Getting Your Financial Ducks In A Row » 2009 tax year

Charitable Contributions From Your IRA – 2010 and Beyond

jblankenship — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:37:21 +0000

We discussed the IRA Charitable Contribution option some time ago in the post “Last Chance for Charitable Contributions from Your IRA”, and it’s possible from that article that you got the impression that you are no longer able to make charitable contributions with money from your IRA. Nothing could be further from the truth! You can always make charitable contributions of any money you wish… the question is, what will such a move do for you tax-wise?

In the olden days…

Under the old law (through December 31, 2009), there was a special provision that allowed an IRA owner who is at least age 70½ to make a charitable contribution of up to $100,000 directly from the IRA account to a qualified charity. This money was never counted in your income, and as such making such a move had no impact on your current income tax situation – positive or negative. The benefit came about with regard to your estate, since those funds were no longer counted as part of your estate. Plus you got to feel really good about making a contribution to your favorite charity.

In 2010 and beyond…

Under the present law (beginning on January 1, 2010), the special provision mentioned above is no longer in effect. But you can still make charitable contributions from your IRA account – the only problem is that you must first count the distribution from your IRA as income, and then you account for the charitable contribution among your Schedule A Itemized Deductions. The end result is the same, right? O contrare, Mona Me.

The problem is that, by having to count your IRA distribution as income, you will increase your Adjusted Gross Income (and therefore your Modified AGI), both of which can have a significant impact on other items on your tax return.

Example

Let’s run through an example: you’re retired, age 72, have an IRA worth $50,000, and you want to contribute the entire amount to your favorite charity. Your other income, along with your spouse’s income, totals $70,000. Included among your tax return items is $10,000 in medical expenses, along with other deductions (real estate tax, home mortgage interest, etc.) amounting to $15,000. You had no other charitable contributions for the year.

Under the 2009 rules, your AGI is $70,000. Your itemized deductions amount to $19,750 – because your medical expense deduction is limited to the amount over 7.5% of your AGI. Since 7.5% of $70,000 is $5,250; we subtract that amount from $10,000 and come up with $4,750, which we then add to the rest of your itemized deductions for a total of $19,750 in deductions. Subtract the itemized deductions from your AGI ($70,000 minus $19,750) equals $50,250. Then subtract your personal exemptions of $7,300 from that and you get $42,950 in taxable income. Tax on this amount is $5,607.50.

Under the 2010 rules, your AGI is $120,000. (The IRA distribution of $50,000 is added to the rest of your income.) Itemized deductions are now $66,000, because your medical expense deduction was reduced to $1,000 – $120,000 times 7.5% equals $9,000, subtracted from $10,000 equals $1,000. We add the rest of your itemized deductions (including the $50,000 charitable contribution deduction) and come up with $66,000 ($15,000 plus $1,000 plus $50,000). Subtracting the itemized deductions from your AGI equals $54,000, and then we subtract the personal exemptions of $7,300 (it didn’t change for 2010) to come up with taxable income of $46,700. Tax on this amount is $6,167.50.

Under the new rules, you just lost $560. Or rather, you paid 10% more in taxes than you did with the same circumstances as the year before. So, while it’s still possible to make a charitable contribution from your IRA account, it’s more costly to do so.

Other items affected by AGI

There is a significant number of items on your tax return that are impacted by the amount of your AGI – listed below are some of the more common ones:

taxable amount of Social Security (or Railroad Retirement) benefits
allowable losses from rental real estate activity with active participation
deductible traditional IRA and spousal IRA contributions
ability to contribute to a Roth IRA
miscellaneous itemized deductions, including non-reimbursed employee job expenses
and a number of miscellaneous credits

These and many other components of your tax return can be impacted by an increase in your AGI, so you can see why this change in laws has had a significant impact on many folks.

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IRS CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (or in any attachment) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed in this communication (or in any attachment).

Charitable Contributions From Your IRA – 2010 and Beyond

Just Starting With Retirement Savings? Get All the Credit You’re Due!

jblankenship — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:04:09 +0000

It’s a known fact that setting up a systematic savings plan is critical to providing yourself with financial security in the future. There are tax benefits to simply making contributions to an IRA or a 401(k) – you’ll be able to deduct (or simply not include) those funds in your taxable income come tax time. In addition, the tax-deferred growth of these funds will provide you with a source of income for the future.

