Learn how you can manage your retirement in a more stress-free manner as you build your wealth…
Caution: 20-minute read, however it is “well worth your time” in The Wealth Increaser.com’s opinion
In the most recent post investment simplification was discussed and investment approaches were presented in a way that allows you to build wealth almost effortlessly. Based on that post, if you determined that you had the needed discretionary income and you were to apply the principles learned in that discussion on a consistent basis, you would now be on a real path toward investment and possibly retirement success.
You must know what you need to do after you have accumulated a large nest egg and this discussion is designed to show you a number of ways that you can receive your retirement income and minimize your taxes so that you can stretch your income over your life expectancy so that you can do more and live more abundantly!
Your retirement plan may need to last you decades and you want to know how you can stretch your nest egg at the earliest time possible so that you can live a more comfortable retirement. Even if your retirement is decades away, you want to proactively familiarize yourself with the information in this timely discussion, so that you can achieve more throughout your lifetime.
Once you approach your retirement years you can choose to roll over your 401k, 403b, Thrift or other retirement plan, you can decide to leave your retirement funds in the 401k or other retirement account, or you also have other options, and they will all be discussed below:
Do the rollover yourself
Once you retire you can choose to roll over your funds from your retirement plan into an IRA, and you have 60 days to do so if you want to avoid the pain of being taxed on the entire amount. Even if you roll over your funds within the 60-day window your employer (or former employer) or plan administrator will withhold 20% of the rollover amount for income taxes.
If you don’t have the 20% amount laying around in your emergency fund or other accounts, you will only be able to roll over 80%.
By coming up with the 20% you can “recoup” the 20% that was withheld at tax time when you file your tax return!
If you are unable to come up with the 20%, be sure that you realize that the 20% will be considered taxable income, and if you are under age 55 you will be penalized another 10%!
Say you receive $200,000 to rollover, $40,000 would be withheld and sent to the IRS and $160,000 would be rolled over into your IRA that you designated. You would receive a 1099R at tax time showing $40,000 as taxable income. By rolling over 100% it would not be considered taxable income and you could file your taxes and get the 20% withholding back.
Arrange for a trustee-to-trustee rollover
A trustee to trustee, also known as a direct rollover could be more beneficial than a rollover that you do yourself as it will be done by your retirement plan administrator, and is generally the best course of action as there would not be a 20% withholding.
Once the money is in the IRA, you are not “required” to take anything out until April 1st of the year after you turn 73. If your contribution includes “after-tax” contributions, you can only roll over for the full amount if the IRA sponsor will account for the after-tax money separately.
If you have after-tax contributions, a “portion” of every IRA withdrawal will be tax free. Or you can receive all of the “after-tax money” before the rollover and pocket it tax free!
Leave the money in the account
If you like your plan administration and the returns that you are getting, you can choose to leave the money in the account and cash out or roll it over later if you desire. If the retirement plan is providing good returns and you are comfortable with the investments, why shake up the pot?
You would normally need at least $5,000 or more in the account to make this option worthwhile and distributions would be required by age 73, even if you did not need the money. If your account was invested in a ROTH, you could leave the money in the account until you transitioned.
Roll over to a ROTH IRA
You can roll your assets from your company plans to a ROTH IRA, and because your contributions to your company plan was done on a “pre-tax” basis and have never been taxed, the rollover would now be taxable, however no 20% withholding would be required. You do not have to take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) at age 73 with a ROTH. The assets in your ROTH IRA could then grow tax-free indefinitely.
If you use this strategy, you want to be able to find the money “outside of your retirement account” to pay the taxes, otherwise you will limit the tax-free growth of the ROTH account. Also, if you transition, the funds in the ROTH IRA could go to your beneficiaries and RMD’s and taxes would come into play.
Take out company stock
If you work for a fortune 500 company or a company that has publicly traded stock and your company put those stocks within your retirement plan, you could have yet another option that could help you save on your taxes.
You can use a tax concept called “NET UNREALIZED APPRECIATION” (NUA) and pull the company stock out and put only the non-company stock balance in the IRA!
Rolling highly appreciated stock into an IRA, locks in a high tax rate for that appreciation. You will owe taxes on the full value of the stock at ordinary income tax rates (up to 37%) “as you sell it” and take distributions from the IRA.
However, there is a better way to transfer the stock!
Lets say you have $2.2 million (the part not held in company stock) and roll it into an IRA, and you transfer the stock to a separate taxable account.
You will owe income taxes on the company stock, but the tax is based on its “cost-basis” — the value of the stock when your employer put them into your account. In this case, let’s say it was $20,000 and is now valued at $200,000.
When you sell the stock from your taxable account, you will report a long-term capital gain, and if the sales price is $300,000, the gain ($300,000 minus $20,000) of $280,000 would be taxed at the more favorable capital gains rate of 0%, 15% or 20 percent–which would for most be lower than the “ordinary income tax rate” mentioned above that could be as high as 37%.
