50+ Lifestyles

What Every IRA Owner Should Know

By Richard J. Schillig, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF
Independent Insurance and Financial Advisor

We recently acquired a new publication titled “What Every IRA Owner Should Know” This booklet provides tips and strategies to help you make the most of your hard-earned assets. IRAs along with other retirement plans are usually invested in stock or mutual fund accounts. If you have this type of IRA – then I recognize and I am sure you recognize the tremendous decrease in value since Oct 2007. Folks – Baby Boomers in particular – call our office and obtain the booklet “What every IRA owner should Know.” This booklet is available to you at no cost and does provide tips and strategies to help you make the most of your hard earned IRA assets. Here are some of the tips contained in the booklet:

• Tip 1: Options when changing jobs OR retiring
• Tip 2: IRA strategies need to align with your specific retirement needs
• Tip 3: Always consider the advantage of a ‘Stretch IRA’
• Tip 4: Keep all beneficiaries updated
• Tip 5: Take advantage of the estate tax exclusion
• Tip 6: Don’t incur unnecessary taxes and fees

Other items discussed in booklet include – designation of trust as beneficiary. Should that be done or not? What is an RBD – Required Beginning Date? Have you heard that term before. These last two topics may be of use to baby boomers AS WELL AS current retired folks.

If you are now retired – we encourage you to take a look at another two very important areas – unnecessary taxes and fees. Years ago our firm offered a workshop called – Roadblocks to Financial Success. One of the “Roadblocks” we identified in that workshop is paying unnecessary taxes. We identified one of the unnecessary taxes as continued tax on annual interest as well as the tax on Social Security.

Today we continue to identify adverse tax as one of the risks we face in retirement. This includes not only income tax – both federal and state income tax – but today it also includes tax on social security. I believe this tax on retired persons is an absolutely unnecessary tax.

You heard me talk before about retirees that tell us they pay more tax in retirement than they have ever paid during their working life. That is why we identify the taxation as a risk to our assets and plan strategies that help reduce that risk.

Build into this whole idea of taxes is where this RBD Required Beginning Date becomes a reality. Baby boomers – don’t become one of those retirees that tell us they pay more tax in retirement than they have paid during your working life. There are things you can do today to help minimize or reduce the tax bite you will have in retirement. BUT you know what?? – You have to plan ahead to reduce or minimize this tax bite.

Call us today to obtain your copy of “What Every IRA Owner Should Know.”