Individual Retirement Accounts - IRAs
Strategies for maximizing your Individual Retirement Account (IRA’s) Investments, Tax Savings and Timing of Required Minimum Distributions
Found 379 Articles.
Get access to our full article archive by subscribing to Retirement Watch and Retirement Watch Spotlight Series.
5 Reasons 2020 Could Be the Best Year to Convert an IRA
This year might be the best year for many of you to convert all or part of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. Roth IRAs are one of the most powerful retirement and tax planning vehicles. Earnings compound free of taxes. Distributions of the principal always are tax free, and distributions of income and […]
9 Ways to Trim Taxes and Maximize Benefits from RMDs
Required minimum distributions (RMDs) from IRAs weren’t simplified or changed in the new tax law. Taxpayers ages 70½ and older still have to take these distributions from traditional IRAs and other qualified retirement plans, 401(k)s included, whether they need the money or not. The good news is we still have strategies to simplify RMDs and […]
How to Name a Charity as an IRA Beneficiary
Leave it to the tax code to turn something easy into something complicated.One would think that naming a charity as the beneficiary of an IRA would be an easy thing. Name the charity as the IRA’s beneficiary or as one of the co-beneficiaries. It is as simple as that, right? Wrong. If you name the […]
Avoid the New Pitfalls of Naming Trusts as IRA Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act
IRA estate planning was revolutionized by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act. Few discussions so far have focused on the major changes made for situations in which a trust is the IRA beneficiary. There are good reasons to name a trust as an IRA beneficiary. But the SECURE Act changed the […]
SUBSCRIBE TO RETIREMENT WATCH SPOTLIGHT SERIES
In my new Retirement Watch Spotlight Series, I’ll share my newest breakthrough strategies for protecting your assets and growing your portfolio, including how to prepare for the next market downturn. Click here now to learn more.
Congress Makes It Easier to Take Emergency Cash From Retirement Plans
Some provisions of the CARES Act allow people to take cash out of retirement plans and accounts during the crisis with fewer restrictions and penalties than usual. Keep in mind that a retirement plan might not make the new flexibility available to its participants. The employer sponsoring the plan decides whether or not to adopt […]
Your Questions Answered: How the CARES Act Changes RMDs
By far the questions I’ve been asked the most recently concern a major change that was made in required minimum distributions (RMDs) from retirement accounts. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act rolled through Congress in about a week and was signed by President Trump on March 27. The major focus of the […]
Three More Strategies That Beat the SECURE Act
The Stretch IRA is history, and you need to revise your estate plan to ensure your heirs receive maximum after-tax value from inherited retirement accounts. You know the basics, because I’ve been covering them since the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act started rolling through Congress in May 2019. You can read […]
Your Questions About the SECURE Act Answered
The SECURE Act continues to raise questions. This month, we dive into those I’ve been receiving from readers and try to reduce the confusion about the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act. We start with the interplay between the SECURE Act and qualified charitable distributions (QCDs). Here’s a refresher on QCDs. A […]