Assuming a retirement “long-term capital gains” tax rate of 15%, ($280,000 * .15) your taxes would be $42,000.
Had you rolled the entire $2.2 million into the IRA and “then” withdrawn the $300,000, you would owe income tax on the entire distribution in your highest tax bracket–and if it was the 37% tax bracket you would owe $111,000–a difference of $69,000, an amount that can go a long way during your retirement years.
Another way of looking at it is if you were able to use the above strategy you would pay $69,000 less in taxes or you would have an additional $69,000 that you could be utilizing for the continued growth of your retirement fund.
It is important that you realize that there are things in life that you don’t know–that you don’t know, and you want to know this important “lifelong fact of life” at this time or the earliest time possible in your life (no pun intended)! This tidbit of knowledge that you have just learned as it relates to company stock can go a long way in protecting your nest egg during your retirement years, if it is a strategy that you can use with your retirement portfolio.
If you own the stock when you transition, not having it in an IRA creates a windfall for your heirs as the stock will receive “favorable stepped up basis” (stock will be stepped up to the stock price at your transition date and that means lower taxation for your heirs) treatment and once your beneficiaries sold the stock the tax would be at the capital gains rate and would be based on the price of your company stock at the time of your transition–not when your employer put them in your account.
Or another way of looking at it is if the stock is “outside the IRA, appreciation after the distribution becomes tax free” and the gain not taxed at the time of the distribution would be taxed at the 0%, 15% or 20% long-term capital gains rate, depending on where your beneficiaries would fall based on taxable income and filing status.
If the stock was in the IRA, the full value would be taxed as income in your beneficiary’s top tax bracket (as high as 37% as of 2024) as it is withdrawn.
Taxes & Retirement
Once you retire and start taking distributions from your retirement accounts, pensions, social security or railroad retirement benefits, you want to plan for the payment of your taxes in a proactive manner where possible. You social security income could be taxable depending on the amount of your retirement income and whether you work part or full time after retirement. Also keep in mind that taxation at the state level must be taken into consideration as many states exempt some or all income of retirees–and some states have no income tax at all.
During your retirement years you will receive 1099Rs, Social Security Benefit statements, W-2s or 1099NEC if you decide to work, other 1099 statements for interest, dividends, capital gains etcetera, and you want to proactively plan with your tax professional so that you won’t have large surprises at tax time.
The IRS also receives copies of all of these documents so you want to do a “double take” to ensure that you have all of your documents at tax time. Failure to do so and your inability to provide them to your tax pro for any reason could result in your return being audited.
Also realize that if you file your personal or business taxes by paper, the return will receive extra scrutiny from the IRS. Even though many think paper is more secure, filing electronically has proven to be more secure and accurate. You can also enroll in the IP PIN program (Identity Protection Personal Identification Number program) to further secure your filing, as even if they (scammers) have your social security number or ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) they would still need your PIN to pretend they were you.
Your payment of taxes (ordinary income rates) will be based on your taxable income and filing status (10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% or 37%) and you will pay taxes on your investment income at a rate of 0%, 15%, or 20% and that rate would be based on your taxable income and family situation (filing status). If you are single with adjustable gross income over $200,000, ($250,000 married filing joint), you will have an additional 3.8% net investment income tax on your investment returns that were not offset by losses.
You also want to commit age 59.5 (age that you can begin withdrawals), age 73 (age at which you must take RMDs) and the age in which you will eventually transition (your assets will or will not receive “stepped up basis” treatment) to memory as those ages are important to know for planning purposes and particularly for tax and estate planning. In addition, you want to know that short-term (less than 12 months) gains will be taxed at your ordinary income rates.
The above figures are based on the 2023 tax year and the numbers are adjusted annually.
Required Minimum Distributions & Retirement
Required Minimum Distributions or RMDs are the least amount of money you “must” withdraw from your traditional IRAs or pretax 401k and other pre-tax retirement accounts based on United States tax law.
Always remember that whatever your retirement (or pre-retirement) age, it is never too early to strategize your RMDs for 2024 and beyond.
The year that you turn 73 is the year that RMDs will be required to be taken by you. If you are not turning 73 this year, you may still want to take withdrawals to reduce the amount of your future RMDs. It will all depend on your goals, risk-tolerance level, income, personal situation–and tax bracket, the impact on the raising of your Medicare premiums and the impact of increasing the taxes on your Social Security income.
If you are now 70.5 or older, you can make a QCD (Qualified Charitable Distribution) directly from your IRA to a charity. If you are 73 or older the QCD will count toward your RMD. Though you can’t generally claim the deduction for the donation, you won’t be taxed either.
If you fail to take your RMDs in a timely manner, you want to notify the IRS of this “before they notify you” when possible (use form 5329) and explain with a letter why you didn’t take the RMDs by the December 31st deadline.
By doing so you can possibly avoid a 25% penalty on the amount you were required to withdraw–however you may still be subject to a 10% penalty!
Bond Management
Unless you have time to monitor and respond to the bond market, you may want to hire a pro as the pricing of bonds are normally out of the public view when compared to stocks.
