10 Things You Should Know About Roth IRAs

Joe and Al continue the discussion on IRA myths and misconceptions. Find out what could cost your beneficiaries thousands if there is a lack of education on your retirement accounts. The two also cover some costly mistakes you could be making with your IRA and 401k. They finish off this hour by discussing ten things you MUST know about your Roth IRA.

1:06 “When it comes to naming a beneficiaries, sometimes people make mistakes”

1:29 “Never name the trust the owner of your IRA; the actual owner needs to be you, not necessarily your trust”

3:06 “There’s something that’s called the stretch IRA or the inherited IRA. What that law allows us to do is that at your passing, it allows your beneficiary to stretch the tax liability out over their life expectancy”

6:24 “If you inherit the IRA, you have to take the distribution by December 31^st…if you don’t take that distribution before December 31^st, then you will have a 50% tax penalty on what the distribution should have been”

10:22 “We’ll go through all sorts of ideas and strategies when it comes to your overall taxes; there are different tax laws coming down the pipe” Register for our Year-End Tax Planning Seminar in San Diego

14:47 “You have to do what is called a 72t tax election on the retirement account; it’s also called SEPP (Separate Equal Periodic Payment)…you have to take the same amount of money out of the account each and every single year”

22:00 “You want to make sure that if you’re getting financial planning advice that you’re working with a competent person who understands all areas of your financial life”

24:34 “We’re talking IRA mistakes, and one of them is rolling low-cost basis company stock into an IRA”

31:12 “First thing you should know [about Roth IRAs] is that you pay Uncle Sam now instead of later, so you don’t get a tax deduction currently, but all future growth and income and principal is tax-free”

32:40 “Your company may offer a Roth option in your 401(k) plan—I would say more bigger companies have the Roth option. Check your HR department”

33:20 “If you have a Roth option, that means you can choose to put some or all of your 401(k) dollars into the Roth component. You can mix and match…really the best way to tell what you should do is look at your tax return—pull out line 43 and look at what tax bracket you’re in”

35:09 “There are two ways to get money into a Roth IRA account—you can do a direct contribution or you can take money from your retirement account…you can move those dollars directly into the Roth. There is no limitation on how much money you can put into a Roth; there’s no age limitation”