Very few people could “save” enough for retirement with today’s long life expectancies and earlier retirements. If you just “save” – yet do not have growth that exceeds both income taxes and inflation, you are more likely to run out of money.
Many people don’t realize the importance of building and maintaining a good credit score to their overall financial well-being. Before you make any buying decisions involving credit, think about your overall financial situation and the long-term impact of living “outside your means.” The cost of bad credit may be more than you realize.
Are you holding one or more 401(k) plan accounts from former employers? You have several options:
1. Leave the money and do nothing
2. Roll it into your new employer’s 401(k), if allowed.
3. Cash it out.
4. Roll it into a self-directed IRA.
5. Convert it to a Roth IRA account.
Unlike a simple monetary inheritance, when someone dies and leaves an IRA (Individual Retirement Account) to a beneficiary, there are several distribution options and important deadlines that must be met to avoid problems with the distribution and to avoid potential tax penalties.
In the year in which you turn 70.5 years of age, the current IRS guidelines require you to take a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from your Qualified accounts (tax-advantaged accounts).
As the saying goes, the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. Unfortunately, both are inevitable and unavoidable. If you plan properly, however, you may lessen the hardship on those you leave behind.