One wrong decision can lead to expensive consequences, and good luck trying to persuade the IRS to give you a do-over.
Going straight from a busy work life to ‘retired’ can be difficult, if you haven’t mapped out your path. Preparing yourself effectively involves both financial and lifestyle choices.
If you are lucky enough to inherit a 401(k) or an IRA, when you don’t know what you are doing, you could put your inheritance at risk. The tax rules need to be followed to the T. These IRS inherited IRA rules will vary, depending on who has passed away, and who is inheriting the retirement accounts.
When financial advisors tell people the standard rules of thumb, like they need to have at least ten times their final salary saved by the time they retire, people throw up their hands and walk away.
Can a nursing home make a person who is in the home liquidate money in an IRA and spend it down to pay for care, before they can apply for Medicaid?
We are programmed to contribute the “max” to our retirement accounts and we disregard, or do not understand, the pitfalls of an improperly filled-out beneficiary forms.
If elderly parents aren’t good at record-keeping, a family member will need to identify this information and keep it in a place where it can be referenced when needed.
There are milestones in every life. For many, graduations, marriage, children, opening a business and retiring are among these milestones.
