The Slott Report

While many Americans aren't saving enough for retirement, there are others who are saving a lot (true story). In fact, some of you have asked whether it's possible to contribute to more than one retirement plan for the same year. See the answer below.

Do you have a will, a trust, and retirement accounts? Who will get your retirement assets? Let’s say that your will says that everything goes to your spouse, your trust says that everything goes to your children, and the beneficiary form for your IRA says that everything goes to your spouse and your children equally. Who gets your IRA? These answers and more below.

Now that we are in the middle of the summer of 2013, have you ever thought about contributing to an IRA for your child or grandchild this year? It’s possible as long as certain rules are followed. We explain these rules below.

On June 26, 2013 the United States Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, commonly known as DOMA, as unconstitutional. In particular, the Supreme Court decided that if same-sex marriages are recognized under state law, the federal government must recognize those marriages as valid too. This has obvious implications for a virtually infinite list of financial items including federal tax issues, Social Security benefits, healthcare benefits and various rights with regard to retirement assets afforded under ERISA.

On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. The ruling opens the door for same-sex couples who are married under state law to enjoy the same tax benefits that opposite-sex married couples have.

This month's IRA Updates looks like Private Letter Ruling 201324022, in which IRS waived the rollover requirement due to a fraudulent withdrawal by the husband in this case. We look at the case and the ruling below.

Many IRA custodians are using cross collateralization language in the account opening agreements used in their financial services companies. What the agreement contains is language stating that if you or any of your accounts owe money to the financial service company, which you do not pay, then the company can take the amount owed out of any of the accounts that you have with them. This language is there for the sole purpose of protecting the financial service company from deadbeats.

This week's Slott Report Mailbag discusses several topics dealing with the 2013 tax laws, including limits on personal exemptions and the gift tax exemption. Several of these questions require complete understanding of NEW tax laws, so make sure your financial advisor is verse in the latest tax law updates.

If you have a retirement plan where you work, that plan might allow you to take a distribution from it if you are experiencing financial hardship. Employer retirement plans are not required to provide for hardship distributions, so make sure to check with the plan administrator. Here is IRS FAQs regarding retirement plan hardship distributions.