But did you realize that there are other tax credits available for certain taxpayers making contributions to retirement plans? It’s called the Saver’s Credit (formally known as the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit), and it’s available for folks who meet certain eligibility requirements who have made contributions to retirement savings plans during the tax year.

Eligibility

Depending upon your filing status, there is a limit to the amount of income that you can have earned in order to take the credit. If your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is less than the amount below for your filing status, you are eligible to take this credit.

Married Filing Jointly – $55,500
Single, Married Filing Separately, or Qualifying Widow(er) – $27,750
Head of Household – $41,625

In addition to the income limits, you must have been born before January 2, 1992 (for tax year 2009), generally age 17 or older for the calendar year. You must also not have been a full-time student during the calendar year, and you cannot be claimed as a dependent on another person’s return.

Amount of Credit

If you fit the eligibility requirements and you made contributions to an IRA (including a Roth IRA), 401(k) or 403(b) (including designated Roth accounts), governmental 457 plan, SEP or SIMPLE plan, or certain other plans, you may be able to take a credit of up to $1,000 ($2,000 if filing jointly). The credit that you’re allowed is determined by both your income and the amount of the contribution that you’ve made, limited to $2,000 for singles and $4,000 for married filing jointly.

In general if you’re married and filing jointly, you can receive up to 50% credit (limited to $2,000 for married filing jointly) if your AGI is below $33,000. This credit gradually reduces to 10% of your contribution as your AGI increases to the upper limit of $55,500. For Head of Household filing status, the 50% credit (limited to $1,000) applies if your AGI is $24,750 or below, and the upper limit is $41,625, at which point your credit is 10% of your contribution. For all other filing statuses, the 50% credit is available for an AGI below $16,500 and reduces to 10% at the upper limit AGI of $27,750.

It is important to note that this credit is not fully refundable – your ordinary tax (plus any AMT) minus Foreign Tax credit, Credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses, and Education Credits limits the Saver’s Credit further (see Example 3 below).

Examples

Example 1 You’re single and have an AGI of $23,000, and have made IRA contributions of $2,000 for the year. You do not have any additional credits to claim (those listed above). According to the schedule (found in Form 8880) you are eligible for a 10% credit on up to $2,000 of contributions to your IRA, or $200, as long as your tax is at least $200.

Example 2 You’re married and you file jointly, and you have an AGI of $32,000, and have made contributions to your employer’s 401(k) plan of $5,000 for the year and your spouse has made $2,500 in contributions to his IRA. You also do not have any additional credits to claim. According to the schedule, you are eligible to take the maximum credit of $2,000 – which is 50% of the eligible $2,000 portions of your contributions to the retirement plans for the year, as long as your tax is at least $2,000.

Example 3 You file as Head of Household, you have an AGI of $22,000, have made $1,500 contributions to your employer’s 401(k) plan and have child care credits of $500 – and your total tax before credits is $635. According to the schedule, you can take a Saver’s Credit of $135, as your net tax after the child care credit is $135.

Last Few Comments

One final wrinkle: you also have to take into account any distributions that you’ve taken (or will be taking up to the due date of the return) for two years prior to the year of the credit or during the year of the credit. This is to keep you from taking a distribution from your IRA, and then making a contribution of that amount back into the account in order to claim the credit.

Other than that, I think this is a great credit – and lots of folks who could take advantage of it aren’t aware of it. It’s a very good incentive to get started in a retirement plan, specifically when income is low and retirement planning isn’t the highest priority. This credit is in addition to all of the other tax benefits that you can receive from contributing to retirement plans.

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Just Starting With Retirement Savings? Get All the Credit You’re Due!

7 Tips About the First-Time Homebuyer Credit

jblankenship — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:20:34 +0000

The First-Time Homebuyer Income Tax Credit has been really popular with lots of folks – and there is still time to take advantage of it. As you may be aware, the name of the credit is misleading – it’s been expanded to include folks who owned a house for a significant period of time and have purchased a new home during the prescribed period as well.

