One of the big pieces of news out of President Obama’s budget proposal was a proposed cap on retirement accounts. You may have heard rumblings about this in the form of a possible $3M limit on balances across all of your retirement accounts. Today I want to shed a bit [...]
traditional ira
Much has been written about the virtues of rolling over your 401(k) into an IRA. But what about doing the opposite? Believe it or not, there are cases in which you might want to roll IRA funds into a 401(k) plan. Note that not all 401(k) plan administrators allow this [...]
Tax day is three weeks away. This means that you have two weeks to fund an IRA and have it count toward the 2012 contribution limit. If at all possible, you should do this. Why? Because once the window closes, you can’t go back and make up for a missed [...]
The other day, I wrote about the ins and outs of all-in-one mutual funds vs. do-it-yourself investing. In response to that article, I received two separate e-mails asking for my opinion about another all-in-one investment option: Betterment. I’ve been vaguely familiar with Betterment for the past few years but haven’t [...]
I’ve been fortunate. Over the years, my employers have offered excellent retirement plans. But for many, that’s not the case. If your 401(k) or 403(b) plan stinks — due to high fees, lack of appropriate investment options, or both — what should you do? Should you still contribute? Or should [...]
I recently learned that my parents nearly forgot to take the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from my dad’s IRA last year. Fortunately, they remembered at the last minute and avoided any penalties, but it was a close call — too close for comfort. Going forward, I’ll be helping them out [...]
A reader recently asked about the possibility of making “regular” Roth IRA contributions after making so-called “backdoor” contributions. The short answer is that backdoor Roth IRA contributions have no affect on your ability to make standard contributions going forward. At the end of the day, all you’re doing is a [...]
Earlier this week, I talked about advantages of the Roth IRA. But I also pointed out that Roth contributions are subject to an income limit. So what can you do if you’re over the limit? Simple. Go ahead and fund your Roth IRA through the so-called “backdoor.” This is a [...]