How to Stay Retired: Making Your Retirement Nest Egg Last

Many retirees are forced to go back to work due to insufficient financial planning. Joe and Al start off this first hour of the podcast discussing how to stay retired —which means having a plan in place. They then go over some recent events that are changing retirement planning rules, a big one being the legalization of gay marriage across the U.S. Find out how to create tax-efficient income, what the tax-extender’s bill is and some common mistakes people make with their retirement accounts.

1:45 “Your number one goal in retirement should be to stay retired, it’s that simple”

1:57 “How do you stay retired? The answer is simple; it’s by having a plan—a comprehensive retirement game plan. It’s not by achieving some random number…”

6:30 “There is no silver bullet, there is no holy grail of any type of investment; if there is a return associated with that investment, there has to be risk to achieve that return”

7:58 “Have some tax-free income from Roth IRAs, from municipal bonds; make sure your non-retirement assets are taking advantage of the capital gains treatment. Look at charitable strategies; there are all kinds of ways to create tax-efficient income”

13:07 “[The backdoor Roth IRA] is one that Obama has specifically stated he wants to get rid of, and here’s how it works…”

18:36 “When it comes to taxes, a lot of people that we talk to don’t really feel like they have much control over their taxes”

21:01 “Required distribution: it’s a mandate by law that you have to start pulling money from your retirement accounts if you want it or not, because the government wants their taxes. It’s a requirement at 70 ½ that you have to start pulling them out”

21:17 “If I’m still working past age 70 ½, can I delay required minimum distributions for my IRAs? The answer to that is no”

24:31 “If you die before you retire, there is no required minimum distribution due for the year you die, your beneficiaries will be subject to RMDs”

28:32 “There are a lot of things here with these retirement accounts in regards to taxes and a lot of people make a lot of mistakes when it comes to these plans and they’re going to pay a little bit more in taxes than they anticipated”

31:21 “The Senate Finance Committee approved a two-year extension…they call this the tax extender’s bill—this is a whole bunch of tax benefits that can help you, an individual, a business, etc.”

32:37 “What’s in this extender’s bill? One of the things is if you are over 70 ½, you are allowed to take money out of your IRA and donate it directly to charity, and that counts for your required minimum distribution”

35:44 “If you can keep the required distribution off the front page of your tax return, maybe all your Social Security income will be tax-free”

38:45 “The key is generating income in retirement that will last, and utilizing several different strategies to make sure you’re maximizing taxes, your overall portfolio and understanding Social Security benefits”