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Women are more likely to work in part-time jobs that don’t qualify for a retirement plan

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:04:47 +0000

Because women are more likely than men to interrupt their careers to start a family and to take care of aging family members, they are often more likely to work in part-time jobs. As a result, these part-time jobs don’t qualify for a retirement plan. Thus many women work fewer years and contribute less towards their employer sponsored retirement plans such as 401K.

Regardless the working status, women need to plan ahead. Even if you’re a stay-at-home mom, you can contribute to an IRA. The limit now is $5,000 a year. If you work full time and qualify, join a retirement plan now. The earlier you start, the less you will have to contribute. Waiting until children are off college or your 50s is not a good plan in retirement planning.

Retirement planning sounds so far ahead, but you need to start as soon as possible

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:45:26 +0000

For most people, retirement seems so far ahead. Every few women start thinking about their retirement planning until children are out of the house. Mostly in their late 40s and 50s. But keep one thing in mind, the earlier you start, the easier it is. It’s a simple number game. The longer you save and invest, the less you have save every month. Because you have all the years for growth and compounding.

Retirement planning should start early and continue throughout your lifetime. Here are four reasons why saving matters to women – and especially to you!

Women are more likely to work in part-time jobs that don’t qualify for a retirement plan. And working women are more likely than men to interrupt their careers to take care of family members. Therefore, they work fewer years and contribute less toward their retirement, resulting in lower lifetime savings.
Of the 62 million wage and salaried women (age 21 to 64) working in the United States, just 45 percent participated in a retirement plan. Remember, even small amounts can earn interest and add up over time.
On average, a female retiring at age 65 can expect to live another 19 years, 3 years longer than a man retiring at the same age. Savings can increase a woman’s chances of having enough money to last during her retirement.
By and large, women invest more conservatively than men. Choose carefully where you put your money and learn how to make your investments grow.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

What to do if you are a caregiver?

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:54:24 +0000

If you are caring for an elderly or disabled relative who needs help managing their monthly Social Security or SSI benefits, you can apply to be representative payee. Social Security will conduct a careful investigation to determine if you meet the requirements.

You can use the person’s benefits on his or her behalf. Therefore, you must know what your relative’s needs are so you can decide how benefits can best be used for his or her personal care and well-being. First, you must make sure that food and shelter are provided. Then, you can use the money to pay medical and dental bills not covered by health insurance and for personal needs and recreation.

Source: SSA Publication No. 05-10127

Every women should have an IRA or Roth IRA

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:34:11 +0000

Every women should always have an IRA or Roth IRA, even if they are a stay-at-home mom. If a divorce was to happen to a women, her separate retirement fund would still be intact and will come in handy when she reaches the age of 65.

She should invest in mostly stocks when she is younger and slowly put it in more conservative things as she grows older such as bonds. If a women has children she should put more money in a retirement fund such as an IRA than a college savings account until the IRA is fully funded. College can be funded with things like scholarships and student loans, but retirement must come from a woman’s own pocket.

If the workplace has a retirement fund that can be matched, this is not to be passed up. The match is essentially free money that the company is giving her. Fund the retirement fund up until the match, then place the rest of money that is going towards retirement into an after-tax fund.

Roth on Roids For IRA – Retirement Plan Investing – CPA Or Lawyer Viewpoint

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:46:53 +0000

By Rocco Beatrice

With a Roth IRA on Roids, you could contribute $5,000, $20,000, $50,000 and $100,000 depending on how much money you have and how much you want to contribute and when you want to begin to withdraw your money.

It is powerful wealth building tool. When I heard about this from Roccy DeFrancesco, I was completely overwhelmed because I spent my lifetime looking for tax-advantaged products that are safe, legal, that you can use, with very little risk. You are not going to get this from your lawyer or your accountant. Your lawyer’s stock-in-trade answer is “possibly, maybe or I’ll look into it.” And even if he knows he’s not going to tell you because, traditionally, he works on both sides of the fence.