Like all tax provisions, this is one that you have to pay particular attention to the details, otherwise you could miss out on the credit. Following are seven facts that the IRS wants you to know about claiming the credit (IRS Tax Tip 2010-27).

Seven Important Facts About Claiming the First-Time Homebuyer Credit

You must buy – or enter into a binding contract to buy – a principal residence located in the United States on or before April 30, 2010. If you have entered into a binding contract before April 30, 2010, you must close on the home purchase before June 30, 2010.
To be considered a first-time homebuyer, you and your spouse – if you are married – must not have jointly or separately owned another principal residence during the three years prior to the date of purchase.
To be considered a long-time resident homebuyer you and your spouse – if you are married – must have lived in the same principal residence for any consecutive five-year period during the eight-year period that ended on the date the new home is purchased. Additionally, your settlement date must be after November 6, 2009.
The maximum credit for a first-time homebuyer is $8,000. The maximum credit for a long-time resident homebuyer is $6,500.
You must file a paper return and attach Form 5405, “First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit” with additional documents (detailed below) to verify the purchase. Therefore, if you claim the credit you will not be able to file electronically.
New homebuyers must attach a copy of a properly executed settlement statement used to complete such a purchase. Buyers of a newly constructed home, where a settlement statement is not commonly available, must attach a copy of the dated certificate of occupancy. Mobile home purchasers who are unable to get a settlement statement must attach a copy of the retail sales contract.
If you are a long-time resident claiming the credit, the IRS recommends that you also attach any documentation covering the five-consecutive-year period, including Form 1098, “Mortgage Interest Statement” or a substitute mortgage interest statement, property tax records or homeowner’s insurance records.

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7 Tips About the First-Time Homebuyer Credit

Social Security Eligibility

jblankenship — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:27:08 +0000

In order to be eligible to receive Social Security benefits – retirement, disability, or survivor benefits – a worker must earn eligibility to receive the benefits. The general rule of thumb is that for full benefits, the worker must earn at least 40 quarters of credit within the system.

Social Security Credit

Generally speaking, a quarter of Social Security credit is earned for each $1,120 earned (in 2010). This amount is indexed each year – for example, the amount of earnings for a credit in 2009 was $1,090. So if a worker earns at least $4,480 in 2010, four quarters of credit are earned with the Social Security system.

Minimum Credits

If you become disabled before age 62, disability benefits may be available to you if you have at least six quarters of credits earned. Of course, these benefits will be reduced from the maximum, based upon how many credits you happen to have earned.

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Social Security Eligibility

First Time Homebuyers: No (eFile) Soup For You!

jblankenship — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:30:24 +0000

If you’re planning to take advantage of the First-Time Homebuyer’s tax credit or the more recently announced “long-time homeowner new purchaser” credit – you will not be eligible to eFile your tax return when you claim the credit. To find out more about these credits, see the article at this link.

In a move to reduce fraudulent claims, the IRS recently decided that in order to claim this credit, proof of the purchase of the new home must be attached to the return with form 5405 and the entire return must be paper-filed.

This will likely add at least a week to the processing time, and likely much more as the filing season progresses. So if you’re claiming this credit, keep in mind that your turnaround for your refund will be extended specifically because of this credit. I’m sure it will be worth the wait!

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First Time Homebuyers: No (eFile) Soup For You!

Review of 2009 Stats

jblankenship — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:20:52 +0000

Ed. Note: taking a breather from our normal business of posting retirement, tax and other personal financial planning topics to report on the blog itself and the statistics we’ve seen in this, the 6th year of publication for the blog. We’ll be back to our regular programming with the next entry. – jb

Over the past year, this blog has undergone a few major changes… I upgraded the format to WordPress; then added the IRA Owner’s Manual, reorganizing all those IRA posts into a coherent manual; a summary, chapter by chapter, of the seminal book “The Richest Man In Babylon”; plus I started writing more – generally adding a new post every other day.

Planned for 2010: more of all the yummy income tax, IRA, and other retirement-related and investment/financial planning articles that you’ve come to expect; likely a Social Security Owner’s Manual and a 401(k) Owner’s Manual (along the same lines as the IRA Owner’s Manual); guest experts will from time to time contribute posts on areas complimentary to my expertise; and continuing the pace of approximately 175 to 200 posts throughout the year. Please pass along any suggestions for new topics and series that you’d like to see written up and discussed.

