If you take a 401k withdrawal and the money in the 401k was deducted from your taxable income, you’ll be taxed on the funds you withdraw. Depending on the circumstances, you may also be subject to a penalty. There’s a lot of confusion about how the taxation works – and the taxation and penalties can be different depending upon the circumstances. Taxation of the 401k Withdrawal When you take a distribution of pre-tax money from a 401k plan, the amount of the 401k withdrawal that is pre-tax will be included in your income and will be taxed at your marginal income tax rate in that year. Unless you meet one of the exceptions noted in the article 16 Ways to Withdraw Money From Your 401k Without Penalty, your 401k withdrawal will also be subject to a 10% early withdrawal penalty. For example – if you have a 401k plan at […]
401k
Retirement Income Requirement
You know how important it is to plan for your retirement, but how do you get started? One of the first steps should be to come up with an estimate of how much income you’ll need in order to fund your retirement. Easy to say, not so easy to do! Retirement planning is not an exact science. Your specific needs will depend on your goals, lifestyle, age, and many other factors. However, by doing a little homework, you’ll be well on your way to planning for a comfortable retirement. Start With Your Current Income A rule of thumb suggests that you’ll need about 70 percent of your current annual income in retirement. This can be a good starting point, but will that figure work for you? It really all depends on how close you are to retiring, as well as what you’re planning to do while retired. If you’re young […]
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Three Year-End Financial Moves
As 2015 comes to a close here are a few things to consider so you can make the most of your money for 2015. Take full advantage of your IRA contributions. For those age 50 and over, you’re allowed $6,500 and if you’re under age 50, $5,500. It may also be of benefit to see if you qualify for a deductible IRA contribution or if contributing to a Roth IRA makes sense. Make the maximum contribution to your employer sponsored retirement plan. Granted, there may not be much time left in the year to do this, but there is plenty of time to do so for 2016. Many companies have access to their plans online and employees can change contribution amounts when necessary. If you’re not already doing so, consider saving at least 10 percent of your gross income. Aim for 15 to 20 percent if you can. Pay yourself […]
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How to Take a Loan from Your 401k
You have this 401k account that you’ve been contributing to over the years, and now you’ve found yourself in need of a bit of extra cash. Maybe you need to cover the cost of a new furnace, or possibly you have some extra medical bills that need attention, and you don’t have the extra cash to cover. Whatever the reason, a loan from your 401k might be just the ticket. A 401k (or other employer-based plan like a 403b, 457, etc.) is unique from an IRA in that you are allowed to borrow against the account. An IRA can never be borrowed against, any withdrawals are immediately taxable. Before we go into the specifics of taking a loan from your 401k, since I’m a financial planner I have to put a word of warning out: Borrowing from your 401k should be considered a “last resort” option, when you’ve exhausted all […]
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SOSEPP – RMD Method
The Required Minimum Distribution method for calculating your Series of Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (under §72(t)(2)(A)(iv)) calculates the specific amount that you must withdraw from your IRA, 401k, or other retirement plan each year, based upon your account balance at the end of the previous year. The balance is then divided by the life expectancy factor from either the Single Life Expectancy table or the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy table, using the age(s) you have reached (or will reach) by the end of the current calendar year. This annual amount will be different each year, since the balance at the end of the previous year will be different, and your age factor will be different as well. Which table you use is based upon your circumstances. If you are single, or married and your spouse is less than 10 years younger than you, you will use the Single Life Expectancy […]
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SOSEPP – Fixed Amortization Method
When calculating your Series of Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (SOSEPP), provided for under §72(t)(2)(A)(iv) of the Internal Revenue Code, one of your choices is the Fixed Amortization method. Calculating your annual payment under this method requires you to have the balance of your IRA account. With this balance you then create an amortization schedule over a specified number of years equal to your life expectancy factor from either the Single Life Expectancy table or the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy table, using the age(s) you have reached (or will reach) for that calendar year. The amortization table must use a rate of interest of your choice, but the chosen rate cannot be more than 120% of the federal mid-term rate published by regularly the IRS in an Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB). Which table you use is based upon your circumstances. If you are single, or married and your spouse is less than […]
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SOSEPP – Fixed Annuitization method
