Retirement - - Page 3 of 5 - The Finance Gourmet

Should I Skip My RMD This Year?

May 20, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

As part of the economic relief legislation passed to help with the coronovirus, Congress removed the requirement that people age 70 1/2 and older take their required minimum distribution this year. This leaves many taxpayers wondering, should I skip my RMD this year. Tax Benefits of Skipping RMD This Year Usually anyone above the age of 70 1/2 years old is required to withdraw a minimum amount from their tax-advantaged accounts each year. The amount is calculated based upon an IRS provided actuarial table, and the amount of money in the taxpayer’s accounts. The calculated amount must be withdrawn from the accounts, and becomes taxable income. Higher taxes are the result for most people. The main benefit of skipping the required minimum distribution is lower taxes for the 2020 tax year. Distributions from non-Roth IRA, tax-advantaged accounts such as IRAs and 401ks are taxable income. Not only do taxpayers have to be taxes on the distribution, but the money withdrawn increases the taxpayers overall taxable income. The higher taxable income may reduce or eliminate certain tax deductions or credits that are limited to taxpayers with lower incomes. The $1,200 stimulus payment itself was limited to taxpayers with incomes under $75,000 …

Difference Between a Rollover and a Transfer

August 2, 2022May 11, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

When it comes to rollovers or transfers between 401k accounts and IRA accounts, one word makes a lot of difference. So, what exactly is the difference between a rollover and a transfer? A 401k rollover requires that 20 percent of the amount being rolled over be withheld for taxes, even though the IRS still requires the account owner to deposit 100 percent of the amount within 60 days to avoid taxes and penalties. This means that the account owner has to come up with that 20% on his own, and be sure to deposit it with the 80% proceeds he actually receives. A 401k transfer requires no withholding and moves the funds tax-free. As a result, a 401k transfer is better than a 401k rollover in most cases. Likewise, an IRA rollover gives the account owner 60 days to deposit any rolled over funds into a new IRA account. IRS rules limit each taxpayer to only one rollover per year. An IRA transfer moves the money directly to a new qualified retirement plan account with no delays and with no one per year limits. While many of these rollovers are handled electronically, some are done by a check made out …

2023 Required Minimum Distributions

September 11, 2023April 10, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

If you have an IRA or 401k and you are over 70 1/2-year-old, you need to take a required minimum distribution, or RMD, from your retirement account each year. However, with the coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed specific relief for certain kinds of retirement accounts creating different rules for your 2023 RMD. New 2023 RMD Rules Normally, taxpayers over the age of 70 1/2 years old have to take money out of their retirement accounts like IRAs and 401k plans. The reason is simple. The IRS doesn’t want that money sitting there untaxed forever. So, when you get into retirement, it wants to tax that money that you enjoyed paying no taxes on for all of those years. With the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, however, Congress looked to provide some relief to taxpayers in the form of $1,200 payments, small business loans, and relaxing the rules on accessing and using retirement plan money. One of those benefits is the suspension of required minimum distributions, or RMDs, for 2020. All RMDs, regardless of the owner’s age, or how many required minimum distributions have already been taken are suspended for 2020. In other words, there are no required distributions during 2020. If you …

What Are Pre-Tax Dollars?

December 3, 2020April 8, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

Financial advisors and other financial professionals throw around certain terms like, pre-tax dollars, like everyone already knows what they mean. In some cases, they are right, and in other cases, most people only have a partial grasp on what exactly certain financial terms mean. In many cases, knowing the complete definition of a word or phrase makes all the difference. What Does Pre-Tax Mean? Pre-tax dollars is a phrase that is often used in conjunction with retirement planning and 401k contributions. In fact, one of the benefits of a 401k plan is that contributions are made with pre-tax dollars. But, what is the definition of pre-tax dollars, anyway? When an employee gets paid, there are numerous deductions that get taken out of their paycheck. These payroll deductions range from income tax withholding to FICA taxes to voluntary contributions for things like health insurance or cafeteria plans (Section 125 plans). Some of the deductions from your paycheck, like federal tax withholding, are computed based on how much you are paid. Pre-tax means that the deduction occurs before that withholding is calculated. This is why many financial writers and other financial experts point out that contributing to your 401k plan doesn’t actually …