Listed below are the Getting Your Financial Ducks in a Row end of year statistics and Top Ten lists for 2009. Thanks to all who have supported this blog in 2009 by reading, subscribing, commenting, linking, and not coming right out and booing!

General Statistics for 2009

198 total posts
228 comments & trackbacks
9,386 page views (averaging 26 per day)
105 RSS subscribers

Top 10 Referrers for 2009

Top 10 Search Engine Terms for 2009

qualified domestic relations order 401k
irs life expectancy tables 2009
payroll tax reduction 2009
net unrealized appreciation
payroll tax reduction
2010 estate tax changes
arra car sales tax
401k separation from service
401(k) fair disclosure for retirement
2010 gift tax exclusion

Should You Take or Postpone Your First RMD?

jblankenship — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:29:10 +0000

In the first year that you’re required to start taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from your IRAs and other retirement plans, you have a decision to make: Should you take the RMD during the first year, or should you delay it to the following year?

The Rule

This decision comes about because of the special rule regarding your first RMD: In the year that you achieve age 70½, you don’t have to take the first distribution until April 1 of the following year. For each subsequent year thereafter, you’re required to take your RMD by December 31 of the year… so this first year provides you with the opportunity to plan the income just a bit.

Generally it’s a better idea to take the distribution in the first year, with just a few reasons that you might reconsider:

if your income is considerably higher in the first year than it will be in the following year, you might want to delay the distribution, recognizing the income in a year when your tax bracket is lower. This situation might come about if you’ve delayed retirement until age 70, so you’d potentially have much more income in that year than the following year.
if taking the distribution would have an adverse impact on your Social Security, causing a higher amount to be taxed in the first year (versus the second year), you might want to delay the distribution.
other MAGI limited provisions may impact your decision as well – but these are too varied and specific to the individual to list here

Reasons to NOT Delay

The downsides to delaying receipt of the first year’s RMD: delaying the distribution to the following year will cause a double-shot of RMD to be recognized as income in the second year. In addition, the two RMDs in one year will be unnecessarily complicated: Each has a different deadline (April 1 for the delayed RMD, December 31 for the regular RMD); each is calculated on different account balances (the delayed one is based upon the balance of December 31 of the year before you turned age 70½, the regular RMD is based upon the balance one year later); and each is calculated based upon your Table I value for different ages (the first is based on your age on your birthday in the first year, the second is based on your age in the second year).

All of these differences add up to lots of confusion and plenty of opportunity for making an error, so unless you have a very compelling reason (such as those listed above) it’s probably in your best interest to go ahead and take the first distribution in the first year – when you reach age 70½.

Note: Of course, this is a moot point if you reached age 70½ during 2009, since the RMD is not required for that year. Also, bear in mind that this planning doesn’t apply to inherited IRAs and the RMDs – only to your own regular distributions from your own IRA.

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Should You Take or Postpone Your First RMD?

11 Ways You Can Fund Your Roth IRA

jblankenship — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:00:53 +0000

With due regards to Natalie Choate for putting together this list initially, listed below are the currently-legal methods for funding a Roth IRA account:

Contributions from compensation income. These are your regular annual contributions to the Roth IRA account. You are allowed (in 2009 and 2010) to contribute up to the lesser of your actual earned income compensation or $5,000 – provided your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) is below the limits (see the MAGI article for current year limits).
Catch up contributions. If you are over age 50 during the tax year, you are eligible to make an additional contribution of $1,000 (for 2009 and 2010) above and beyond the “regular” contributions (#1 above). This figure would be reduced if your compensation income for the year is less than the total of the regular contribution plus the catch up contribution for the year.
Conversion from a traditional IRA. This is a special sort of taxable rollover from your traditional IRA account to a Roth IRA account. Ordinary income taxes are owed on the amount converted – but no penalty will be applied to all monies converted successfully from the traditional IRA to the Roth IRA. Through the end of 2009 there is a MAGI limit of $100,000 – meaning that if your MAGI is above that amount, you are ineligible to do a Roth conversion. In 2010, this limit is removed.
Conversion from a Qualified Retirement Plan such as a 401(k). Much the same as #3 above, you may be eligible to convert funds from your QRP to a Roth IRA account. See this article for more details on how to accomplish this type of conversion.
Rollover from a Roth 401(k). If you have a Roth 401(k) through your employer, with limits that are plan-specific you can be eligible to rollover the funds from the Roth 401(k) to your Roth IRA. Your own contributions to the account plus the growth can be rolled over tax-free to the Roth IRA account. There are no income limits on such conversions; however there can be limits on when you would have access to the rolled-over funds, depending upon your age at the time of the rollover, the age of the accounts, and other factors. See this article for more details on Roth 401(k) distributions.
Rollover from an inherited Qualified Retirement Plan (QRP). As detailed here, if you’ve inherited a Qualified Retirement Plan you can be eligible to convert those funds to a Roth IRA.
Failed rollovers or conversions. If you have attempted to make a rollover or a conversion into your Roth IRA and for some reason it is disallowed – such as you inadvertently had a higher MAGI than anticipated – the amount contributed to the account (if not recharacterized) will be considered a regular contribution, subject to the following tax consequences:
- a 6% excise tax per year for any excess contribution that is not removed from the account
- the distributions from the traditional IRA or QRP (if a conversion) must be included in your gross income
- the distributions will be subject to the additional 10% penalty for an early distribution not covered by an exception, conversion or rollover
Certain military death benefits. As a result of the HEART Act, certain payments of Servicemember’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI) benefits can be rolled over into a with no tax or penalty. This article provides more details.
Qualified reservist distributions. A member of any of the US military reserves that has received compensation during active duty is eligible to place those funds in a Roth IRA at any time during the two years following active duty, without regard to normal contribution limits.
Exxon Valdez settlements. Certain individuals who received settlement compensation in connection with the Exxon Valdez oil spill can contribute up to $100,000 of the settlement into a Roth IRA without regard to normal contribution limits. Individuals include both the original plaintiffs and the heirs of the original plaintiffs. To be eligible for this contribution, the settlement would be claimed as income in the year received, and the contribution must be made during the same tax year as it is claimed as income.
Certain payments to employees of bankrupt airlines. Within 180 days of receipt of payments made in connection with bankruptcy of an airline, these payments or a portion of the payments, can be contributed to a Roth IRA without regard to regular limitations.

Note: #10 and #11 have some fairly narrow requirements; you can find more about these in IRS Publication 590.

If you know of any other ways to contribute to a Roth IRA that I have not covered here, please leave a comment!

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11 Ways You Can Fund Your Roth IRA

Health Savings Accounts – The Basics, Part 2

jblankenship — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:12:12 +0000

In Part 1 of this two-part article, we introduced the concept of the Health Savings Account. In this portion, we’ll talk about some more of the specifics with regard to implementation of the plan, including contribution limits, setting up the plan, and taking distributions.

Contribution Limits on the HSA

The amount that you can contribute to a HSA annually depends upon the type of HDHP coverage that you have, as well as your age. For 2009, if you only have coverage for yourself, you can contribute up to $3,000. If you have the family coverage, you can contribute up to $5,950. You must have the HSA in place for the entire year to make the maximum contribution.

If you are at or above age 55 at any time during the tax year, you are eligible to contribute an extra $1,000. You can make contributions to your HSA for a particular tax year up to April 15 of the following year (no extensions allowed).

For any month that you do not have your HDHP in place, the maximum contribution is reduced by 1/12. In addition to that reduction, the maximum amount that can be contributed to an HSA must be reduced by any:

amounts contributed to an Archer MSA (including employer contributions; and
any amounts that your employer contributed to an HSA on your behalf that were excluded from your gross income.

If you have more than one HSA, your total contributions to all HSAs in any given year cannot be more than the annual limit. If you make contributions to one or more HSAs that are more than the annual limit, the excess will be included in your gross income and could be subject to a 6% excise tax.

The Impact of Marriage (well, one of them)

If either spouse has family coverage, both spouses are treated as having family coverage. If both spouses have family coverage, you are treated as having family coverage with the lower annual deductible of the two plans. The contribution limit is split evenly between the two of you by default – but different division amounts can be agreed upon as you see fit.

