Jon. Timothy is spot on. Also look for someone who will offer full disclosure of all fees.
Hi Jon. You have come to the right place! The first thing you want to do is understand how and how much your advisor is being paid. Some get paid on commissions from the products they sell while others charge you a fee. Some do a combination of both. Fee advisors may charge you a percentage on assets that they manage for you (1% is a pretty good starting place) while others charge you by the hour or project. The advisors on this board are all fee only so you know what we think is best. Go to www.napfa.org and check out advisors in your area by visiting their web sites. When you see one who appears to meet your needs and budget, CALL and learn more and set up an appointment. A lot of advisors offer a no cost introductory meeting. If at the meeting, you like the advisor and trust him and are confident that he can do the job you need and you are comfortable with how and how much he charges, you found your advisor. At the NAPFA website, there is a questionnaire that you can use to help find the advisor who is right for you.
Hi Rose. It's your choice. If set up on your own you maintain control, and depending on your state (and if you are still working), you may get a tax benefit.
Hi Rose, yes you can contribute to your son's 529 account. In fact if the state allows for a income tax deduction, you would qualify for that too
Rose, you should be to contribute to 529 accounts that your children have set up if you stay under the $14,000 annual gifting limit per person. Now depending upon which State you are in will determine whether you will want to set up separate 529 plans for grandchildren to contribute to for State tax deductions.
Some 529s also allow for front-loading of the gifting limits, where you can do five years worth of the annual gift in one year.
Go to www.savingforcollege.com to learn more about specific state plans.
Ed,
Spouse may treat as his/her own,
or
Distribute over spouse’s life using Table I*
•Use spouse’s current age each year,
or
Distribute based on owner’s age using Table I
•Use owner’s age as of birthday in year of death
•Reduce beginning life expectancy by 1 for each subsequent year
•Can take owner’s RMD for year of death
Ed, when a spouse inherits an IRA, he or she may treat it as an inherited IRA or he or she may treat it as his or her own. In either event, her payments will be based on her life expectancy.
Jane, is your ex-husband living or deceased?
Jane,
Your remarriage after age 60 does not prevent you from being entitled to benefits on your prior deceased spouse's Social Security earnings record.
Yes, if he were still alive, I believe you would not be able to remarry and still collect on his record.
Hi Nicole. Yes, you can use part of the money to pay the taxes. In our experience, it is better to pay the taxes separately because more of your money in the IRA remains invested. It's hard to answer whether it is a bad idea, because we do not know the details. You should ask someone to do an analysis so you can make an informed decision.
If you are under age 59.5, the money you take out of the IRA to pay the taxes would be taxable and would generally have a 10% early withdrawal penalty as well. So it's probably not a good deal financially for you if that's the case.
You cannot collect on multiple spouses and that's a good thing! I believe you would be entitled to the highest benefit between the two.
If your spouse dies, you can get widow’s benefits if
you’re age 60 or older. If you’re disabled, you can get
widow’s benefits as early as age 50. Your benefit amount
will depend on your age and on the amount your deceased
spouse was entitled to at the time of death. If your spouse
was receiving reduced benefits, your survivor benefit will
be based on that amount.
If you’re a widow with children, you may be eligible for
a widow’s benefit at any age when you’re caring for a child
who is younger than 16, or who is disabled and entitled
to benefits. As a widow, you also may be eligible for
Medicare at age 65.
If you remarry before you reach age 60 (or age 50 if
disabled), you can’t receive widow’s benefits as long as
that marriage remains in effect. If you remarry after you
reach age 60 (or age 50 if disabled), you’ll continue to
receive benefits on your deceased spouse’s Social Security
record. However, if your current spouse is a Social Security
beneficiary, you should apply for a spouse’s benefit if it would
be larger than your widow’s benefit. You can’t get both.
If you’re also entitled to retirement benefits based on
your own work, you have other options. Ask a Social
Security representative to explain the options, so you can
decide which would be best for you.
Ken, only earned income counts against the earnings test.
Ken, two rules here. One is earned income test for possible reduction of benefits if collecting before your full retirement age. Inheritance would not impact this test. The second test is taxation of Social Security benefits due to modified adjusted gross income. If the inheritance includes distributions from IRAs or annuities this could increase your taxable income. Normally inheritance of other assets isn't included in taxable income for the inheritor.
Emily. He sure can if you can convince him to do so. He may contribute up to $5,500 or 100% of his earnings whichever is less.
Hi Emily. He can and if he can "afford to" he absolutely should. By afford, I mean can he still live comfortably while socking away a portion of his part-time pay to a Roth.
Emily if Son's cash flow allows starting Roth IRA contributions as soon as possible would be a good idea.
Emily, yes you can gift up to $14,000 per year per person.
Emily. Yes. He cannot, however, contribute more than he is earning.
Emily, He must have earned income in order to contribute to any IRA. If he has a part time job and he spends everything he makes, you can still "give" him money to contribute to a an IRA. David is right when he says you can gift up to $14,000 but don't confuse that with the contribution limitations on the IRA.
About enough to buy your own nursing home.. :) or over $2,000,000 of invested assets.
Hi, Jon. Here are a few things you want to look for when choosing an adviser:
This might be of interest, Rose:
Ed, She would have multiple options. Look at the upper left part of this IRS chart:
