Roth IRA Rules for Conversions & Contributions

What is the five year-clock when it comes to Roth IRAs? Joe and Al discuss the difference between Roth conversions and contributions and why you should consider a Roth in the first place. The two also discuss a recent Marketwatch article about the 10 worst money moves for 2016.

8:22 “When you think about all the things that are going on right now, it’s a pretty scary time in regards to your financial life”

8:38 “It’s critical that you protect your money in retirement and you start acting on some of the things you always wanted to do”

10:22 “There’re two five-year clocks—one, if you’re under 59 ½ and one if you’re over 59 ½”

10:56 “If you make a contribution to a Roth IRA and you’re over 59 ½, you have access to those contribution dollars the next day…where the five-year clock comes into play is that you have to wait five years to touch the earnings or the growth on the account”

13:42 “The point is: start a Roth IRA if you don’t have one, to get that five-year clock started”

15:09 “Each conversion if you’re under 59 ½ has its own five-year clock; that’s the only time each conversion would have its own five-year clock”

17:16 “When you’re talking retirement, IRA, 401(k) and Roth accounts, there are so many mistakes being made”

20:15 “Risk and expected return are related; there is no free lunch. You want to make sure you’re taking the appropriate amount of risk to get that appropriate return”

22:07 “Our brains are designed to learn all throughout our lifetime, and we’re a lot happier when we’re learning”

25:15 “How about this in terms of worst money moves in 2016—trade often and impulsively”

27:00 “Creating a retirement game plan is the very first step; it will have a snowball effect that can impact different aspects of your life and it can benefit you in ways that you could never imagine”

34:50 “If you’re still working and about to retire, you’re going to want to look at what are the best strategies while you’re still working and then what are the best strategies when you retire so you can pay a lot less taxes in retirement”