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Archive for Retirement

SHOULD I CONVERT TO A ROTH IRA?

Posted by angela@kolbeco.net 
· Friday, June 29th, 2018 

The Roth IRA offers a number of advantages over its traditional counterpart. These include:

  • Tax-free distributions at retirement
  • Ability to continue making contributions beyond age 70-1/2
  • No required minimum distributions beginning in the year you turn 70-1/2
  • Leaving assets to survivors that are free from income taxes

Details on eligibility to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

  • For years before 2010, if your filing status is married filing separately, you don’t qualify unless you lived apart from your spouse for the entire year.
  • For years before 2010, if your modified adjusted gross income is greater than $100,000, you can’t convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.
  • For years before 2008, direct conversions from an employer plan to a Roth IRA were not permitted. You can do that now, but in some situations it may be preferable to roll to a traditional IRA and then convert to a Roth IRA.
  • If you inherited a traditional IRA from a person other than your spouse, you can’t convert it to a Roth IRA.
  • You can convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA even if you made a rollover within the previous 12 months.
  • If you’re otherwise eligible, you can convert part of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. But you can’t convert only the nontaxable part.

Assets converted to a Roth IRA must remain in the account for at least five years before any distributions are taken. Otherwise, a significant tax penalty may apply.

You’ll maximize the potential for tax-free income later if you pay conversion taxes out of pocket, rather than withdrawal them from your IRA. If you can’t pay conversion taxes without using part of your IRA funds, you probably shouldn’t convert unless you are certain you will be in a high tax bracket during retirement.

Updated 3/24/2010

Material discussed is meant for general illustration and/or informational purposes only and it is not to be construed as tax, legal, or investment advice.  Although the information has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, please note that individual situations can vary therefore, the information should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Diversification does not ensure against loss. Source: Financial Visions, Inc.

PLANNING FOR THE “GOLDEN YEARS”

Posted by angela@kolbeco.net 
· Friday, June 29th, 2018 

There’s a saying that if you have your health, you have everything. Well, that’s not exactly true – without adequate resources, you could enjoy a long, healthy retirement at a far lower standard of living than you’d prefer!

When preparing for retirement, it’s vital to keep in mind the importance of money to your quality of life during your “golden years.” And with retirements now stretching as long as 20 to 30 years – and beyond – ensuring your retirement dollars outlive you is a paramount concern.

Failing to Plan, or Planning to Fail?

It’s been said that he who fails to plan, plans to fail. And nowhere is that concept illustrated more starkly than with retirement planning. A sound financial plan can be the difference between the retirement of your dreams and the nightmare of discovering you have too little money, too late to change financial course.

A disciplined retirement preparation plan, diligently followed, will help you develop realistic objectives … assess progress toward your goals … and make periodic adjustments to keep you on track.

How Much Retirement Income Will YOU Need?

Government research has determined that most Americans need between 60 and 80 percent of their pre-retirement income in order to maintain their standard of living during retirement. However, many financial experts have raised this figure to between 80 and 100 percent of pre-retirement income, citing skyrocketing healthcare costs, lengthening life spans, and the ever-present threat of inflation – which can rob a retirement portfolio of purchasing power over time.

Of course, how much you will need in retirement will be a function of your goals, time horizon, and spending habits. Those who want to purchase a second home and travel frequently will obviously need more than those who prefer to stay at home in their paid-off house. Consider these factors when estimating your future retirement income needs:

  • Your support of children who will be self-sufficient by the time you retire
  • Your current work-related expenses that will be dramatically reduced in retirement, such as commuting costs, daily meal expenses, dry cleaning bills, etc.
  • Whether your mortgage will be paid off prior to or early in retirement
  • Whether you will need to continue your monthly savings amount or begin to spend that amount for necessities
  • Your tax bill in retirement

Sources of Retirement Income

Once you have estimated your target retirement income, you can begin evaluating your potential sources of regular income. In general, your income sources will fall into one of these three categories:

