By Sarah Brenner, JD Director of Retirement Education The House Ways and Means Committee has released a draft of proposed changes to retirement accounts, including adding income limits for conversions and eliminating the back-door Roth conversion strategy. These...
KEY POINTS The Covid-19 pandemic has hurt some Americans’ confidence that they can meet their retirement goal date on time. Among those feeling the most negative effects are women and pre-retirees. Even so, many Americans say the pandemic was a financial wake-up call...
By Ian Berger, JD IRA Analyst Question: If your employer contributes to either a SEP IRA or a SIMPLE IRA, can you (the employee) also contribute to a Roth IRA? Regards, Alfred Answer: Hi Alfred, Yes, you can make Roth IRA contributions even if you participate in a SEP...
By Ian Berger, JD IRA Analyst Are you moving assets between IRAs or from a company plan to an IRA (or vice-versa)? You should know that using a direct transfer is a much better idea than doing a 60-day rollover. Direct transfers avoid all of the possible issues which...
Weekly Market Commentary – 9/17/2021 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US financial markets endured another week of losses that ended with the S&P 500 closing below its 50-day moving average on a quadruple witch expiration. Although investors were treated to better than...
Studying behavioral economics has taught me that our brains don’t make it easier for us to save. Psychology is often just as important in personal finance as are the numbers — the way we save, spend and invest are all influenced by the way we think and feel,...
By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF® IRA Analyst When an IRA owner taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) dies before removing his annual RMD, that year-of-death RMD (or whatever portion remains) must still be withdrawn. Upon passing, the year-of-death RMD immediately...
By Sarah Brenner, JD Director of Retirement Education President Biden has declared September to be National Preparedness Month. The goal is to encourage Americans to be more prepared for natural disasters. Unfortunately, from flooding on the east coast to fires on the...
If you earn money from the sale of a capital asset — your home, part of a business, stocks, or bonds, for example — that profit may be subject to capital gains tax. There are two categories of capital gains: short term (assets held for a year or less) and long term...
Weekly Market Commentary – 9/10/2021 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The holiday-shortened week produced negative returns across the board for US equity indices. The month of September has historically been a tough month for equities, and given the outsized moves we have...
