Based on your advice, I promptly notified my wife that it would be more beneficial to have a spouse 10 years younger. It did not go as planned. However it has indeed reduced my RMDs since the divorce awarded half of my IRA to her. Mission accomplished!??? 🤔 On a serious note, great content as always.
You know, it is funny but I'm sorry. A lot of laughs here but it should be a warning. Marriage is a business contract and divorce is a lawsuit. The contract awards one party for breaking it. Not that a spouse who has stayed home and taken care of the family for years doesn't deserve the automatic half of the amount of their spouses retirement funds. However, it's usually coupled with child support, alimony, and paying her (and your own) legal bills while a father is forced to be responsible for a new set of bills establishing a new residence (his) while the mother and child must live to the SAME standard as before the divorce when there were NOT two households and usually get the family home and a car. Add the fact that most fathers lose meaningful relationships with their children when the court forces them to be the standard 2 weekend per month visitors to them. Currently around 80% of women initiate divorce and automatic alimony begins at the 10 year mark. There are so many incentives for her to divorce it almost is silly not to at this point. It's a epidemic. Young men reading this. Be very very careful. Even if you think you found the one; people and circumstances change over a decade. You and your children will absolutely suffer at the hands of our current family court system.
I’ve spend the last few days watching retirement strategy videos and everyone speaks way too fast and doesn’t take the time to slow down and use illustration to help explain what they are teaching. You do an amazing job communicating and slowing it down for easy note taking and understanding. Thank you!!
You can slow down the playback of a TH-cam video. Stop the video with one tap. Click on the gear wheel displayed on the upper right corner of the screen. One of the options is playback speed. I usually select 75% of normal speed. Then, you can resume the video with one tap on the screen.
You can SLOW-down or SPEED -UP any ANY TH-cam video by going to the “wheel” on the page, click on that and either decrease the speed or decrease the speed..easy peasy
I just wish all these videos would keep their Written material tad bit longer on the screen to give us chance to read them, after all its not the young ones but over 60’s you are targeting so keep at our pace please 🙏🏽
James, you do a tremendous job of explaining very complex issues in a clear and concise manner. I really appreciate and enjoy your videos. Thank you for creating such excellent content!
This is a great explanation. Wish I had heard it way before I turned 70 1/2 and had to start taking RMD’s. That was over a decade ago, and no one was talking about it much back then, so now my RMD is added on to my government pension income, and I am in a higher bracket and paying higher taxes on my pension as well as the RMD on both State and Federal returns. 😢 I wish I had done Roth conversions, but I didn’t know about them. I do use QCD’s, though. No more mailing personal checks to charities.
Yes! First, there was no such thing as Roth when I began investing. And, now, all that good planning to minimize taxes in retirement went out the window! Adding insult to injury, RMD’s jumped the Medicare “punishment” up. No way to win at this point.
Likely true, but having the government force you to sell something you may not want to sell, so they can take part of it, does not mean I should not take advantage of ways to minimize their confiscation. Plus if you mess it up they will raise your medicare costs because they forced you to take the RMD. So you have to be aware of the rules.
Yes, that is why I was glad I never inherited a $5million dollar IRA. I would hate to have to give 35% of it to the government even if I never had to exert one ounce of energy and time to acquire it. Can beneficieries refuse to accept inheritances? If that is possible then they can just refuse the money and avoid paying the taxes. That seems like a good financial strategy.
I'm all set with my planning. I wished YT was around 50 years ago when I first started. I did recommend this video to a couple that are in this time of their life. My IRA is modest, but along with my RMD, I'm planning a Roth conversion too. I'm waiting until the end of the year when I will know my income, then do the Roth conversion. I switched to making Roth contributions in 1998. Somehow I got that one right.
Retire early and start taking distributions….This will lower your total amount in your account at age 73 to 75 when you have to take RMD’s plus you will get more healthy years to enjoy it. That’s a win win….
I advised my husband to take 401K Roth because he was at a lower tax bracket. I’m glad he listened to me as now we have a combined 500K in Roth. But he still has a lot of conversions to do before RMD hits in 10 years.
This was so well presented. Thank you. When I was young, I selected my 401 contributions to be pre-tax. I’m just learning of RMDs, and it’s late in the game but I’ve switched my contributions to post-tax.
I love that you lead with living a quality of life in retirement and money is to have a fulfilling life. I only want to not outlive my money, have great experiences, and leave a little to my one child. My projections look very good, and I appreciate the giving to charity with RMD’s. That would be a blessing all around. As always, thank you for some more ideas and strategies.
Don't forget, you can raise the cost of your Medicare if you do too much of a Roth Conversion. Me personally I watch the Tax Tables for IRMA and take the difference to know how much to Roll to Roth.
Is it smarter to do a Roth conversion than to withdraw the same amount as the standard deduction from your IRA/401K in retirement years before RMDs kick in?
Great content. Alas, I didn't use the window for Roth conversions between retirement and RMD age. Also, RMD and Roth conversions hit your income line and could increase your IRMAA medicare payment.
