This post was inspired by a recent conversation I had with a former student. As is customary in my classes, I encourage students to contact me if they have questions while in the “real world” after graduation. The student was contemplating contributing the maximum to a Roth IRA for 2018 – which is $5,500, and then potentially doing the same for 2019 – which would be $6,000. His concern was market volatility. He was afraid of contributing to the IRA, then seeing is lump sums of $5,500 and $6,000 respectively plummeting if the market were to drop substantially. I told him to look at it from this perspective. The middle letter in the acronym IRA stands for retirement. This young man is 22 years old, planning to retire in 30 to 40 years. I told him that he could consider contributing the maximum to his Roth IRA every year, regardless […]
IRA
IRAs Do Not Pass Through Your Will
Here’s a little fact that you may not realize: when you assign a beneficiary for your IRA account, you are effectively bypassing any outside action against that account, including your will – assuming that the beneficiary assigned is appropriate. For most assets that you own, when you pass away, your last will and testament determines who will receive the assets. You may want to make sure that your daughter gets the heirloom china set, and your son receives the antique car, among other things – so you direct these wishes through your will. If you don’t have a will, your state of residence, through the probate process, determines how your assets are distributed. Generally this will direct your estate to your living heirs in order, from your surviving spouse to your children and then grandchildren. It’s different in each state, so it really makes a lot of sense to get […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
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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”.