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Investing IRAs

Found 23 Articles.
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Increasing IRA Conversion Benefits after Tax Reform

May 1, 2018

Many estate plans fail, and often not because of any flaws in the documents or the plans. Estate plan failures frequently occur in the implementation and execution. Especially important are actions taken by others, often your children. They’re likely to be the ones putting key parts of the plan into action, not you. To ensure […]

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6 Misunderstood IRA Rules and Strategies

January 12, 2018

IRAs aren’t the simple vehicles they seemed when they were new. What’s more, Baby Boomers have reached the stages of life when the rules are more complicated and full of pitfalls. Here’s a guide to the top questions my readers are asking about IRAs, and mistakes many are making. Required minimum distribution mistake #1.  Most […]

Increase After Tax Wealth by Matching the Right Assets to the Right Accounts

May 23, 2017

How much time do you spend on asset location? Notice, that’s asset location not asset allocation. If you’re like most investors and even financial advisers, you don’t give asset location much time or attention or use some oversimplified rules of thumb. Over time, that oversight reduces after-tax returns, and that means your nest egg won’t […]

Making the Most of 401(k) Plans

February 27, 2017

Rollovers from 401(k) accounts are the main reason IRAs are among the most valuable assets many retirees own. When people leave a job, for either a new job or retirement, they often roll over the 401(k) balance to an IRA. To maximize the value of your IRAs in retirement, you need to maximize 401(k) account […]

Using the IRA Charitable Contribution Exclusion

January 4, 2016

In the latest tax law Congress made permanent the special provision for charitable gifts from IRAs by those age 70 1/2 or older. This article gives the basic rules and also explains when it is a good idea to use the strategy and when it isn’t. This article gives some tips on how to increase […]

Avoiding IRA Beneficiary Mistakes

September 4, 2014

Here’s a good summary of some key points to naming IRA beneficiaries. We’ve included these and more in past issues of Retirement Watch. It’s a good review for my readers and a useful introduction for those who haven’t been members yet. Clients who pay big bucks to have lawyers prepare wills and trusts often complete […]

IRA Conversions and the Five-Year Waiting Period

November 19, 2010

I continue to receive a lot of questions about the five-year waiting period for taking distributions after Roth IRA contributions and conversions. There’s a lot of confusion about the rules. It is slightly different for conversions and for contributions. It also is different for income taxation of distributions and the 10% early distribution penalty on […]

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Dos and Don’ts of IRA Investing

August 1, 2008

Many people own substantial IRAs and do a lot of their investing through IRAs. These investors might not realize some investments are prohibited from IRAs and others are allowed but incur tax penalties. This issue is more important in today’s climate, because “hard assets” and other nontraditional assets-those that are doing well today-are primarily those […]

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