I don't understand why it's 10 years for a modification of the joint life expectancy tables for RMD's. Should start at 6 years and younger. Also I think the default thinking should be to apply for SS benefits at 70. Then back off of that number for personal reasons like health, marital status, income needs and dependent children. Put enough away in your retirement accounts to get to 70 from 55. Don't forget to fund your HSA account. I did that in a round about way. I was going to collect SS at 62 but did some research and there are a number of benefits to delaying SS. Not the least of which is the favorable taxation of SS benefits and the reduction of RMD's at 73. I did the two bucket system putting enough cash in my laddered bonds and CD bucket to reach 66. When I reached 66 and my retirement accounts were larger at 66 than 62 and I was healthy I did a rinse and repeat to 70. Now my RMD's are manageable, my Roth has increased substantially. I can live on SS alone, but don't have to. Same with my wife when I pass. Also if you have a health issue that will affect your life expectancy after FRA you can get 6 months of SS benefits retroactively. Hope this helps someone in clarifying how to look at retirement.
@@RootFPJames, maybe you should make a video about how to handle RMD’s during a bear market, with various strategies/options for those who can’t do Roth conversions for different reasons.
What about an 8th option. Begin taking out higher amounts from IRA when you can to preserve brokerage account that can be passed to heirs without 10;year withdrawal rule. Lower IRA balance early in retirement will lessen amount of RMD then switch over to brokerage withdrawals when you need to.
Love your channel James. How can someone start doing the Roth conversions when they are at an early retirement age without affecting the ACA premiums they are benefiting by. In other words while doing the conversions will it not cause them to increase the cost of health insurance
Great video. I really think I’ll do some Roth conversions from my traditional 457 plans, and the leave the rest of my 457 to charity through QCDs, assuming I don’t need it. One question I have is that if you’re still working when you reach RMD age, you do not need to take the RMD. Is there a lower limit on that earned income to exempt you from RMDs?
There are a couple of other methods to help reduce RMD’s, especially from a 401K plan that contains company stock. The retiree can execute an NUA on some or all of the company stock, paying taxes on the cost basis and taking the stock in-kind which would be subject to lower capital gains taxes. The entire 401K would have to be rolled-over during the same year. The cost basis can also count towards the RMD if the NUA is timed when the owner must take the first RMD. Reducing the value of the roll-over through an NUA can significantly reduce RMD’s as RMD’s do not apply to the stock taken in-kind, but beneficiaries of in-kind will not enjoy a step-up.
I don’t see how the QCD helps. If you use the QCD in your example, you save $3,750 on taxes. However, you now lose the $15,000 charitable contribution deduction, right? And at the 25% tax rate, that would also be $3,750 so it seems to me that the net result is the same. You either save the $3,750 on the RMD withdrawal or you save it later as an itemized deduction.
Love the content! Considering RMDs through the lens of deciding between Roth and traditional 401(k) contributions, what would you recommend in a scenario where your RMDs alone would put you in a similar or higher tax bracket as when you are making contributions? I would think this would favor going with the Roth 401(k). Of course this would require a large enough retirement account balance. Additionally, the amount you would need to convert in order to lower your account balance enough by RMD age would put you in as high or higher of a tax bracket because it’s recognized as income. Not to mention that in this scenario your account would likely be growing by more than the amount you are converting. Again, assuming you plan to have a very large retirement account balance
If have worked for multiple employers. If I rolled over 401k retirement fund from a prior employer into a personally directed IRA, but now have a new employer with whom I have a new 401k, can i roll over my traditional IRA funds into the new employer's 401k, so that if I continue working beyond age 73, I can delay my RMDs? Or am I stuck with the traditional IRA with no way to roll it over to my new employer's 401k plan. LOVE ALL YOUR VIDEOS. Keep up the great work. Some of the best and clearest explanations on youtube.
I would just leave it in the IRA. If you have a good broker like Fidelity, Vanguard or Charles Schwab you have great expense ratios and it's probably easier to do Roth conversions.
James.... I just found your video and gave me a lot of great explanations. I subscribed to your channel and hope to learn a lot more. You make it very simple to follow. I am getting closer to 73 and working part time now. I have a traditional IRA and Roth IRA. I would like to know , if I take the money out from traditional IRA and Roth , when I turn 73 does the Roth IRA is also part of the RMD? Thanks in advance.
Delaying SSA to give yourself more time to do a Roth conversion is an interesting concept. For USG employees, we can retire at 50 and get a supplement until age 62 which is combined with our pension. If we delay taking SSA until age 65, our income will drop between ages 62 (when our supplement ends) and age 65 (when we start SSA) so we could do Roth conversions then. We could also take the decade between retiring and drawing on our TSP (ages 50 to 59.5) to do Roth conversions. But if we do that, we'd have to afford the tax bill as we only collect our pension and supplement during those 9.5 years.
Excellent points and presentation! I seem to have done everything that you have suggested. Currently I am taking RMDs. My "good" problem is that I have a significant portion of my IRA in Tesla stocks which could go up 10X (if you believe the "experts") in the next 5 yeras. If this happens then my RMDs will skyrocket putting me in the top tax bracket and also raise our SS Part B premiums in the highest bracket. Is there anything that can be done to mitigate this issue? Should I sell Tesla stocks and buy a lower growth stock/bond fund?
I am going to take a chance on running out of my money...instead of dying and leaving it all to vultures. I know many people who never collected a single SS payment or took a single RMD withdrawal. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone. Live for today...
This can be complicated. I am retiring very soon, with a small pension and survivor's benefit - switching to my own SS down the road. I worked hard to pay off the mortgage and other debt. I'll have just enough of a pension that my SS starts being taxable. The combination will be enough for needs and most wants. But not so much that I won't need to think about "wants". I'll want to spend down some of that savings on some extra travel. One day, hopefully at least a dozen years down the road, I'll need to replace my old reliable car. Just like everyone else, I'm hoping that there's no huge emergency or crisis that consumes what I was able to put away. If it does, I'll try to be thankful that I had it. But that pension gives me no wiggle room for converting "a little bit" without taxing my SS too. So, I'm planning on taking the convert it all option my first or second full year in retirement. Not "ALL" all... I'll leave enough for tax free charitable contributions when the RMDs hit. One more big tax year, rather than getting chewed up by the SS tax torpedo year after year.
Great stuff thank you. One question- I know there is a way to convert a 401k so that it can be used to start a business- do you still have to take the RMDs if you have done this? For example- I use money in my 401k to build/buy some apartments. When I turn 73 would I be forced to sell/convert those apartments in part to do a RMD?
Would you favor placing a dividend portfolio in your traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or brokerage account during retirement years with the goal of using all of the dividends it produces each year?
Dividends are taxed as regular income, so you don’t want it in your brokerage account. Generally you want your highest growth assets in Roth to maximize tax free growth and the more risk off assets, like bonds, are kept in the traditional. Since the brokerage gets taxed each year, you want tax-efficient investments like index funds that are primarily earning long term capital gains.
@@chemquests qualified dividends are taxed at a much lower rate than ordinary income, so dividend-paying stocks can be pretty tax efficient in a taxable account. I did some analyses on this and in my case, it was noticeably better to put the qualified dividends in a taxable account (even though paying 15% tax on them) and put things like bonds and REITs and BDCs and some preferred stocks (depending on composition of income) into an IRA.
Hi James, I have option to put into 401k Pre-Tax or 401k Roth, do you think I should put all into 401k Roth and pay more tax today. In exchange, I won't pay any tax for the growth on the roth account?
It depends on your current tax bracket. I advised my husband to choose 401K Roth because he was at a lower tax bracket. I’m glad he listened to me as now we have a combined 500K in Roth. But we still have a lot of conversions to do before RMD hits in 10 years.
James, minor point, but when you say $100k **per spouse** can be gifted out of one’s’ IRA, that’s a bit confusing. One cannot gift to charity $200k out of one IRA even if married; both spouses need to have worked and they both have to have separate IRAs, and then yes, then each one can gift $100k out of each IRA… hope this helps!
Does anyone know what the cost base is for NUA for 401K inheritance before 2019? Some say it’s the fair market value of the day the person died; some say it the purchasing price…
That was a very well thought out video. I'm a 1%er! No, I don't have $11.1M. I'm the 1% that intends to convert my entire IRA to a Roth IRA. I don't intend for my beneficiaries to pay taxes on their inheritance. They most likely will still be working at the time of my death, and any taxable inheritance would be taxed at their top bracket and possibly push them into an even higher tax bracket. They already make very good money, so I'm converting up to the top of the 24% tax bracket. Also, there is no state income tax where I live, but they live in greedy New York State. Growing up, I couldn't see how I could possibly be in a higher tax bracket in retirement, so I opted almost exclusively, to contributed to a traditional IRA. After three years of Roth Conversions, I still have three times as much in my traditional IRA than the Roth. Due to growth, dividends and intrest, it's hard to bring down the balance even after a conversion. I'm trying to make a point to those that are foregoing the Roth to gain a small tax advantage now.
I thought there was no inheritance tax unless the estate was over a certain amount. What is the tax that you were speaking of regarding leaving the estate to the heirs? I know some states do tax the estate but if you live in a state that doesn’t, what does this mean?
Just to confirm what others have said. When my RMD is what I can live on , life is good. When the returns on my account exceeds the RMD and the account grows, life is good. Remember, my children now only have TEN YEARS to take and pay taxes on what is left.
What do you recommend to do with the surplus RMD withdrawals, if they should happen? Just park them in a brokerage or savings account or in a Roth IRA?
@@sergiosantana4658 not directly, but you can use the RMD to pay the taxes on a conversion. It's much more efficient than paying taxes out of the conversion and will work to reduce all future RMDs.
no... ROTH is great for young people only. Put some money in and pay taxes at the same time. Let the money grow for 30-40 years and NEVER pay taxes again. It's like paying taxes on crop seeds but not on the crops you will grow for years.
Can you take your 401K RMDs and put them towards a Roth IRA? Not talking about a rollover, but just part of your RMD that you'd be taxed for. I know that a 401K distribution is taxable and considered income, but it's it "earned income"?
Charitable Trust. If your goal is to maximize the lifetime net proceeds from your IRA to your heirs, I suspect the charitable trust is not the way to do it. I suspect your heirs would get more proceeds during their lifetime by paying the taxes during the 10-year distribution phase. The charitable trust would make sense if you want to leave money to a charity and also leave some money to your heirs.
