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Your Retirement Plan’s Beneficiary Form – The Most Important Form You Never Thought About
People get divorced and people die. Those are just facts of life. And after a divorce is finalized, folks need to put their new lives in order. Changes are made to the beneficiaries on their life insurance policies and wills get changed. New, separate bank...
Good News From The IRS (No, That’s Not A Typo)
Section 201 of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE – our government will do almost anything for an acronym) permits an employer to adopt a retirement plan after the close of the employer’s tax year. This provision applies to plans...
The Mega-Backdoor Roth Conversion Strategy – The Devil’s In The Details
In Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, an article appeared on a strategy known as the mega-backdoor Roth conversion. We all know that contributions to a Roth account are made with after-tax dollars and that the earnings grow on a tax free basis. The article referenced...
COVID-19 And Its Impact On Employees Who Have Been Laid Off And Their Vested Benefits From Their 401(k) Plans
Lost in the tumult of the last few weeks is a rather significant piece of pension legislation that was buried in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 that was signed into law on December 27, 2020. You know it more for its granting an extra $600 to Americans that...
COVID-19 AND ITS IMPACT ON DIVORCE & RETIREMENT PLANS
I have read various articles about the impact that the Pandemic is having on married couples and divorce. Some articles suggest that with couples forced to spend more time together, that they have decided to hit the pause button on moving forward with their divorce....
THE CLOCK IS TICKING…
Most of the deadlines for various forms of relief provided by the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act have passed. But not all. However, as we wait for this awful year to finally be over, there are deadlines looming wuth regards to utilizing...
COVID-19 vs. THE GREAT RECESSION of 2008-2009 – WHICH WAS WORSE?
Choosing which is worse, the COVID-19 pandemic or the Great Recession of 2008 is like being asked to choose between having a root canal or a colonoscopy. They are both awful but they are awful in different ways. In terms of retirement plans though, it is certainly...
WHERE’S MY DEDUCTION?
In the timeless children’s book Are You My Mother?, a baby bird goes in search of his mother. When a mother bird’s egg starts to jump, she hurries off to make sure she has something for her little one to eat. But as soon as she’s gone, out pops the baby bird. He...
DEMYSTIFYING HOW THE CARES ACT AND IRS HAVE CHANGED 2020 REQUIRED MINIMUM DISTRIBUTIONS (RMDs)
Congress often gets chided (and justifiably so) for moving at the speed of a glacier, but there are times when they do act with deliberate speed. The CARES Act was one of those times. They acted quickly to pass legislation that increased the size of loans that...
RETIREMENT – IS IT POSSIBLE IN A POST-COVID WORLD?
Tens of millions of Americans are out of work while the stock market’s wild swings are making you dizzy, and you wonder… what are the rules of retirement in this new world we now live in? Has there really been a shift in the tried and true rules to a secure...
DERAILED RETIREMENT STORIES – BAD PLANNING, BAD LUCK OR BOTH?
Every day, 10,000 Americans turn 65. Life spans are lengthening and the contingent medical bills that inevitably accompany old age rise as well. Half of American families in the 56 – 61 age bracket had less than $21,000 in retirement savings (based on a study by the...
3 Mistakes You May Be Making with Your Retirement Plan
With over 4 decades worth of retirement servicing experience, we have seen it all. Everything from unsigned plan documents to theft of an employee’s 401(k) plan. However, there are 3 common mistakes that are most consequential to your retirement plan. ...
Madison Pension Services is now known as Concierge Retirement Services.