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Individual Retirement Accounts - IRAs

Strategies for maximizing your Individual Retirement Account (IRA’s) Investments, Tax Savings and Timing of Required Minimum Distributions

Found 388 Articles.
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Spotting Overlooked IRA Opportunities

June 1, 2015

IRAs hold the bulk of most people’s retirement nest eggs. They are vital to successful retirement. Yet, many people leave a lot of IRA money on the table. They don’t realize the many strategies available to increase the after-tax value of IRAs. IRAs are deceptive. They seem simple at first, no more complicated than opening […]

More Legal Rights for 401(k) Members

May 19, 2015

Trial attorneys have been suing 401(k) plans in recent years for not giving participants good deals. The Supreme Court handed another defeat to the 401(k) plans, finding that the statute of limitations is renewed each time the plan’s board reviews investment choices. And a plan can be sued for a high-cost or high-risk investment option […]

Savings Rates and 401(k)s

May 4, 2015

Over the years economists discovered that people would save more for retirement if 401(k) plans set a default initial savings rate instead of providing there would be no savings rate unless the employee selected one. There’s a lot of inertia in people. Many people will leave their contribution rate at the default, because they don’t […]

Avoiding Frequent IRA Rollover Mistakes

May 1, 2015

IRA rollovers at first seem commonplace and easy. There even are television commercials about them. Yet, there is a lot more to rollovers than many people realize. When you don’t know the details, you risk losing money to taxes, penalties, and bad decisions. There are 31 different types of rollovers in the tax code, says […]

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The Importance of Age 69 1/2 in Retirement Planning

April 13, 2015

Most people in retirement planning learn that age 70 1/2 is important. Here’ an article arguing that the year before is more of a benchmark. You have to start planning for the following years’ RMD, and it also means you’re approaching other key IRA milestones. Age 69 1/2 is a big deal, a major year […]

Increasing IRA Conversion Benefits

April 1, 2015

A stream of tax-free income interests many people, and they know that a Roth IRA is a good way to establish tax-free cash flow. But they don’t want to pay taxes before they have to and balk at the tax cost of a conversion. To convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA you include […]

Should Annuities Be in IRAs?

April 1, 2015

It is past time to consign to the dustbin of financial history another long-time financial rule of thumb. I hear it regularly when making presentations. People say, “I thought it never was a good idea to buy an annuity in an IRA.” That used to be reasonable advice but no longer is in many cases. […]

Navigating the RMD Minefield

March 1, 2015

IRAs seem simple at first. You make contributions and manage the investments. Over time, however, IRAs become more complicated and even inconvenient. IRAs become especially troublesome for people as they begin to take distributions and especially after they reach age 70½ and beyond, because of the required minimum distributions. The RMD rules are not what […]

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