Retirement Resources

One of the key rules to bear in mind when rolling over money from a former employer's 401(k) into an IRA is the 60-day rule—that is, you have 60 days to complete the rollover. If you don't complete the rollover within that 60-day window and you're younger than 59 1/2, the amount will be treated as an early distribution and be subject to taxes and a 10% penalty. That's why it's a good idea to…

Accumulation is a key facet of reaching your retirement goals. However, we tend to see far less about portfolio drawdown, or decumulation—the logistics of managing a portfolio from which you're simultaneously extracting living expenses during retirement. This can be even more complicated than accumulating assets.

Pitfall: One of the big mistakes of retirement distribution can be not…

It's one of the most important—maybe even the most important question—in the fund world. It is possible for investors to reach their financial goals using either approach, or by blending the two. Using an all-index portfolio is generally a low-cost, low-maintenance way to go. On the other hand, investors can also buy and hold active funds; the key is doing their homework and having the…

Longevity is often cheered as an achievement, but the downside of living well beyond one's average life expectancy is that it can strain (or worse, completely deplete) an individual's financial resources. The first step in addressing longevity risk is to evaluate just how great the odds are that either you or your spouse will have a much longer-than-average life span. Health considerations,…

Outlining an investment plan can be challenging: Today, individuals are responsible for building their own retirement accounts. This is a dramatic change from the past generation, who relied heavily on defined-benefit pension plans, which guaranteed income for life following retirement. Investors are faced with the challenge of making decisions on how much to save each month, how to allocate…

Letting money sit tight in an old 401(k) plan is the path of least resistance, which is why many participants let their assets sit in the plans of former employers. This, of course, may be better than cashing the money out and spending it. Investors younger than 55 pay ordinary income taxes and a penalty on any premature distributions, which can diminish a 401(k) balance considerably. But…

Even if you're already convinced that saving in an IRA is a sensible thing to do, there's still a little bit of research to conduct. There are two main types of IRA accounts, and selecting the one that's best for you can be a daunting process. You can figure this out in relatively short order by following these three steps.

1) Know the Basics: Understanding the difference between the…

In 2014, the income limit for Roth contributions is $129,000 for single filers and $191,000 for married couples filing jointly. For high-income earners who earn too much to contribute to a Roth IRA directly, the only method of getting new assets into a Roth IRA is to go in through the backdoor, opening traditional nondeductible IRAs, then converting those accounts to Roth IRAs.…

Finding the right frequency for rebalancing is a personal decision that rests on a number of factors. Here's an overview of what to bear in mind.

Tax Status of Investments: Rebalancing involves peeling back on winners, which in turn could result in taxable capital gains if the sales occur within taxable accounts. Investors whose assets are mostly in taxable accounts may want to err on…

After two financial crises occurring almost back to back during the “lost decade,” investors have every right to be risk-averse, hesitant, angry, or distrustful. The problem with not investing at all, however, is that you may not have sufficient money to achieve your financial goals. An individual saving $100 per month, without investing, would have put away only $52,400 since 1970. By…