The Downside of a Large Tax-Deferred Nest Egg
You’ve been saving aggressively in an IRA or 401(k) plan for your whole career and you’re set up well for retirement. Or are you? If you’ve built up a large nest egg only or mostly in tax-deferred accounts, you may give up too much
Roth Distribution Rules Help Minimize Taxes and Penalties
Roth IRAs are a great way to balance out your retirement portfolio with assets that can offer a tax-free source of income. Specific rules governing distributions that enhance tax breaks—and a growing list of exceptions to early penalty rules—make Roth IRAs a handy asset
Use the Step-Up in Basis to Give Your Heirs More
If you have been fortunate enough to invest steadily for the long term in stocks, real estate, or other appreciating assets, you may find yourself holding a sizable fortune late in life. The smart move is to leave these assets to heirs, to take
What are the Options for Your 401(k) When You Retire or Change Jobs?
Whether you are pursuing a new career opportunity, retiring, or have been fired or laid off, leaving a job is a major life change. If you had a 401(k) with your former employer, one of the many decisions you will have to make as
Time Your Tax Burden with Capital Gains Harvesting
In many aspects of investing, timing is everything, and that’s true for capital gains. With careful attention to your taxable income, you can strategically time the sale of profitable investments to minimize—or even avoid—taxes on capital gains. This is called capital gains harvesting. The
How IRA Contributions May Affect Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) after the SECURE Act
For traditional IRA owners aged 70.5 or older, making qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from their accounts offers a way to donate to a charity of their choice while reducing taxable income. However, among its many other changes to retirement plans, the Setting Every Community