By Ian Berger, JD IRA Analyst Question: Good Morning, We have a client that passed away in November of 2019 at the age of 85. Her beneficiaries would be required to take their RMD in 2020. Are they eligible under the CARES Act to forgo that RMD for this year? Thank...

By Ian Berger, JD IRA Analyst We continue to get questions about the limits that apply for folks who participate in multiple company savings plans at the same time or who switch jobs in the middle of the year. What’s confusing is that there are two limits – the...

By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF® IRA Analyst With Veterans Day being just last week, an overview of two military retirement benefits felt like an all-important and appropriate topic of discussion. One benefit pertains to a penalty exception for accessing retirement dollars...

By Sarah Brenner, JD Director of Retirement Education Question: Is there any problem with someone who is self-employed and has an active SEP making a deductible SEP contribution and an IRA QCD after age 70 1/2?  In this case, the QCD would come from the IRA while the...

By Sarah Brenner, JD Director of Retirement Education Both Roth 401(k)s and Roth IRAs offer the ability to make after-tax contributions now in exchange for tax-free earnings down the road if the rules are followed. However, there are some important differences between...

By Ian Berger, JD IRA Analyst Good news! You can look forward to somewhat smaller required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your IRA and company retirement savings plan beginning in 2022. That’s because, on November 6, the IRS released new life expectancy tables that...

By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF® IRA Analyst Question: Great work you all do. Been a reader of Ed for a long time. How would this scenario work? New client of mine's husband passed away in 2019 and he had not taken his RMD. The plan was to transfer the account to my firm and...

By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF® IRA Analyst When a person under the age of 59 ½ takes a withdrawal from their IRA or company plan - like a 401(k) – there is a 10% penalty. However, this penalty can be avoided if the withdrawal qualifies for an exception. Some exceptions...

By Sarah Brenner, JD Director of Retirement Education The year 2020 has been a challenging one. With coronavirus cases rising in most of the country and economic relief stalled in Congress, many individuals may be looking to find funds to pay urgent bills. One...

By Ian Berger, JD IRA Analyst Question: Our estate planning attorney prepared trust documents a few years ago and he advised us to name the trust as a beneficiary.  This was done after discussion with him regarding a situation in case our son(s) divorce their wives. ...