You have to take an RMD first then do a Rollover to a Roth with more $. However you need time for the Rollover to make the tax money back so at that point it's not a good idea.
“You were PLANNING to take $20,000 from your IRA, but your RMD is $200,000”? Say what? There is literally no one who has ever been in this situation. Well, maybe a modern-day Rip Van Winkle. There are more sensible examples.
I think that would be the case for someone that didn't take any distributions before RMDs and they had all their money in a regular 401k or IRA with a few million in those accounts.
Actually not that crazy or uncommon. I retired at 63 and found my 401k wasnt really that important. If I let it continue to compound until I was 70, it could get out of hand. So ramping up QCD’s is a great idea.
One of the important factors is determining how many years you are likely to face RMDs. For me, they don't start until I reach 75. Given that neither of my parents reached the age of 60, for how many years, if any, am I likely to need to worry about RMDs? It's a lot like the discussion of when to take Social Security, 62, 67 or 70? It really all depends on what assumptions you make. You won't know if you were right until after it's too late.
Can you let me know if insurance products like whole life or index universal life is a viable retirement account option? To me, both products seem too good to be true. Heck, who wouldn't want limited downside risks and tax free growth. I just watched a TH-cam video (th-cam.com/video/eMlpmn8QTbo/w-d-xo.html), stating that it's because financial advisor either don't fully know about their benefits or that they work for companies that don't encourage use due to paying a listing fee, etc. I don't think that can be true for financial advisors who take a wholistic approach such as Root Financial. As it was pointed out in the video, it makes sense for a particular/select group of people, but it's often push by other influencers who I'm guessing have an agenda (i.e. commission).
Taxes are unavoidable for the most part. Pay now (convert to ROTH) or pay later, your choice. Now if you want to donate all of your assets you can live in poverty and pay zero.
Will be happy to know I've changed the legacy for the children, and grand, leaving at least 5 million for them to live on the dividends, that way, i will not worry about them while in Heaven's realms.
Stating the IRS will “force” you to take an RMD is like saying the police “force” me stop at red lights. Congress makes the laws. The IRS is the enforcement agency of congress.
I don't buy that putting money into your Roth has much to do with whether you're paying RMD's or not. You have to pay taxes on the money before it goes to the Roth in any case. Once you're doing your RMD's, you have to withdraw the money and you have to pay taxes on it. Once that's done why not put it into your Roth there is zero cost to do so at that point. it is true that you should try to shift money to your Roth in years when your income is less so that the money you're putting into the Roth is after tax money in years where you pay less taxes.
Dumb. Don't forget you have to pay taxes on Roth conversions and you have wait 5 years before you can withdraw any gains on the Roth conversion. Best way to save money is to avoid using any financial planners. They have no skin in the game and play with YOUR money.
Based on your advice, I promptly notified my wife that it would be more beneficial to have a spouse 10 years younger. It did not go as planned. However it has indeed reduced my RMDs since the divorce awarded half of my IRA to her. Mission accomplished!??? 🤔 On a serious note, great content as always.
hahahahahahahaaaaa
😂
Too funny!
I could not stop laughing. Thanks for that.
You know, it is funny but I'm sorry. A lot of laughs here but it should be a warning. Marriage is a business contract and divorce is a lawsuit. The contract awards one party for breaking it. Not that a spouse who has stayed home and taken care of the family for years doesn't deserve the automatic half of the amount of their spouses retirement funds. However, it's usually coupled with child support, alimony, and paying her (and your own) legal bills while a father is forced to be responsible for a new set of bills establishing a new residence (his) while the mother and child must live to the SAME standard as before the divorce when there were NOT two households and usually get the family home and a car.
Add the fact that most fathers lose meaningful relationships with their children when the court forces them to be the standard 2 weekend per month visitors to them. Currently around 80% of women initiate divorce and automatic alimony begins at the 10 year mark. There are so many incentives for her to divorce it almost is silly not to at this point. It's a epidemic. Young men reading this. Be very very careful. Even if you think you found the one; people and circumstances change over a decade. You and your children will absolutely suffer at the hands of our current family court system.
I’ve spend the last few days watching retirement strategy videos and everyone speaks way too fast and doesn’t take the time to slow down and use illustration to help explain what they are teaching. You do an amazing job communicating and slowing it down for easy note taking and understanding. Thank you!!
You can slow down the playback of a TH-cam video. Stop the video with one tap. Click on the gear wheel displayed on the upper right corner of the screen. One of the options is playback speed. I usually select 75% of normal speed. Then, you can resume the video with one tap on the screen.
You can SLOW-down or SPEED -UP any ANY TH-cam video by going to the “wheel” on the page, click on that and either decrease the speed or decrease the speed..easy peasy
I just wish all these videos would keep their Written material tad bit longer on the screen to give us chance to read them, after all its not the young ones but over 60’s you are targeting so keep at our pace please 🙏🏽
James, you do a tremendous job of explaining very complex issues in a clear and concise manner. I really appreciate and enjoy your videos. Thank you for creating such excellent content!