Your accountant and lawyer would typically not look to at any type of these products because he could become an IRS target. Whenever there is a criminal investigation, his papers would be the first thing they go after, summonses. I work with accountants and I teach them and this is their usual stance on the matter. I teach lawyers and accountants for credits. They’re generally intimidated. For the price of preparing your income tax return, they’re not going to look at these types of wealth-building tools. The wealth-building strategies of this investment retirement planning are completely legal. You do not have to hide your money. You do not have to go offshore. You do not have to provide a lot of documentation, and you do not have to report your requirements to the feds.

With a Roth IRA on Roids the following basic information would be required: your age; how much money you wish to deposit into your account; when you wish to withdraw from the account. Based on this information, a specific financial chart can be drawn for you.

To summarize the main benefits of this wealth-building tool: your money never goes backwards; you’ll be able to take your money out tax free; there is a guaranteed return. So let’s discuss how you can fund your account using other people’s money.

Roccy DeFrancesco’s wrote a book, “Home Equity Management.” The book is very well written. Roccy is a very meticulous guy and I have a lot of respect for him. The book describes how you can reposition your home equity. Let us look at your home equity for a moment. If you are in your home with a 95% mortgage, does your mortgage diminish the value’s home? The answer is, “No.” If your home is fully mortgaged it would not diminish the value. But, if you live in an area like California, with mud slides, or Florida with hurricanes and tornadoes and you own 100% of your home (i.e. not mortgaged) then whose problem would it be if your house slides down the hill or it goes under water? It would be your problem. On the other hand, if it’s heavily mortgaged, then it would not be your problem. It would be an insurance problem and it would be a mortgage company problem.

So what is the relation of your home equity with your Roth on Roids? If you leverage your home equity and reposition it to fund your IRA account then, effectively, your money is sitting in this account and in investment opportunities and it’s safe. Real estate is the only leverageable asset class. Everybody understands that you buy real estate with 5% down, 10% down, depending on how well financed you are. It’s the only leverage that is recommended, people accept, people understand, the banks do it. So by repositioning your home equity in order for you to fund your account, financially you are using other people’s money. And this could also be accomplished with commercial real estate. If you have equity in commercial real estate, refinancing it in order for you to reposition your assets definitely makes a lot of sense. At the end of the day, you still have the same assets. If you have equity in your home or commercial estate, that’s an asset. If you have equity in Roth on Roids, or other investment opportunities, together they are the same number. You’re just repositioning. You are relocating your assets. That’s all you’ve done.

Best IRA Rescue provides services on your Roth IRA, IRA investments & traditional IRA and will help you reduce your inherited and beneficiary independent retirement account taxes in your estate assets. Roth on ROID™ is your advanced Roth IRA retirement planning strategy. It is Cash Value Life Insurance and one of the best IRA tax-savings strategies with benefits of a guaranteed death benefit, guaranteed principal, tax-free growth, and tax-free distributions from policy loans. Traditional IRAs and ROTH IRAs cannot invest in life insurance. Please contact us if you have any questions. Rocco Beatrice, CPA, MST, MBA

Best IRA Rescue-Roth IRA Other article: What’s Better 401k Roth IRA?
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Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Self Directed IRA Account – The Best Retirement Plan For Business Savvy People

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:44:59 +0000

By Ricky Devel

It was in 1975, when an investment option was introduced and grouped in the lists of the individual retirement accounts, which is now commonly known as the Self directed IRA account. Many people who begin to study all the possible retirement investing selections, most of the time don’t take a good look on Self directed IRA accounts. But if you thoroughly examine the whole feature of this IRA, you may deem it as the best and the most effective retirement account for you especially if you prefer an account that provides you the right to take full control of your assets.

When you open a Self directed IRA account, you’ll be delighted to know about the wonderful opportunities it can give you as a contributor. As its name denotes it, you can build and establish all your investments through your direction and management. You can in real fact house your funds in assets that include real estate market, partnerships, franchises, mortgages and other kinds of investments.

If you are already decided that you want to invest your money in a particular business, the first thing that you should accomplish is to consult a custodian or an administrator, who will facilitate your paperwork needs and will buy the investments and assets that you want to take control of. Remember, that this doesn’t in any way reduce your power over your Self directed IRA because the management of your assets is ultimately your task.

One of the best investments for a Self directed IRA is the real estate market. You can also grab hold of the chance to lend funds in your retirement plan, so you can invest in some mortgages. Other types of assets that you can obtain through your Self directed account are franchises, companies and partnerships.

The other types of IRAs more often than not are not allowed to invest in industries that are high-risks; this somehow lessens the generation of high profits and gains. But when you have a Self directed IRA account, you can put your funds in non-conventional assets or high-risk businesses as long as they fall under the guidelines of the IRS.

There are numerous kinds of self directed IRA investment options that you can get hold of, especially if you have the comprehensive understanding on how you can run the business you chose to put your money in. Investing in high risks assets can be dangerous, though the gains and profits can be huge, particularly if the assets you’ve got perform very well in the market.

Many people are afraid to go for self directed account because they find it to be quite complex, but if you are a business savvy individual and you like taking risks then this may be the best individual retirement account for you. Another significant factor that you should have when you open this account is an all-inclusive and comprehensive business plan, so you can manage your investments well.

Always keep in mind that the success and profit generation of the Self directed IRA account relies on you solely. Learn the self directed investments basics before starting on any IRA or investment plan.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

What is Defined Benefit Plan?

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:49:06 +0000

This type of plan, also known as the traditional pension plan, promises the participant a specified monthly benefit at retirement. Often, the benefit is based on factors such as your salary, your age, and the number of years you worked for the employer.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

What is Cash Balance Plan?

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:48:11 +0000

A type of defined benefit plan that includes some elements that are similar to a defined contribution plan because the benefit amount is computed based on a formula using contribution and earning credits, and each participant has a hypothetical account. Cash balance plans are more likely than traditional defined benefit plans to make lump sum distributions.

What is 401(k) Plan?

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:47:31 +0000

In this type of defined contribution plan, the employee can make contributions from his or her paycheck before taxes are taken out. The contributions go into a 401(k) account, with the employee often choosing the investments based on options provided under the plan. In some plans, the employer also makes contributions, matching the employee’s contributions up to a certain percentage. SIMPLE and Safe Harbor 401(k) plans have additional employer contribution and vesting requirements.

Source: Department of Labor

Types Of Retirement Plans

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:46:37 +0000

The first step to understanding your retirement benefits is to find out what kind of retirement plan your employer has. There are two major types of plans, defined benefit and defined contribution. Keep in mind that your employer may have more than one type of plan, and may have different participation requirements for each.

A defined benefit plan, funded by the employer, promises you a specific monthly benefit at retirement. The plan may state this promised benefit as an exact dollar amount, such as $100 per month at retirement. Or, more often, it may calculate your benefit through a formula that includes factors such as your salary, your age, and the number of years you worked at the company. For example, your pension benefit might be equal to 1 percent of your average salary for the last 5 years of employment times your total years of service.

A defined contribution plan, on the other hand, does not promise you a specific benefit amount at retirement. Instead, you and/or your employer contribute money to your individual account in the plan. In many cases, you are responsible for choosing how these contributions are invested, and deciding how much to contribute from your paycheck through pretax deductions. Your employer may add to your account, in some cases by matching a certain percentage of your contributions. The value of your account depends on how much is contributed and how well the investments perform. At retirement, you receive the balance in your account, reflecting the contributions, investment gains or losses, and any fees charged against your account. The 401(k) plan is a popular type of defined contribution plan, and there are three types of 401(k) plans: traditional, SIMPLE 401(k), and Safe Harbor 401(k) plans. The SIMPLE-IRA plan, SEP, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), and profit-sharing plan are other examples of defined contribution plans.

Note

1. Employers can choose whether to offer a retirement plan to employees; Federal law does not require employers to offer or to continue to offer a plan.
2. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) guarantees payment of certain retirement benefits for participants in most private defined benefit plans if the plan is terminated without enough money to pay all of the promised benefits. The government does not guarantee benefit payments for defined contribution plans.
3. Some hybrid plans – such as cash balance plans – contain features of both types of plans described above. See the Glossary for information on this type of plan.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor