It is important to do your due diligence when hiring anyone who claims to be an expert. The same holds true for financial professionals. Before dumping your entire piggy bank in the lap of a random advisor, be sure he or she has the skills and experience necessary to manage such a responsibility. Regarding IRAs, here are 10 good questions to ask your advisor:
With the tax deadline having just passed, now is the perfect opportunity to start planning for next year. Last year’s return should be readily available, and you may even have many important items committed to memory. Additionally, four months into the year is the perfect time to begin making current year projections. Of course, this year is different. That’s because 2018 will be the first that we file under the changes created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
So you think you don’t need/can’t afford an advisor? Have you considered the cost of making IRA mistakes? Even seemingly simple transactions are subject to rules and restrictions under the tax code. Did you contribute too much by mistake? This mistake cannot be corrected by simply withdrawing the excess amount. There are rules on how to fix the mistake. If you are not thoroughly familiar with the IRA rules, it is all too easy to make a mistake, and mistakes can be very costly.
Catch-up contributions for most retirement plans and IRAs can be made beginning in the year you are going to turn age 50. The only plan that does not allow catch-up contributions is the SEP IRA. The following are the catch-up limit amounts.
Last month TransAmerica released its 17th annual Retirement Survey of Workers. This year’s study, entitled Prospectives on Retirement: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, yielded some incredible information. Here are some of the most fascinating takeaways I found as I read through the study.
Here's the 10 most amazing, surprising and/or illuminating facts about retirement that I read in January. Before each fact, you will find my own brief commentary, and after each fact, you will find the original article from which the fact was pulled should you be interested in further reading.
Let's kick off the holiday festivities with a short list of 10 of the most amazing, surprising and/or illuminating facts about retirement that Jeffrey Levine read in November. Before each fact, you will find Jeff's brief commentary, and after each fact, you will find the original article from which the fact was pulled should you be interested in further reading. Happy Holidays!
According to recent statistics and government reports, retirement assets, and IRA assets in particular, are on the rise. Here are 5 incredible facts about the current retirement market.
Ed Slott shows how to take retirement savings on a permanent vacation from taxes and avoid Uncle Sam in his new Public Television Special, Ed Slott's Retirement Road Map! This program is filled with the ingredients that made Ed's previous programs so successful - wisdom, humor and insight, helping viewers navigate the potholes, detours and road blocks to a prosperous and worry-free retirement. Learn how to move your retirement savings from accounts that are forever taxed to accounts that are never taxed.
We are in Las Vegas for our 2-Day IRA Workshop. On my way from the airport to the hotel upon arrival, my cab driver and I got into an interesting discussion on retirement plans. Is there a retirement plan for cab drivers? Does Las Vegas temptation cause many to squander retirement savings?
