstacles many baby boomers face when saving for their own retirement. For many families, planning for a college education goes hand in hand with IRA’s and retirement planning. Below are three ways smart IRA planning can help you pay less for college.
Can you contribute to a Roth IRA if you are already allocating salary deferrals to a Roth 401(k)? We provide the answer and look at the contribution requirements for both Traditional and Roth IRAs.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at converting non-deductible funds to an IRA and the rules for taking a Roth distribution of contributed and converted funds.
Life insurance and Roth IRAs have a lot in common. They are both often used as wealth transfer tools to help facilitate an efficient transfer of assets from one generation to the next, and they are both able to provide a tax-free legacy, just to name a few. Despite their many similarities, however, Roth IRAs and life insurance are very different and the rules that apply to one don’t always apply to the other. In fact, more often than not, that’s the case. Below, we discuss three such examples.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag includes two great questions, including one that piggybacks off an answer in last week's mailbag referencing RMDs (required minimum distributions) at age 70 1/2 and still working. Click to read this week's Q&A with our IRA Technical Expert.