You are very welcome
This is a great explanation. Wish I had heard it way before I turned 70 1/2 and had to start taking RMD’s. That was over a decade ago, and no one was talking about it much back then, so now my RMD is added on to my government pension income, and I am in a higher bracket and paying higher taxes on my pension as well as the RMD on both State and Federal returns. 😢
I wish I had done Roth conversions, but I didn’t know about them. I do use QCD’s, though. No more mailing personal checks to charities.
Yes! First, there was no such thing as Roth when I began investing. And, now, all that good planning to minimize taxes in retirement went out the window! Adding insult to injury, RMD’s jumped the Medicare “punishment” up. No way to win at this point.
Just remember: if you are complaining about having to take RMDs, you are in a great situation.
Likely true, but having the government force you to sell something you may not want to sell, so they can take part of it, does not mean I should not take advantage of ways to minimize their confiscation. Plus if you mess it up they will raise your medicare costs because they forced you to take the RMD. So you have to be aware of the rules.
Yes, that is why I was glad I never inherited a $5million dollar IRA. I would hate to have to give 35% of it to the government even if I never had to exert one ounce of energy and time to acquire it. Can beneficieries refuse to accept inheritances? If that is possible then they can just refuse the money and avoid paying the taxes. That seems like a good financial strategy.
Absolutely. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to make a great situation even better, right?
#4- keep working should be last resort if at all! As soon as you quit, you have RMDs so why bother???
@@pelekeososhio5627With a $5M IRA, a 3% RMD would be $150K income per year. The total Federal tax on that (single filers) is 19.6%.
By far the best and most comprehensive explanation of RMDs available out there. Very easy to understand and very well laid out. Great job James!
Wow! James, you made my day with the younger spouse revised RMD schedule. She's 19 years younger, this is REALLY helpful.
Glad that part was so helpful!
This strategy actually works better if the woman is the older of the two. Both financially and otherwise. Go find a cougar.
I'm all set with my planning. I wished YT was around 50 years ago when I first started. I did recommend this video to a couple that are in this time of their life.
My IRA is modest, but along with my RMD, I'm planning a Roth conversion too. I'm waiting until the end of the year when I will know my income, then do the Roth conversion. I switched to making Roth contributions in 1998. Somehow I got that one right.
Thank you for sharing the video 🙏🏼
Retire early and start taking distributions….This will lower your total amount in your account at age 73 to 75 when you have to take RMD’s plus you will get more healthy years to enjoy it. That’s a win win….
I advised my husband to take 401K Roth because he was at a lower tax bracket. I’m glad he listened to me as now we have a combined 500K in Roth. But he still has a lot of conversions to do before RMD hits in 10 years.
This was so well presented. Thank you. When I was young, I selected my 401 contributions to be pre-tax. I’m just learning of RMDs, and it’s late in the game but I’ve switched my contributions to post-tax.
Great video. I’ve decided to go find my self a woman that is 10 or more years younger than I am, mainly for the RMD benefits, and nothing else :)
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I love that you lead with living a quality of life in retirement and money is to have a fulfilling life. I only want to not outlive my money, have great experiences, and leave a little to my one child. My projections look very good, and I appreciate the giving to charity with RMD’s. That would be a blessing all around. As always, thank you for some more ideas and strategies.
Thank you, James. I have never thought about your points 6 & 7 and this changes my planning.
Don't forget, you can raise the cost of your Medicare if you do too much of a Roth Conversion. Me personally I watch the Tax Tables for IRMA and take the difference to know how much to Roll to Roth.
Is it smarter to do a Roth conversion than to withdraw the same amount as the standard deduction from your IRA/401K in retirement years before RMDs kick in?
Great content. Alas, I didn't use the window for Roth conversions between retirement and RMD age.
Also, RMD and Roth conversions hit your income line and could increase your IRMAA medicare payment.
XL z .xxz. ,🐏
I think a discussion of what happens to the inheritors of a regular IRA vs a Roth IRA.
Excellent video with very detailed easy to understand presentation.... Great job James... Just became a sub.... Be well...
I don't understand why it's 10 years for a modification of the joint life expectancy tables for RMD's. Should start at 6 years and younger. Also I think the default thinking should be to apply for SS benefits at 70. Then back off of that number for personal reasons like health, marital status, income needs and dependent children. Put enough away in your retirement accounts to get to 70 from 55. Don't forget to fund your HSA account. I did that in a round about way. I was going to collect SS at 62 but did some research and there are a number of benefits to delaying SS. Not the least of which is the favorable taxation of SS benefits and the reduction of RMD's at 73. I did the two bucket system putting enough cash in my laddered bonds and CD bucket to reach 66. When I reached 66 and my retirement accounts were larger at 66 than 62 and I was healthy I did a rinse and repeat to 70. Now my RMD's are manageable, my Roth has increased substantially. I can live on SS alone, but don't have to. Same with my wife when I pass. Also if you have a health issue that will affect your life expectancy after FRA you can get 6 months of SS benefits retroactively. Hope this helps someone in clarifying how to look at retirement.
I like that QCD idea!
Same!
@@RootFPJames, maybe you should make a video about how to handle RMD’s during a bear market, with various strategies/options for those who can’t do Roth conversions for different reasons.
Thank you very much for this helpful and interesting content! 😀
Glad it was helpful!
What about an 8th option. Begin taking out higher amounts from IRA when you can to preserve brokerage account that can be passed to heirs without 10;year withdrawal rule. Lower IRA balance early in retirement will lessen amount of RMD then switch over to brokerage withdrawals when you need to.
You need to address SORR (sequence of returns risk) when discussing RMD's
Love your channel James. How can someone start doing the Roth conversions when they are at an early retirement age without affecting the ACA premiums they are benefiting by.
In other words while doing the conversions will it not cause them to increase the cost of health insurance
Great video. I really think I’ll do some Roth conversions from my traditional 457 plans, and the leave the rest of my 457 to charity through QCDs, assuming I don’t need it.
One question I have is that if you’re still working when you reach RMD age, you do not need to take the RMD. Is there a lower limit on that earned income to exempt you from RMDs?
There are a couple of other methods to help reduce RMD’s, especially from a 401K plan that contains company stock. The retiree can execute an NUA on some or all of the company stock, paying taxes on the cost basis and taking the stock in-kind which would be subject to lower capital gains taxes. The entire 401K would have to be rolled-over during the same year. The cost basis can also count towards the RMD if the NUA is timed when the owner must take the first RMD. Reducing the value of the roll-over through an NUA can significantly reduce RMD’s as RMD’s do not apply to the stock taken in-kind, but beneficiaries of in-kind will not enjoy a step-up.
Very helpful
I don’t see how the QCD helps. If you use the QCD in your example, you save $3,750 on taxes. However, you now lose the $15,000 charitable contribution deduction, right? And at the 25% tax rate, that would also be $3,750 so it seems to me that the net result is the same. You either save the $3,750 on the RMD withdrawal or you save it later as an itemized deduction.
Well done! Great food for thought
Thanks for this pertinent and informative information.
Glad it was helpful!
Love the content! Considering RMDs through the lens of deciding between Roth and traditional 401(k) contributions, what would you recommend in a scenario where your RMDs alone would put you in a similar or higher tax bracket as when you are making contributions? I would think this would favor going with the Roth 401(k). Of course this would require a large enough retirement account balance. Additionally, the amount you would need to convert in order to lower your account balance enough by RMD age would put you in as high or higher of a tax bracket because it’s recognized as income. Not to mention that in this scenario your account would likely be growing by more than the amount you are converting. Again, assuming you plan to have a very large retirement account balance
As per the usual, another excellent video James! But I'm curious... Why did you choose not to mention QLACs?
If have worked for multiple employers. If I rolled over 401k retirement fund from a prior employer into a personally directed IRA, but now have a new employer with whom I have a new 401k, can i roll over my traditional IRA funds into the new employer's 401k, so that if I continue working beyond age 73, I can delay my RMDs? Or am I stuck with the traditional IRA with no way to roll it over to my new employer's 401k plan. LOVE ALL YOUR VIDEOS. Keep up the great work. Some of the best and clearest explanations on youtube.
401(k) plans typically allow employees to roll their traditional IRA into their current 401(k). Ask or look at plan documents.
I would just leave it in the IRA. If you have a good broker like Fidelity, Vanguard or Charles Schwab you have great expense ratios and it's probably easier to do Roth conversions.
I love your channel
Thanks for your support!
James.... I just found your video and gave me a lot of great explanations. I subscribed to your channel and hope to learn a lot more. You make it very simple to follow. I am getting closer to 73 and working part time now. I have a traditional IRA and Roth IRA. I would like to know , if I take the money out from traditional IRA and Roth , when I turn 73 does the Roth IRA is also part of the RMD? Thanks in advance.
Great advice but too late for me. Stuck with RMDs and higher tax bracket. Should have converted to Roth before age 70 😟
Maestro! What a fantastic video.
Thank you kindly!
Delaying SSA to give yourself more time to do a Roth conversion is an interesting concept. For USG employees, we can retire at 50 and get a supplement until age 62 which is combined with our pension. If we delay taking SSA until age 65, our income will drop between ages 62 (when our supplement ends) and age 65 (when we start SSA) so we could do Roth conversions then. We could also take the decade between retiring and drawing on our TSP (ages 50 to 59.5) to do Roth conversions. But if we do that, we'd have to afford the tax bill as we only collect our pension and supplement during those 9.5 years.
Very good video. Thanks for making it.
I'm 76 and am getting ss and rmd's and the tax bill is a shocker to me...any way at this stage I can pay less in taxes?
Excellent points and presentation! I seem to have done everything that you have suggested. Currently I am taking RMDs.
My "good" problem is that I have a significant portion of my IRA in Tesla stocks which could go up 10X (if you believe the "experts") in the next 5 yeras. If this happens then my RMDs will skyrocket putting me in the top tax bracket and also raise our SS Part B premiums in the highest bracket. Is there anything that can be done to mitigate this issue? Should I sell Tesla stocks and buy a lower growth stock/bond fund?
I am going to take a chance on running out of my money...instead of dying and leaving it all to vultures.
I know many people who never collected a single SS payment or took a single RMD withdrawal.
Tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone. Live for today...
This can be complicated. I am retiring very soon, with a small pension and survivor's benefit - switching to my own SS down the road. I worked hard to pay off the mortgage and other debt. I'll have just enough of a pension that my SS starts being taxable. The combination will be enough for needs and most wants. But not so much that I won't need to think about "wants".