  1. Government sources. The Social Security system was inaugurated during the Great Depression to augment retirees’ incomes. Most experts feel that the system will remain solvent throughout much of the 21st century. Even so, a rising retirement age and cuts in benefits could reduce your monthly Social Security check. Benefits are based on the amount you earned during your working years.
  2. Employer-sponsored plans. Many employers offer company-sponsored retirement plans, which generally fall into two categories. Defined benefit plans, which are normally funded by the employer and guarantee a retirement benefit based on a formula comprising number of years on the job and employment earnings. For example, a traditional pension is a defined benefit plan. Defined contribution plans, on the other hand – such as 401(k), 403(b), and 457 – rely on funding from employees, matching funds from the employer, or a combination of the two. The employee owns an account balance (subject to company rules regarding vesting) of contributions and earnings. Upon changing jobs, an employee may be able to roll over assets into the new employer’s plan or into an IRA. At retirement, the employee decides how to withdraw the balance he or she has accumulated.
  3. Personal savings. This is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of retirement planning. Personal savings include, but aren’t limited to, balances in savings accounts, directly held assets, home equity, shares in a partnership or business, and even collectibles such as artwork and coins.

How to Get – And Stay – On Course

How can you determine whether you’re on track to reach your retirement goals, and to make adjustments if necessary? We can help you develop a sound financial plan based on your specific situation, monitor it regularly to ensure you’re making progress toward your objectives, and recommend occasional adjustments to help you stay on course.

Material discussed is meant for general illustration and/or informational purposes only and it is not to be construed as tax, legal, or investment advice.  Although the information has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, please note that individual situations can vary therefore, the information should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Diversification does not ensure against loss. Source: Financial Visions, Inc.

BRIDGING THE INCOME GAP

Posted by angela@kolbeco.net 
· Friday, June 29th, 2018 

Social Security was never designed to be an individual’s sole source of retirement income. Instead, it was meant to bridge the gap between people’s income from pensions and savings and their monthly expenses.

Today, however, nearly two-thirds of all seniors rely on Social Security for at least 50% of their total monthly income. Nor are annual cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, keeping up with the spiraling costs of healthcare, housing, and energy in many areas across the country. Adjustments to extend the program’s solvency have reduced benefits in real terms, as well as ratcheted up the age at which one can attain full benefits.

What’s more, traditional company pension plans are fast going the way of the horse-and-buggy and the dodo bird. Instead, employers are moving toward “defined contribution plans” that put most of the responsibility for planning, funding, investing, and distributing plan funds squarely on the shoulders of individual employees.

Given these trends, one thing is clear: Each person must put increasingly greater emphasis on securing their own financial future in retirement. Your actions today and throughout your working career may make the difference between relying on government programs for a modest monthly income and enjoying a secure, independent “golden years.”

The price of procrastination is steep and the cost of inadequate preparation too high for you to wait until later to start planning!

Material discussed is meant for general illustration and/or informational purposes only and it is not to be construed as tax, legal, or investment advice.  Although the information has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, please note that individual situations can vary therefore, the information should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Diversification does not ensure against loss. Source: Financial Visions, Inc.

So You’re Retired – Now What?

Posted by angela@kolbeco.net 
· Friday, June 29th, 2018 

Most qualified retirement plans offer significant tax benefits – if you’re willing to follow a few IRS-specified rules, that is. The federal government wants to make plans such as 401(k)s, Keoghs, SEP-IRAs and traditional IRAs available for specific needs, and has enacted laws to help eliminate potential abuses of these tax-advantaged investment alternatives.

Retirement Plans are Intended for Retirement

For one thing, the government wants to make sure that such savings (and income tax benefits) actually go towards providing retirement income. Stiff penalties for early withdrawal help encourage investors to hold off on receiving income from qualified plans until their retirement years.