Bonds have what is called a “bid price” and an “ask price” and shopping around for bonds can save you hundreds on commissions and markups. If you are a buy and hold investor, you normally want to have at least $50,000 to spend and you want to assemble a portfolio of high quality corporate, treasury and possibly municipal bonds. Mutual funds offer one stop bond diversification, but a portfolio of them typically costs “more to maintain” than a portfolio of individual bonds.
You want to have “at least two brokers” and check with each before placing your order. You can also search online to compare prices and yields by going to:
All of the above sites would be a good starting point. Treasurydirect.gov allows you the opportunity to purchase directly without fees and you can manage savings bonds, T-bills, notes, bonds and TIPs (Treasury Inflation Protected securities) in a free online account.
You also want to ask the right questions whether online or with your broker. You would want to know the following:
*What is the spread between the bid and ask price?
The closer you buy to the bid price the smaller the markup!
*Is the bond callable?
Bonds may be redeemed by the issuer, and if so you want to request the yield-to-worse call (which is the lowest potential yield)!
*Which yield are you quoting me?
The coupon, yield to call (YTC) or yield to maturity (YTM)! Be ready to haggle as brokers expect it. If you don’t like to haggle, consider treasuries.
Since you are retired or are now anxiously anticipating the day that you will be, you now or will one day have the time to learn about bonds and other investments that can possibly help grow your nest-egg with relatively low risk. You want to put yourself in position to learn what you need to learn in a relaxed and as stress-free a manner as possible while you are improving your finances.
You may also want to set up a bond ladder system during your retirement years to “smooth out the ups and downs” of interest rates. Treasuries are as close to a risk-free investment that you can buy and when purchased in a 5-year laddering system, it can provide you income that guards against inflation during your retirement years.
If you need more income, consider CDs, municipal and corporate bonds in a laddering system or even dividend paying stocks such as those offered by utility stocks and REITs (companies that own and manage office buildings, shopping centers, apartments and other large developments).
On occasion, annually at least–you may need to re-balance your asset allocation, as over time based on gains and losses–your asset allocation will go out of balance from what you initially selected.
If your stocks or bonds exceed your previously set allocations by more than 5% you may want to re-balance once that occurs.
You generally want to re-balance first inside of tax deferred IRAs or tax-free ROTH accounts to get their allocation back on track as no taxes would be due and you want your risk level to return to what you selected initially.
You can also invest RMDs that you receive from your retirement accounts that are out of balance back into those tax-deferred accounts–so they go back into the market (they will be taxed) and increase your returns further.
Conclusion
You will have to allocate your assets based on your goals, risk-tolerance, income and personal situation.
You want to buy and sell bonds appropriately and know how to set up a bond ladder if that is of appeal to you and something that you feel can be of benefit during your retirement years. It is important that you choose the best option possible based on what you desire to achieve during your retirement years and after you transition.
As you can see from this discussion the “choices that you make” can lead to lasting, cost-effective or cost-ineffective results during your retirement and pre-retirement years–and even after you transition!
The factors that should influence your decision should include your age, income tax bracket, insurance needs, income needs, estate plans, and whether you own individual stocks and/or mutual funds. If you have adequate pension and social security income, you can supplement resources by spending income “generated in taxable accounts” and letting the “investments in your IRA grow tax deferred” until withdrawals are required.
Some people re-invest even after RMDs start, rather than spending their money. You want to ensure that your allocation of stocks, bonds and cash are at the right mix to balance your need for both income and continued growth. If you have Treasuries and Money Market accounts, corporate bonds and REITs that generate taxes, you may want to put them in your IRA.
You can put municipal bonds, index funds and stocks held for the long-term into a taxable account(s).
With the cap rate on most stock dividends capped at 20%, your IRA may not be the best place for dividend paying stocks. And even though your stocks in a taxable account may generate capital gains taxes when you sell, the top long-term rate is 20% in 2024. Keep in mind non-qualified dividends could be taxed at your ordinary income rate.
It is critical that you create a portfolio (or have your advisor do it) that is diversified among asset classes–from small company domestic companies to international equities, from bonds to commodities to help lessen the effects of an economic downturn during your retirement years as the funds in your accounts along with your social security (and possibly pension income) at a minimum must last through your remaining life expectancy.
Keep in mind that an all-stock portfolio will normally “fall more” during a downturn and also “rebound more” during an upturn in the economy. As you get older during retirement, you may want to shift your allocation to a more conservative position such as 35% to 40% in the market, 10 to 15%% in cash and 45% to 50% in bonds.
By taking to heart and giving real consideration to how you will build up and divvy up your retirement fund(s) during your lifetime, you can make your retirement stage or phase one that you can truly enjoy with your loved ones. You can also “position your life” where volunteering your time and resources toward causes that are important to you while you are yet alive here on planet earth–can happen for you in a more realistic way–as you awake each and every day!
All the best as you make the best choices that will lead to continuous retirement success…
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