When calculating your Series of Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (SOSEPP), provided for under §72(t)(2)(A)(iv) of the Internal Revenue Code, one of your choices is the Fixed Annuitization method. Calculating your annual payment under this method requires you to have the balance of your IRA or 401(k) account and an annuity factor, which is found in Appendix B of Rev. Ruling 2002-62 using the age you have reached (or will reach) for that calendar year. You will then specify a rate of interest of your choice that is not more than 120% of the federal mid-term rate published by regularly the IRS in an Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB). Once you’ve calculated your annual payment under the Fixed Annuitization method, your future payments will be exactly the same until the SOSEPP is no longer in effect. There is a one-time opportunity to change to the Required Minimum Distribution method. For more details on […]
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Early Withdrawal of an IRA or 401(k) – SOSEPP
This particular section of the Internal Revenue Code – specifically §72(t)(2)(A)(iv) – is the most famous of the 72(t) provisions. This is mostly due to the fact that it seems to be the ultimate answer to the age-old question “How can I take money out of my IRA or 401(k) without penalty?” While it’s true that this particular code section provides a method for getting at your retirement funds without penalty (and without special circumstances like first-time home purchase or medical issues), this code section is very complicated. With this complication comes a huge potential for costly mistakes – and the IRS does NOT forgive and forget! A Series of Substantially Equal Periodic Payments, or SOSEPP is just what it sounds like. You withdraw a specified amount from your IRA or 401(k) every year. The specified amount is not always the same (hence “substantially” equal) but the method for determining the […]
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Beyond – Beyond 401k and IRA
As a follow up to my post last week Beyond 401k and IRA, I discovered this week that I had neglected to point out a relatively new option that is very well worth considering. This option was brought to my attention by my friend and colleague (and fellow GPN member) Lisa Weil of Clarity Northwest Wealth Management in Seattle, WA: as of late last year with the issuance of IRS Notice 2014-54, there is the option of over-funding your 401k with after-tax dollars, and then rolling over those monies to a Roth IRA when you leave employment. The way it works is that after you max out your regular deducted 401k contributions, plus your company provided the matching funds, there is usually quite a bit of headroom available within the annual funding limits. You can (if your 401k administrator allows) make after-tax contributions to your 401k up to the limit […]
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Everything But The Retirement Plan!
Conventional wisdom says that when you leave a job, whether you’ve been “downsized” or you’ve just decided to take the leap, you should always move your retirement plan to a self-directed IRA. (Note: when referring to retirement plans in this article, this could be a 401(k) plan, a 403(b), a 457, or any other qualified savings deferral-type plan). But there are a few instances when it makes sense to leave the money in the former employer’s plan. You have several options of what to do with the money in your former employer’s plan, such as leaving it, rolling it over into a new employer’s plan, rolling it over to an IRA, or just taking the cash. The last option is usually the worst. If you’re under age 55 you’ll automatically lose 10% via penalty from the IRS (unless you meet one of the exceptions, including first home purchase, healthcare costs, […]
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De-stress Your Investing
Over your working career is possible you’ll accumulate multiple retirement accounts if you switch jobs frequently and there’s also the possibility that you’ll have multiple IRAs depending on if you’ve moved switched advisers, or wanted to give a fledgling adviser their first sale. Eventually, annual statements start pouring in from all of these accounts and it can be difficult and stressful to keep track of all of the accounts and where your money is being held. For example, you may have to 401(k) plans from two previous employers in addition to the plan you have with your current employer. You may also have two or three IRAs that you’ve opened over the years and whether or not their traditional or Roth can complicate things even more. Here’s a way to organize your retirement account and reduce your stress when it’s time to receive statements. Consider combining your old 401(k) plans […]
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Should You Invest Dollars or Percentages?
In many employer sponsored plans such as a 401k, 403b, 457, or SIMPLE employees are generally given the option of deferring a fixed dollar amount or fixed percentage of their income. The question becomes which category to choose when initially enrolling in the plan and whether or not to change the original decision. Generally, the wiser decision is to choose (or switch to) the fixed percentage. The reason is that by choosing a percentage, you really never have to worry about increasing your contributions. For example, an individual starts a job earning $50,000 annually and decides to contribute 10% annually to his retirement plan which is $5,000 per year.
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Important Tax Numbers for 2015
For 2015 the IRS has given the new limits regarding retirement contributions as well as estate and gift tax exemptions. Regarding retirement contributions employees may now defer $18,000 annually to their employer sponsored plan including a 401k, 403b, and 457 plans. This is an increase from last year’s $17,500 amount. Additionally, employees age 50 or older can now make an age based catch-up contribution of $6,000 which is a $500 increase from last year’s $5,500 amount.
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What is a QLAC?
