Welcome back to the bite-size tutorial series about retirement withdrawal methods. This week we look at Method #2. Method 2: Tax-Deferred accounts first, Taxable (aka non-retirement accounts) second, Roth last. Pros: Spreads taxes owed on deferred accounts over a longer period of time. Get ahead of Required Minimum Distributions, possibly keeping yourself in a lower…
In last week’s blog, I introduced some thoughts and methods of tapping into your savings to create a retirement paycheck. This week, we will look at the Method #1. This is the first method just because it’s kind of the standard one people default to. It’s not necessarily the best for you. Method 1: Taxable…
Retirement in America is not for wimps. For most people, gone are the days when you hang up your tools one day and then go home to a steady pension for the rest of your life. Nowadays, we must consider Social Security claiming strategies, required minimum distributions rules, ever shifting tax brackets, and changing…
…in the first year? That is a question. Not THE question – surely there are more important questions in life. But, with the new SECURE Act 2.0 moving the Required Minimum Distribution start date out yet another year, that old question may pop up again. To recap, the rule has always been that in the…
As the parent or grandparent of young children, you might be thinking about the best way to save for college. 529 plans, introduced in the 1990s, are a great way to shelter investment for college from taxes. BUT, as with all things there are drawbacks. One worry clients routinely express is, what if they overfund…
That’s right folks, our elected officials got something done in 2022 that has bearing on your everyday life. The passage of the SECURE Act 2.0 brings up some interesting planning opportunities for your finances. Since the name of my blog game is short-and-sweet, I’ll just hit a few highlights. Click on the article below for…
Yep, your investments are down and so are your spirits. Those looking for a silver lining may be talking about tax loss harvesting. What does that even mean? Warning, if your money is all in retirement accounts (IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, this concept doesn’t apply. Tax loss harvesting is only for accounts where capital…
Maybe inflation isn’t all bad. Social Security checks are going up 8.7%, you can buy a 1-year CD earning 4.5% interest, and (for those who aren’t spending every last time on more expensive groceries) we are seeing a big jump in retirement contribution limits for 2023. To summarize: 401(k), 403(b), 457 plans: Under age…
The IRS has done it again. Taken an already unfortunate new rule about inheriting IRAs and made it even worse. To recap, if you inherited IRA/Roth IRA/Workplace Retirement Account money from someone who died in 2020 or after, the SECURE Act states that you must take that money out of the account within 10…
Let’s start off with a direct quote for how the October 2021 version of this blog started: “I guess it’s a good year in the stock market when the worst performing sectors (so far, as of writing this blog on September 13th) aren’t negative, just not up as high as the best performers. My sage…
