Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) provide tax advantages for savers. However, managing these accounts can be a complex endeavor, particularly when it involves intricate investment vehicles like hedge funds. This complexity is exemplified in the case of the renowned actor James Caan and his investment in a hedge fund, which highlights the potential pitfalls of inadvertent…
“The Department of Labor is under pressure to release its new Retirement Security Rule, which would impose fiduciary obligations on more financial professionals working with retirement clients. But from my vantage point as a fiduciary advisor, regulators’ focus on individual retirement accounts overlooks more egregious activity in non-IRAs happening right under their noses. Particularly absent from the discussion about…
We get puzzled looks from new clients when we explain our position on taxable fixed income (bonds) in IRAs. Traditional planning advice recommends placing your highest growth assets in an IRA to maximize the tax deferral. We usually recommend the complete opposite approach, which becomes more and more preferable the higher the income of the…
Roth conversions remain one of the most underutilized tax planning strategies around. Imagine the limited benefits of continued tax deferral for a 90-year-old retiree with a $500,000 IRA and an income of $100,000 a year. That income is comprised of pension distributions, IRA required minimum distributions (RMD), and some dividend income. Let’s say she has…
There are very few tax issues more complicated than the intersection of estate taxes, income taxes, and IRAs. Very few couples exceed the $24million exemption amount to begin with, and even fewer get this part of their planning correct. If not navigated well, this confluence of factors can conspire to cause 80% of an IRA…
Recent large stock market swings bring about possible benefits by revising our personal tax strategies. For investors with large stock holdings in an IRA, the brutal market reset could make the math of a Roth IRA conversion even more compelling. Now could be a particularly good time because a decline in value would cause a…
Happy New Year to all! While most of us were busy this holiday season preparing gifts to exchange with our loved ones, Congress was busy giving us “gifts” by adjusting the tax law late in 2019. They gave us (and the IRS) benefits by way of the passage of the SECURE Act, presenting lots of…
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