Category: Roth IRA

  • 2010 Roth IRA Contribution Limits

    With a new year comes a new limit for contributions, however 2010 will have the same contribution limits as 2009. For 2010, the contribution limit for Roth IRAs will be $5,000 for Age 49 and Below; $6,000 for Age 50 and Above (to reflect the “catch-up” amount). If you are getting a jump on 2010…

  • Income Limits on Roth IRA Conversions Set to End

    Currently if you earn over $100,000 you are not eligible to convert your Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 abolished the income limit and the change will take effect as of Jan. 1,2010. The government has also included a one-time option to spread your tax payment…

  • Transferring Roth IRA Accounts

    Thinking about transferring your Roth IRA from one brokerage to another? The easiest way to do this is to make a direct brokerage to brokerage transfer. If you simply withdraw your funds, you have the added burden of having to report the non-taxable distribution on your tax return and then show that you’ve contributed the…

  • Roth IRA: No Required Minimum Distribution

    If you have a Traditional IRA or 401(k), you are required by tax rule to start taking required minimum distributions (most of the major brokerages have tools to help you manage this) by April 1st of the year after you turn 70 1/2. One of lesser known benefits of a Roth IRA is that there…

  • Tax Underpayment Penalty on Roth IRA Conversions

    If you’re considering converting your Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, remember that you will need to pay taxes on the conversion amount and you may be subject to an underpayment penalty because of it (if you fail to file estimated tax payments). The federal tax law regarding underpayment is straightforward. If you pay more…

  • Warning About Snowflaking into Roth IRAs

    Snowflaking, or micropayments, is a clever idea but when it comes to paying off debt but when you are talking about contributing towards retirement, you have to keep several things in mind. First, the rules of a Roth IRA, which will be easiest to snowflake into, state that you are only permitted to contribute earned…

  • Snowflaking Your Way To Retirement

    Snowflaking is a play on words off Dave Ramsey’s Snowball psychologically-driven debt busting technique and it refers to putting small amounts towards your debt, snowflakes, to help eradicate debt. One of the ideas of snowflaking is that you can find small alternative sources of income and then push it towards your debt but you could…

  • Roth IRA Contributions from Social Security

    If you’re retired and drawing payments from Social Security, you may be wondering if you could use those payments as contributions to a Roth or Traditional IRA. Unfortunately, Social Security is not considered earned income so it’s not counted towards what you’re allowed to contribute towards an IRA. Earned income is anything that is reported…

  • How To Become A Millionaire: Retirement Is Key

    On my mainstream personal finance blog, Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, I penned an article today called How To Become A Millionaire (In 6 Easy Steps!) that begins with a two steps focused solely on retirement. For the retirement saving savvy out there, these two steps are obvious and a staple of retirement planning. Step 1…