In July of 2014 the IRS issued final regulations regarding the allowance of qualified longevity annuity contracts in employer sponsored plans such as 401ks, 403bs and 457b plans as well as IRAs. What it Means and What it Means to You QLAC stands for qualified longevity annuity contract. This means that a person is allowed to take up to 25% of their overall account balance but not more than $125,000 in their retirement plan and use that money as premium to fund a longevity annuity contract. Additionally, the annuitant must start the annuity by no later than the first day of the month following the attainment of age 85. They can however, start earlier. In a 401k, 403b or 457b plan a QLAC can be purchased up to the maximum of $125,000 across all accounts (IRAs included), but not more than 25% of the account balance per plan.
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An Exception to the RMD Rule
For many folks, attaining age 70 ½ means the beginning of required minimum distributions (RMDs) from their 401k, 403b as well as traditional IRAs. There are however, some individuals that will continue to work because they want to or (unfortunately) have to and still want to save some of their income. At age 70 ½ individuals can no longer make traditional IRA contributions. They are allowed to make contributions to a Roth IRA as long as they still have earned income. Earned income is generally W2 wages or self-employment income. It is not pension income, annuity income or RMD income.
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To Roll or Not to Roll?
At some point in almost everyone’s lifetime they have gone through the process of changing jobs. Many times those jobs offered retirement plans such as 401(k)s 403(b)s, etc. Conventional wisdom would say that for most employees it may make sense to roll their employer sponsored plan into an IRA. Based on a request from a reader (thanks David!), I thought I would go over some of the issues to consider before rolling your employer sponsored plan to an IRA.
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RMD Avoidance Scheme: Birthdate Makes All The Difference
As you may recall from this previous article, it is possible to use a rollover into an active 401(k) plan as an RMD avoidance scheme. Of course, this will only work as long as you’re employed by the employer sponsoring the 401(k) plan and you’re not a 5% or greater owner of the company. In addition, the rollover must be done in a timely fashion, prior to the year that you will reach age 70 1/2 in order to avoid RMD. An example of where timing worked against a taxpayer (at least temporarily) recently came to me via the ol’ mailbag:
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A Quick Trick to Reduce Your Tax Liability
Now that most folks are recovering from tax time there may be some individuals that paid an excessive amount of tax to Uncle Sam and are looking for ways to reduce their tax liability for next year. This post will be short and sweet, but hopefully it will drive a few points home. The best way to explain this is through an example. Let’s say that Mary and her husband Paul both work and file their taxes jointly. Their tax liability for 2013 was $4,000 – meaning that’s the amount of the check they wrote to the IRS. Needless to say, they are both looking for a potential way to reduce that liability – at least in the here and now. In this case, their marginal tax rate is 25%. The quick trick in this example is to take their tax rate which is 25% and divide it into their […]
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Are Target Date Funds Off Target?
It seems that an easy fix for saving for retirement for many folks is to simply choose a target date fund. Generally how target date funds work is a fund company will have a set of different funds for an investor to pick from depending on a best guess estimate of when the investor wants to retire. For example, an investor who’s 30 years old and wants to retire at age 65 may choose a 2045 fund or a 2050 fund. In this example since the investor is age 30 in the year 2014, 30 more years gets him to 2044. Most target date funds are dated in 5 year increments. If the investor was age 60 and wanting to retire at age 65, then he may choose a 2020 fund to correspond to his timeline. Generally, the goal of target date funds is to follow a glide path […]
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Mechanics of 401(k) Plans – Vesting
In this article in our series on the mechanics of 401(k) plans, we’ll be covering the concept of vesting. As with the other articles in the series, we’ll refer specifically to 401(k) plans throughout, but most of the provisions apply to all types of Qualified Retirement Plans (QRPs), which go by many names: 401(k), 403(b), 457, etc.. Vesting refers to the process by which the employer-contributed amounts in the 401(k) plan become the unencumbered property of the employee-participant in the plan. Vesting is based upon the tenure of the participant as an employee of the employer-sponsor of the plan. Generally, when an employee first begins employment there is a period of time when the employer wishes to protect itself from the circumstance of the new employee’s leaving employment within a relatively short period of time. Vesting is one way that the employer can protect itself from handing over employer-matching funds […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on 
A Medicare Owner’s Manual, is updated with 2020 facts and figures. This manual is available on 
Social Security for the Suddenly Single can be found on Amazon at 
Sterling’s first book, Lose Weight Save Money, can be 
An IRA Owner’s Manual, 2nd Edition is available for purchase on Amazon. Click the link to choose the 
Jim’s book – A Social Security Owner’s Manual, is now available on Amazon. Click this link for the 
And if you’ve come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed “advisor’s advisor”.