Retirement Planning

An IRA is an individual retirement account, which helps people put aside money for their retirement years. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sets the rules for these accounts.

Congress enacted the Civil Service Retirement Act (CSRA) in 1920 to create a retirement system for certain federal employees. Because Congress enacted the Federal Employees Retirement System...

Supplemental Security Income is part of Social Security. It is important because it may be the only source of income most individuals 65 and over receive. The payments are usually sent out based...

STRS stands for State Teacher's Retirement System. Several states have such a retirement system. Obtaining a statement from a state STRS program can be done by calling, writing a letter or by...

A SIMPLE plan, or Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees, is an individual retirement account (IRA)-based plan that employers can establish to provide retirement contributions for themselves...

Determining the deductibility of your contribution to your Individual Retirement Account can be a confusing chore. Fortunately, the IRS has made available Publication 590, which contains IRA...

There is no marital status requirement to receive Social Security benefits. However, those who are married or divorced may be able to collect benefits based on the Social Security record of their...

If a pension plan is a qualified plan under Internal Revenue Service guidelines, the money in the pension receives special tax treatment. However, you may have to pay a penalty if you withdraw it...

Don't be fooled into thinking that converting all your assets into a Roth IRA will completely protect your heirs from taxes when you die. This conversion carries some tax advantages, but it can't...

Calculating defined benefit pension benefits can be somewhat challenging. Each retirement plan that pays out these benefits has a specific formula and requires some calculations, which include...

Most IRA custodians allow only equity and bank investments in portfolios. Custodians are not required to offer the variety of investments allowed by the Internal Revenue Service as suitable IRA...

Financial checkups help you determine where gaps exist in your existing estate plan. Confirm that the trust designates your existing wishes on how to pass assets to heirs. Review investments...

Reforming retirement accounts refers to the process of taking existing assets in traditional retirement vehicles and further diversifying those assets according to IRS regulations. In the process,...

When you are faced with a large tax bill, using your retirement funds may be your only option to avoid late penalties and fees. The problem is you don't want to incur income tax and penalties on...

Retirement living provides specialized facilities and programs that help retirees, both individuals and couples, navigate daily life and deal with the challenges of maintaining a home.

The Social Security system was designed to provide a source of income for retired individuals. Full retirement age was originally set at 65, but is slowly increasing and for anyone born in 1960 or...

You cannot have more than one person named on an individual retirement account. However, you can have more than one person listed as a beneficiary.

One of the primary benefits of working for the federal government or public agencies is a retirement package. You may have worked in places where there was a benefits package but changed employers...

Trusts are established to set guidelines of how a particular set of assets placed in the trust are to be managed and distributed. A family trust will designate how assets will be passed on to...

There are several options for employers to provide retirement accounts for their employees. A 401(a) plan is one such option that offers some flexibility for the employer and numerous benefits for...

The calculation of early retirement benefits is done in accordance with the plan formula. Some plans do not provide for early retirement; however, most do at a reduced amount. Defined benefit...

An IRA custodian is an organization, such as a bank or other financial institution, that holds and maintains its clients' individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The role of an IRA custodian varies...

An annuity is a financial product normally sold by financial institutions for retirement or long-term insurance. It is designed to pay out a stream of payments over time based on a lump-sum...

Generally, if you have a retirement account, you may not withdraw funds until you are age 59 1/2. Do so and you're subject to an IRS penalty of 10 percent and must pay ordinary income taxes on the...

IRAs are a great way to save for retirement, but most people limit themselves to having stocks, bonds and mutual funds in their IRAs. You can also invest in things such as gold, real estate,...

A SIMPLE, or savings incentive math plan for employees, IRA is a retirement account created by your employer as an alternative to a 401k plan that still allows the employer to offer retirement...

If you are collecting Social Security benefits, there are some limits on how much you can earn while collecting Social Security, as well as limits on the benefits themselves.

Opening a new business requires capital. If you don't have a lot of resources for investment capital, using your existing 401k or 403b plan may be the only option to fund your new venture. The...

Recent market turbulence has drastically reduced the balances in many IRA and qualified plans, often by as much as 50%. The fallout from the subprime mortgage meltdown of 2008 has left a dark...

Holy cow! Why am I talking about saving for your CHILD's retirement? Isn't that their job? Conventionally, we've been told that it's up to us to save for our own retirement. It's actually far...

We live in economic challanging times. If you have a mortgage, you have options.

Social Security benefits comprise a major portion of retirement income for many workers. Most financial planners recommend that clients use Social Security income as one of three major sources of...

What is the role of the money you'd like to invest? Before you find a financial planner, know what you want your money to accomplish. Is this short term money that you...

Most investors saving toward retirement don't realize that real estate is a viable investment that is allowed in IRA accounts by the IRS. Many brokerage firms do not offer real estate IRA...

An IRA is an individually opened and run retirement savings plan that the Internal Revenue Service gives special tax breaks. The IRS also allows money in an IRA to be rolled over into several...

Retirement is a life-changing experience. It can change for the better, though, if you are well prepared. Take tips into consideration before you retire, or catch up on some if you have retired...

An Individual Retirement Account (IRA), as the name would imply, is not its own investment vehicle but rather simply an account. Thus, you can transfer securities into your IRA at any time, as if...

A Simplified Employee Pension Individual Retirement Account (SEP-IRA), as the name implies, is a simplified way for employers to establish retirement plans for themselves and their employees....

Transferring the assets in an individual retirement account (IRA) to a beneficiary is a legal process that must conform with Internal Revenue Service regulations. Specific differences exist...

IRAs are tax-sheltered investment structures that allow money to grow for your retirement. IRAs can be tax-deferred or tax-free depending on the type. Roth IRAs grow tax-free but get no...

Generally speaking, people avoid the annuity as a tool for retirement. The payouts are low given the principal and any chance of retaining the principal is virtually eliminated. However, in some...

Many retirees have worked for small companies which could not afford to offer retirement benefits. The recent trend of having a 401k came too late for people who started working in the 1950s and...