Required Withdrawals

The government also wants to make sure they can someday tax these accumulated funds. If you have a 401(k), a Keogh, a SEP or a traditional IRA, you must begin taking mandatory minimum distributions from your plan by April 1st of the year following the year in which you turn 70-1/2.

Although the tax code allows you to wait until April 1 of the year following the year you turn 70-1/2, it is generally a good idea to take your first mandatory withdrawal in the same year you reach that age. If you wait, you will have to make two withdrawals in the first year, doubling the amount of taxable income you must declare and potentially increasing your marginal tax bracket.

The amount you are actually required to withdraw each year, and which will be subject to taxation, is based on tables that estimate your remaining lifetime.

Calculating Your Required Withdrawals

It’s vital to maintain a disciplined process of taking minimum withdrawals from your qualified plans. That’s because if you don’t meet the required minimum distribution withdrawals, the IRS will impose a stiff penalty: 50% of the amount not withdrawn, plus the income taxes due. Ouch!

The good news is. the IRS has made calculating your required minimum distributions much easier. Based on your age, you simply divide your qualified plan balance as of the last day of the previous year by the factor from the IRS Pub. 590 table shown below. The resulting quotient is your annual required minimum distribution.

Uniform Lifetime Table
(For use by: unmarried owners, married owners whose spouses are not more than 10 years younger, and married owners whose spouses are not the sole beneficiaries of their IRAs)
Age Distribution Period Age Distribution Period
70 27.4 93 9.6
71 26.5 94 9.1
72 25.6 95 8.6
73 24.7 96 8.1
74 23.8 97 7.6
75 22.9 98 7.1
76 22 99 6.7
77 21.2 100 6.3
78 20.3 101 5.9
79 19.5 102 5.5
80 18.7 103 5.2
81 17.9 104 4.9
82 17.1 105 4.5
83 16.3 106 4.2
84 15.5 107 3.9
85 14.8 108 3.7
86 14.1 109 3.4
87 13.4 110 3.1
88 12.7 111 2.9
89 12 112 2.6
90 11.4 113 2.4
91 10.8 114 2.1
92 10.2 115 and over 1.9

Material discussed is meant for general illustration and/or informational purposes only and it is not to be construed as tax, legal, or investment advice.  Although the information has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, please note that individual situations can vary therefore, the information should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Diversification does not ensure against loss. Source: Financial Visions, Inc.

Can You Afford to Retire Early?

Posted by angela@kolbeco.net 
· Friday, June 8th, 2018 

Historically, most Americans have considered 65 to be their target retirement age. This is likely the result of past Social Security laws, which provided full benefits beginning at age 65.

However, many workers today are retiring at an increasingly earlier age. In just the last few years, for example, the average retirement age has fallen to age 63. And many younger workers are planning to retire even earlier; in fact, according to a recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, more than a third of today’s workers plan to retire before age 64.

What You Give Up

An early retirement often comes at a cost. Here are a few of the financial results of early retirement that you must consider carefully:

Not only are Social Security benefits reduced for early retirement, but the age at which full benefits begin is being gradually raised to 67.

Retiring early often happens right at the peak of your earning years, meaning you not only forego that income, but also the resulting saving and investing that would have taken place in these years.

The annual benefit provided by employer-sponsored defined benefit pension plans is usually based on a combination of years of service and your ending salary. Both are reduced by early retirement.

Health care costs tend to increase for retired individuals. Benefits that were once paid for by employer-sponsored coverage often become the responsibility of the retiree.

Consider Your Options Carefully

Choosing when to retire is one of the most important financial decisions you will make. Consider your options carefully. Careful planning can help ensure you a comfortable and financially independent retirement.

1. “2006 Retirement Confidence Survey,” Employee Benefit Research Institute and Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Inc.

Material discussed is meant for general illustration and/or informational purposes only and it is not to be construed as tax, legal, or investment advice. Although the information has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, please note that individual situations can vary therefore, the information should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Diversification does not ensure against loss. Source: Financial Visions, Inc.