If both spouses are age 55 or better by the end of the tax year, each spouse can contribute the additional amount to his or her HSA. For 2009, this would increase your maximum contribution limit for family coverage to $7,950.

Account Setup and Administration

You set up the HSA much the same as an IRA – you choose the financial institution (bank, insurance company, etc.) that you’d like to be your trustee, and simply open the account.

Rollovers can be done into your HSA from another HSA, an Archer MSA, or an IRA. The IRA rollover is a one-time provision that was started with the passage of the Health Care Act of 2006. In addition to the IRA rollover, the Health Care Act of 2006 also introduced the one-time rollover from a Flex-Spending Account (through tax year 2011) of one year’s HSA contribution amount, as long as you had at least that amount in your FSA prior to September 21, 2006. For more information on the tax-free transfer from your IRA, see this article.

Distributions from your HSA

You can take distributions from your HSA to pay for or reimburse yourself for qualified medical expenses. Qualified medical expenses are generally any medical expense that could otherwise be deducted when itemizing your deductions on your tax return (specified in IRC §213). These distributions will be tax-free to you. So, during the year, as you are paying for the expenses that make up the deductible amount for your HDHP, you could either take a withdrawal and pay the expense directly, or pay it yourself and reimburse yourself from the HSA.

Any amounts that you withdraw for other reasons beyond paying for or reimbursing yourself for qualified medical expenses will be subject to ordinary income tax and a 10% penalty (just like an IRA).

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Health Savings Accounts – The Basics, Part 2

The High Deductible Health Plan

jblankenship — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:02:39 +0000

In order to use a Health Savings Account (HSA), one of the requirements is that you have a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) in force. A HDHP is simply a special sort of medical insurance policy with some very particular components. Specifically, those components are: a) a higher annual deductible than most typical health plans; and b) a maximum limit on the sum of the annual deductible and out-of-pocket (OOP) medical expenses that you pay for covered medical expenses.

HDHP Limits

First of all, the limits for a HDHP are as shown in the following table (2009 figures):

Coverage Type	Minimum Annual Deductible	Maximum Annual Deductible Plus OOP
Individual	$1,150	$5,800
Family	$2,300	$11,600

**It should be noted that the Maximum Annual Deductible plus OOP only includes amounts paid within the defined “network” of providers authorized by the plan. Any expenses outside that network will not be considered within this Maximum Annual amount.

In addition, some family plans have a separate Individual deductible and Family deductible. When you meet the amount for the Individual deductible for one family member, you no longer have to meet the higher Family deductible for that year. If either the Family deductible or the Individual deductible are less than the minimums for that tax year, the plan does not qualify as a HDHP.

Colleague Mike Chamberlain had the following points to add:

Do not assume that just because your health plan was a high deductible that you are able to use an HSA.

If your plan had a $2000 deductible but paid for office visits and the deductible did not apply, you cannot have an HSA.

If you have a drug deductible that is not connected to the policy deductible it will not qualify either.

Most plans that do qualify state it in the name of the policy or boldly in the paperwork.

Thanks, Mike! — jb

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The High Deductible Health Plan

Getting Your Financial Ducks In A Row » 2009 tax year

Charitable Contributions From Your IRA – 2010 and Beyond

In the olden days…

In 2010 and beyond…

Example

Other items affected by AGI

Just Starting With Retirement Savings? Get All the Credit You’re Due!

Eligibility

Amount of Credit

Examples

Last Few Comments

7 Tips About the First-Time Homebuyer Credit

Seven Important Facts About Claiming the First-Time Homebuyer Credit

Social Security Eligibility

Social Security Credit

Minimum Credits

First Time Homebuyers: No (eFile) Soup For You!

Review of 2009 Stats

General Statistics for 2009

Top 10 Most-Viewed Posts for 2009

Top 10 Referrers for 2009

Top 10 Search Engine Terms for 2009

Top 10 Most Popular Links Clicked in 2009

Should You Take or Postpone Your First RMD?

The Rule

Reasons to NOT Delay

11 Ways You Can Fund Your Roth IRA

Health Savings Accounts – The Basics, Part 2

Contribution Limits on the HSA

The Impact of Marriage (well, one of them)

Account Setup and Administration

Distributions from your HSA

The High Deductible Health Plan

HDHP Limits