Individual Retirement Accounts - IRAs
Strategies for maximizing your Individual Retirement Account (IRA’s) Investments, Tax Savings and Timing of Required Minimum Distributions
Found 367 Articles.
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How to Invest IRA Accounts
IRAs seemed so simple when they were started. Make the maximum contribution; invest the money until retirement; and then take money over time to pay for retirement. Managing IRAs, however, requires more thought if one wants to maximize after-tax retirement income. One issue that is not considered enough is which investments are best held in […]
How to Avoid Frequent IRA Mistakes
Mistakes and over-sights by IRA owners prevent their heirs from maximizing the after-tax benefits of the accounts. The source of many problems is the IRA beneficiary form, a document to which most IRA owners devote only a minute or so. This form should be an important element of an estate plan, and some IRA owners […]
What Heirs Should Know About IRAs
Some of the biggest mistakes with IRAs are made after they pass to the second generation of owners. Heirs routinely lose a large percentage of inherited IRAs to unnecessary taxes. The rules are simple. But they aren’t obvious and most heirs don’t know about them or know to ask about them. If you don’t want […]
Key IRA Decisions for 2007
IRA owners can squeeze significant additional after-tax dollars out of their accounts – if they plan carefully. In addition to the usual planning strategies, there are new IRA opportunities available in the next few years. The Pension Plan Protection Act of 2006 created a charitable giving opportunity for some IRA owners. We covered this after […]
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On Having Unconventional Investments in IRAs
Many of us have a large percentage of our investment assets in IRAs. We can choose between traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs. But most IRAs can be invested only in traditional assets, such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. The trend for investors now is to add non-traditional assets to their portfolios. With the right […]
Should You Choose a Regular 401 K or Roth 401 K
Many employees have a new retirement-saving option, and many more will have that option over the next year or two. Should you take this option? In addition to regular 401(k) plans, employers now can offer Roth 401(k)s. The rules are very simple. There is no tax break for deferring salary into the Roth 401(k); it […]
New Estate Planning Rules on IRAs and Trusts
The IRS recently made it easier to use a trust with your IRA to protect assets for future generations. You still should use an Estate Planning attorney to ensure things are done properly, but the new ruling adds more certainty than we had in the past. The type of trust people most often want to […]
Inheriting 401(k) Plans has become Easier
Income taxes are likely to be lower for many who inherit 401(k) plan accounts and other employer retirement plan accounts, thanks to the pension reform law the President signed into law in August. The law puts non-spouses closer to an equal footing with spouses who inherit the accounts. Employers are not required to give heirs […]
