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Government Retirement Plans After SECURE Act

After the passage of the SECURE Act, most inherited retirement plans have new rules. Government retirement plans are not affected until 2022, however.

16 Ways to Withdraw Money From Your 401k Without Penalty

There are several ways you can withdraw money from your 401k without penalty.

Don’t Leave Money On The Table!

Many individuals are offered an employer-sponsored savings plan though work such as a 401(k) or 403(b). Employers who offer these plans may provide a company match. This means that the employer will add money to the employee’s account, if the employee saves a certain percentage of income. Some employers will even provide money even if the employee is not saving. If you’re employer offers a match on your contributions, take full advantage of it. Don’t leave money on the table! This is free money – and it’s unwise to not take it. Let’s look at an example. Sam and Betty (both age 45) have a 401(k) and their employer offers a 50% match on employee contributions up to 5% of their salary. They both earn $80,000 annually. Sam decides to save 1% of his salary and Betty decides to save the maximum she can for 2019 of $19,000. Since the […]

The 457(b) Special Catch-Up

If you’re a governmental employee, you may be aware that your employer offers a 457(b) retirement plan. Additionally, you likely know that like a 401(k), the 457(b) allows you to contribute $19,000 annually to the plan with an additional $6,000 catch-up for those aged 50 or older. What you may not be aware of is the special catch-up provision the 457(b) offers. This special catch-up provision allows a governmental employee that is within 3 years of the normal retirement age (as dictated in the plan) to contribute up to twice the annual amount ($38,000 for 2019). To take advantage of this special contribution the plan sponsor (employer) must allow it in the verbiage of the plan. Additionally, the employee must have unused contribution amounts from prior years. In other words, an employee can contribute twice the amount normally allowed if that employee has unused contributions from prior years; they didn’t […]

Your 401k and IRA in 2018

Recently, the IRS just announced the contribution limits for 401k plans (including 403b and 457 plans) as well as IRAs. Additionally, the IRS also announced changes to the income phase-outs for traditional IRA deductibility and Roth IRA eligibility. Let’s start with the 401k plans. For 2018, the IRS increased the contribution limits to $18,500, up $500 from $18,000 last year. The catch-up contribution for those age 50 or over remains unchanged at $6,000. $500 may not seem like much, but think of it this way – you get to give yourself a $500 raise! For those interested in maxing out their 401k plans in 2018, here’s the breakdown depending on whether you’re paid monthly, 24 weeks per year or 26 weeks per year. If you’re paid monthly, the contribution is $1,541.66. This brings you just eight cents under the $18,500 max annually. If you’re paid 24 weeks per year, then […]

Public Safety Employee Retirement Plan Withdrawal at Age 50

There is a special exception to the retirement plan early withdrawal rules for a public safety employee, who may start withdrawals as early as age 50.

5 Options for Your Old 401k

When you move from one job to another, often there is an old 401k plan at the former employer. You have several choices for what you can do with the old 401k plan, and some options are better than others. Some of the options are dependent upon the balance in your old 401k account, as well. Cash it out. This is typically the worst option. You took advantage of tax-deferral (and company matching) when you contributed the funds to the account. If you simply cash out the old 401k, you’ll have to pay tax on the funds, and if you were under age 55 when you left the employer you will also likely be hit with a 10% penalty for the early withdrawal. In addition to the tax and penalty, when you take a withdrawal from your 401k plan there is an automatic 20% withholding requirement. You will have credit […]

Information on 457(b) Plans

The 457(b) plan, sometimes known as a deferred compensation plan is a retirement plan that is generally set up by states, municipalities, colleges and universities for their employees. These plans have some similarities to their 401(k) and 403(b) counterparts, but they also have some differences that individuals with access to these plans may find advantageous. First, let’s look at the similarities. The 457(b) allows the same deferral limits as a 401(k) or 403(b). These limits for 2016 are $18,000 annually for those under age 50. For those age 50 and over, the deferral limit is $18,000 plus an additional $6,000 catch-up for a total of $24,000 annually. 457(b) plans may allow for pre-tax or Roth contributions. Individuals can choose among a variety of funds that the plan offers. At age 70 ½ the plans will require RMDs (unless still employed). At retirement or separation from service, individuals are generally allowed […]

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 […]

Separation From Service On or After Age 55

You can listen to this article by using the podcast player below if you’re on the blog; if you’re reading this via RSS, there should be a “Play Now” link just below the title to access the audio. If you’re receiving this article via email, there should be a “Download Now” link within the text of the message to retrieve the audio file. Did you realize that there is a provision within the Internal Revenue Code that allows you to start taking distributions from your 401(k) plan before you reach age 59½?  This little-known section of the code, §72(t)(2)(A)(v), can be a real dandy if you happen to fit the requirements. The primary requirement is that you separate from service with the employer at or after age 55. Note: although we will refer to the 401(k) throughout this article, this code provision applies to all ERISA-qualified, employer-established defined contribution plans, […]

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 […]

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, […]

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.

What Plans Can I Rollover My Retirement Plan To?

When you have a retirement plan, or many different types of retirement plan, you may be faced with decision-points when it would be helpful to rollover one plan into another plan. But do you know which type of plan I can rollover my retirement plan into? What follows is a description of the types of accounts that you can rollover each particular source account into, along with the restrictions for some of those accounts. The IRS also has a handy rollover chart which describes these rollovers in a matrix.  

Where to Start With Retirement Savings

Today, we have so many choices for our retirement savings that it can be difficult to choose which sort of account to contribute to. If you are fortunate enough (as many are) to have more than one type of retirement plan available to you, in what order should you contribute to the accounts? Right now, at the beginning of a new year, is an excellent time to start with retirement savings. Qualified Retirement Plans First of all, many folks who are employed by a company have some sort of tax-deferred, qualified, retirement savings account available. These accounts go by many names – 401(k), 403(b), 457, and deferred compensation. These accounts are collectively referred to as qualified retirement plans, or QRPs. QRPs do not include IRAs – this is another type if retirement savings account with some different rules. A QRP account is a good place to start when contributing to […]

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.

Investment Allocation in Your 401(k) Plan

When you participate in your employer-sponsored 401(k) plan (or any type of Qualified Retirement Plan, including 403(b), 457, etc.), the first step is to determine how much money you will defer into the plan.  We discussed this previously in an article about contributions to your 401(k) plan. Once you’ve determined the amount you’ll contribute, the next step is to allocate your funds within the account.  This starts with an overall plan for your investment allocation – which you should take time to plan in advance.  For the purposes of our illustration here, we’ll say that you have a plan to split your account 75% to stocks and 25% to bonds.  Within the stock allocation, you want to split this as 1/3 each to large cap stock, small cap stock, and international stock.  In the bond category you want to split this to 80% domestic bonds and 20% international bonds. Now […]

Mechanics of 401(k) Plans – Distribution

For the next in our series of articles regarding the mechanics of 401(k) plans, we’ll review distributions from the plan.  As with our other articles in this series, we’re referring to all sorts of qualified retirement plans (QRPs) – including 401(k), 403(b), 457, and others – generically as 401(k) plans throughout. There are several types of distributions from 401(k) plans to consider.  Distributions before retirement age and after retirement age are the two primary categories which we’ll review below.  Another type of distribution is a loan – which will be covered in a subsequent article. But first, we need to define retirement age.  Generally speaking, retirement age for your 401(k) plan is 59½, just the same as with an IRA.  However, if you leave employment at or after age 55, the operative age is 55.  If you have left employment before age 55, retirement age is 59½. This means that […]