401k Fiduciary Rule

March 18, 2018 by Finance Gourmet

Politics sometimes makes it hard to get straight information about important topics relating to your finances. In this case, a court has struck down an Obama era rule that essentially applied the fiduciary standard to certain 401k advisors. According to the Republicans, this is a giant victory for freedom, and business, and enterprise. According to Democrats, this is a giant blow to fairness, and an attack on all hard-working Americans. As is so often the case when politicians get involved, the reality lies somewhere in between. What Is Fiduciary Standard? There is a HUGE amount of case law and statutes about what exactly makes up fiduciary standards, but for our purposes, the easiest way to understand is to compare to the other existing financial standard, suitability. I spend several years as a financial advisor. During that time, I was under the suitability standard. This meant that investments I recommended had to be suitable for my clients. In other words, I wasn’t supposed to be recommending highly-volatile, high-risk, futures contracts to my widowed, orphaned, school teacher, clients. Practically speaking, this standard had a lot less to do with what I wanted to recommend, and a lot more to do with what my company …

Basic 401k Recipe – How To 401k

January 9, 2018 by Finance Gourmet

When I was a financial advisor, it always surprised me how often people who didn’t know the first thing about money, investing, or 401(k) plans ended up being so successful at saving for retirement. For them, when they got their first “real” job all those years ago, they signed up for the 401k — because someone told them to — put in 6% of their salary — because that’s how you get the full match — and just chose a basic stock index fund as their investment choice — because that’s all you really need to do right now. Then, 30 years later, after having contributed 6% into a basic stock index fund every paycheck, during every recession, during every boom, during every bust, they ended up with a pile of money thanks to dollar cost averaging and compound interest — all without ever knowing anything about it. In contrast, I also met many people who knew “everything” about money. They quizzed me on minutia like where a company becomes a mid-cap stock versus a small-cap stock, or what month the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, but ended up with very little money in their 401k plans. As it turns …

Fix RMD Tax Problems With QCD

September 26, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

You’ve spent a lifetime saving for retirement, and you did a really great job. So great, in fact, that you don’t need to take money out of your IRAs. But, you’ve turned 70 1/2, and now the IRS is forcing you to withdraw money from your IRA every year in the form of a Required Minimum Distribution, or RMD. Is there any way to get around having to take an RMD? Mitigating Your RMD’s Affect On Your Taxes The IRS gave you years of tax relief on the funds in your IRA. They only did that to encourage you to save for retirement. Now, that you’re retired (or at least retirement aged) they want their money now in the form of taxes on your IRA withdrawals, but if you played your cards right, you might not ever need to withdraw, and the IRS would have to wait longer for that money. The IRS hates waiting. The RMD keeps this from being the case. Once you turn 70 1/2 years old, you have to take some money out every year, and the government is there, waiting to tax it. Unfortunately, there is no way to get out of having to take …

What Is a Roth IRA?

June 11, 2019October 3, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

What is a Roth IRA? Is a Roth IRA the best way to save for my retirement? Even the basics in financial planning aren’t always so basic. The basics of IRA plans, is one of those times. IRA stands for Individual Retirement Account. Tthat means it is an account for an individual to use to save for retirement. As an enticement to save for your own retirement, the government gives you tax advantages for using an IRA for retirement planning. As a way to keep you from pulling money out for things besides retirement, there is a penalty if you use IRA money for something else. Roth IRA versus Traditional IRA With a traditional IRA, or just IRA, you get a deduction from your taxes today, unless your income is too high. You also get tax deferred growth on the money in the account. When you start taking the money out, you owe taxes on both the contribution and the gains. If you earn too much money to take the tax deduction on your contributions, then you do not have to pay taxes on those funds again when you withdraw them. With a Roth IRA, you get no tax deduction …

Fast Retirement Math

September 12, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

Want to make a quickie calculation about how much money you’ll need for retirement? I’ve talked before how, for most people, knowing “your number,” or whatever you want to call it isn’t really all that helpful. The simple reason is that most people cannot save as much for retirement as they should be, so they should just be saving as much as they can. Simple. But, what if you are getting ready to retire, or if you just want to know how much retirement income you have stored away? Quick Retirement Income Calculation The quickest way to calculate your current retirement income is to take the amount of money you have saved, and multiply it by 4%. That’s your current “safe” annual income in retirement. As in, if you have $1 million stashed away in your 401k plan, you can count on $40,000 per year in income. Sucks, doesn’t it? Before we get to some info that might help you feel better, let’s take a look at where the 4% comes from. Check out my review of Credit Karma here. A chimp with a hammer can get you 4% income without ever running you out of principal. In fact, at …