Category: Retirement Solutions

It’s Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) season (or Minimum Required Distribution – MRD, same thing). Beginning the year an individual turns 70 ½ mandatory distributions from certain tax-deferred retirement accounts must begin.

Each year, the amount required to be distributed increases as a percentage of a retirement account’s balance. This percentage starts out small – about 3.5% of the account’s value – and increases to nearly 10% of the account value by age 92 (and continues to increase beyond that). You can find the full distribution table at the IRS website.

Saving for retirement ends up being a primary goal for many people during their working years. Worrying about when and if we can retire leads to many sleepless nights. Having an idea of how much you need, and whether you’re on track, can help alleviate some of these worries.

I’m sure most people who have made it to our website have a general understanding of the differences between a Traditional IRA and Roth IRA. With a Traditional IRA, you get a tax deduction in the year you make the contribution, then pay taxes when you withdraw the money.

In a Roth IRA, you do not get a deduction now, but instead take qualified withdrawals tax-free. Both types of accounts allow for tax-deferred growth.

Changing jobs or retiring is a very exciting time in anyone’s life. However, when leaving an employer, we leave behind more than just a boss and co-workers. For those of us that have spent at least a few years in a job, it’s common to have a decent balance in our 401(k), 403(b), SEP account, or whatever retirement plan your employer had set up (to make things easy, I will just refer to everything as a 401(k) or retirement plan in this article).