I'll want to spend down some of that savings on some extra travel. One day, hopefully at least a dozen years down the road, I'll need to replace my old reliable car. Just like everyone else, I'm hoping that there's no huge emergency or crisis that consumes what I was able to put away. If it does, I'll try to be thankful that I had it.
But that pension gives me no wiggle room for converting "a little bit" without taxing my SS too. So, I'm planning on taking the convert it all option my first or second full year in retirement. Not "ALL" all... I'll leave enough for tax free charitable contributions when the RMDs hit. One more big tax year, rather than getting chewed up by the SS tax torpedo year after year.
Great stuff thank you. One question- I know there is a way to convert a 401k so that it can be used to start a business- do you still have to take the RMDs if you have done this? For example- I use money in my 401k to build/buy some apartments. When I turn 73 would I be forced to sell/convert those apartments in part to do a RMD?
Would you favor placing a dividend portfolio in your traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or brokerage account during retirement years with the goal of using all of the dividends it produces each year?
Dividends are taxed as regular income, so you don’t want it in your brokerage account. Generally you want your highest growth assets in Roth to maximize tax free growth and the more risk off assets, like bonds, are kept in the traditional. Since the brokerage gets taxed each year, you want tax-efficient investments like index funds that are primarily earning long term capital gains.
@@chemquests qualified dividends are taxed at a much lower rate than ordinary income, so dividend-paying stocks can be pretty tax efficient in a taxable account. I did some analyses on this and in my case, it was noticeably better to put the qualified dividends in a taxable account (even though paying 15% tax on them) and put things like bonds and REITs and BDCs and some preferred stocks (depending on composition of income) into an IRA.
Hi James, I have option to put into 401k Pre-Tax or 401k Roth, do you think I should put all into 401k Roth and pay more tax today. In exchange, I won't pay any tax for the growth on the roth account?
It depends on your current tax bracket. I advised my husband to choose 401K Roth because he was at a lower tax bracket. I’m glad he listened to me as now we have a combined 500K in Roth. But we still have a lot of conversions to do before RMD hits in 10 years.
At 78 year's old is a Roth a Advantage if you are worth millilns?
Yes
What about a Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC) to reduce RMDs?
Is there a coupon code for the academy tool
The 10-year rule is in effect for those passed away after December 21, 2019! Not mentioning the nuance sent to to a search storm …
This is great info for those who are under 75. Can this benefit those over 78?
James, minor point, but when you say $100k **per spouse** can be gifted out of one’s’ IRA, that’s a bit confusing. One cannot gift to charity $200k out of one IRA even if married; both spouses need to have worked and they both have to have separate IRAs, and then yes, then each one can gift $100k out of each IRA… hope this helps!
James, is it better to do a DAF with Roth conversions before 70.5, or a QCD afterward; since qcd's are age limited?
What is the best time of year to take your yearly 401k withdrawal. Is it better to take early in year or later in year ??
Usually it makes sense to take it when you need it
Does anyone know what the cost base is for NUA for 401K inheritance before 2019? Some say it’s the fair market value of the day the person died; some say it the purchasing price…
Why is that a strategy to give your money away? What's the purpose of even saving it?
The charity idea works only on IRAs but not on 401k's
What about Qualified Life Insurance Contracts?
Minor point: Switch the way you use your hands. Higher hand (earlier time) on OUR left.
That was a very well thought out video. I'm a 1%er! No, I don't have $11.1M. I'm the 1% that intends to convert my entire IRA to a Roth IRA. I don't intend for my beneficiaries to pay taxes on their inheritance. They most likely will still be working at the time of my death, and any taxable inheritance would be taxed at their top bracket and possibly push them into an even higher tax bracket. They already make very good money, so I'm converting up to the top of the 24% tax bracket. Also, there is no state income tax where I live, but they live in greedy New York State.
Growing up, I couldn't see how I could possibly be in a higher tax bracket in retirement, so I opted almost exclusively, to contributed to a traditional IRA. After three years of Roth Conversions, I still have three times as much in my traditional IRA than the Roth. Due to growth, dividends and intrest, it's hard to bring down the balance even after a conversion. I'm trying to make a point to those that are foregoing the Roth to gain a small tax advantage now.
I thought there was no inheritance tax unless the estate was over a certain amount. What is the tax that you were speaking of regarding leaving the estate to the heirs? I know some states do tax the estate but if you live in a state that doesn’t, what does this mean?
I wondered the same.
income taxes paid by the beneficiary on the distributions from the inherited IRA.
Just to confirm what others have said. When my RMD is what I can live on , life is good. When the returns on my account exceeds the RMD and the account grows, life is good. Remember, my children now only have TEN YEARS to take and pay taxes on what is left.
I'm 76 ....can I do a Roth conversion?
What about a QLAC?
What do you recommend to do with the surplus RMD withdrawals, if they should happen? Just park them in a brokerage or savings account or in a Roth IRA?
Depends on your plan. Sometimes it’s best to spend it though!
Uncle Sam does not allow you to take a RMD and contribute it into a Roth account.
@@sergiosantana4658 not directly, but you can use the RMD to pay the taxes on a conversion. It's much more efficient than paying taxes out of the conversion and will work to reduce all future RMDs.
I think you can't contribute to a Roth unless you have earned income that year.
I’m required to start my RMD this year. Would a Roth conversion be beneficial to me now?
no...
ROTH is great for young people only. Put some money in and pay taxes at the same time. Let the money grow for 30-40 years and NEVER pay taxes again.
It's like paying taxes on crop seeds but not on the crops you will grow for years.
Can you take your 401K RMDs and put them towards a Roth IRA? Not talking about a rollover, but just part of your RMD that you'd be taxed for. I know that a 401K distribution is taxable and considered income, but it's it "earned income"?
You can only have a Roth IRA (or any kind of IRA/retirement fund) if you have earned income: aka a job.
Excellent
Thank you
Charitable Trust. If your goal is to maximize the lifetime net proceeds from your IRA to your heirs, I suspect the charitable trust is not the way to do it. I suspect your heirs would get more proceeds during their lifetime by paying the taxes during the 10-year distribution phase. The charitable trust would make sense if you want to leave money to a charity and also leave some money to your heirs.
If you don’t need your minimum distribution can you take it into your Roth account?
You have to take an RMD first then do a Rollover to a Roth with more $. However you need time for the Rollover to make the tax money back so at that point it's not a good idea.
This is complicated, but stuff I never knew until I hit 70 1/2.
“You were PLANNING to take $20,000 from your IRA, but your RMD is $200,000”? Say what? There is literally no one who has ever been in this situation. Well, maybe a modern-day Rip Van Winkle. There are more sensible examples.
I think that would be the case for someone that didn't take any distributions before RMDs and they had all their money in a regular 401k or IRA with a few million in those accounts.
Actually not that crazy or uncommon. I retired at 63 and found my 401k wasnt really that important. If I let it continue to compound until I was 70, it could get out of hand. So ramping up QCD’s is a great idea.
Roth conversion will not avoid paying tax. Any money you move out of IRA to Roth IRA will be taxed.
When you put money in a Roth, most of it is locked up for five years….
One of the important factors is determining how many years you are likely to face RMDs. For me, they don't start until I reach 75. Given that neither of my parents reached the age of 60, for how many years, if any, am I likely to need to worry about RMDs?
It's a lot like the discussion of when to take Social Security, 62, 67 or 70? It really all depends on what assumptions you make. You won't know if you were right until after it's too late.
Can you let me know if insurance products like whole life or index universal life is a viable retirement account option? To me, both products seem too good to be true. Heck, who wouldn't want limited downside risks and tax free growth. I just watched a TH-cam video (th-cam.com/video/eMlpmn8QTbo/w-d-xo.html), stating that it's because financial advisor either don't fully know about their benefits or that they work for companies that don't encourage use due to paying a listing fee, etc. I don't think that can be true for financial advisors who take a wholistic approach such as Root Financial. As it was pointed out in the video, it makes sense for a particular/select group of people, but it's often push by other influencers who I'm guessing have an agenda (i.e. commission).
Consider researching what Dave Ramsey has to say on this.
Method 8) Reduce the balance of your IRA at age 73 by spending more of it in your early go-go years.
Taxes are unavoidable for the most part. Pay now (convert to ROTH) or pay later, your choice. Now if you want to donate all of your assets you can live in poverty and pay zero.
All of this is way over my head😅
The 8th way is to use tax-deferred money to buy a QLAC.
What qualities you as a financial advisor?
If I get a second wife who is much younger, can I then use the joint table? 😂
Step 3 gets washed out at tax time anyways it just cuts out the Middle Man
Don't forget QLACs
Will be happy to know I've changed the legacy for the children, and grand, leaving at least 5 million for them to live on the dividends, that way, i will not worry about them while in Heaven's realms.
Stating the IRS will “force” you to take an RMD is like saying the police “force” me stop at red lights. Congress makes the laws. The IRS is the enforcement agency of congress.
You love IRS 😅😂 The rest of us don’t. 😢
They literally rob our hard earned money 💰 😢😢😢😢
ANYWAY [ NOT;ANYWAYS]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't buy that putting money into your Roth has much to do with whether you're paying RMD's or not. You have to pay taxes on the money before it goes to the Roth in any case. Once you're doing your RMD's, you have to withdraw the money and you have to pay taxes on it. Once that's done why not put it into your Roth there is zero cost to do so at that point.
it is true that you should try to shift money to your Roth in years when your income is less so that the money you're putting into the Roth is after tax money in years where you pay less taxes.
Can't put t-IRA RMD into your Roth IRA.
Young man, you have some big pipes hanging off of those shoulders.
Take out enough to keep your taxes below 12%.
Oops! :-)
Who only takes 20K
Dumb. Don't forget you have to pay taxes on Roth conversions and you have wait 5 years before you can withdraw any gains on the Roth conversion. Best way to save money is to avoid using any financial planners. They have no skin in the game and play with YOUR money.
DO EARLIER IRA DISTRIBUTIONS (LIKE IF TAKE AT AGE 69) COUNT TOWARDS YOUR REQUIRED RMD AT AGE 73? THANKS FOR THE VIDEO
It would lower the total balance available at 73. 🤔