Author Archives: Megan Russell

The key to getting the waiver though is showing that “you are taking reasonable steps to remedy the shortfall.”

Although legally fine, this strategy often causes you to accidentally increase your spending every year and decrease your savings. Don’t let the IRS rules about IRA withdrawals tempt you into spending money you had planned to save.

Some people don’t stop at distributing just the required minimum. They think, “Well, while I’m at it, I may as well pull out a little bit more so we can fully cover the kitchen remodel…”

The legal answer to this question is: there is no limit. The practical answer is: it depends on a number of things.

Under the “last-month rule,” you can contribute the full amount even after a partial year assuming you meet the “testing period.”

There are at least five reasons to hold cash. Without a good reason to hold cash, you may be holding too much.

A Roth recharacterization is a true undo; it is as though you never converted those assets in the eyes of the IRS. This includes recalculating your RMD had you not converted the assets.

A simple summary of how to meet your Required Minimum Distribution in the same year as you perform a Roth Conversion is the axiom: RMD dollars must come out first.

Purchasing investment products in isolation from the larger context of your specific situation is like pushing random buttons on a vending machine in order to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for your family.

There is an obscure tax rule that allows a one-time Traditional IRA-to-HSA conversion called a Qualified HSA Funding Distribution (QHFD).

REITs are one way to get some of the benefit of investing in real estate without as much of the risk.

Facebook added the “Legacy Contact” feature that allows you to designate a Facebook Friend of yours who you would like to gain access to your Facebook page after you have passed away.

SEP plans offer a powerful way to provide for your own retirement in the same way that 401ks do.

Life planning begins as thoughts and ultimately shapes our entire destiny.

The Virginia State Bar has even made a few variations of a simplified Advanced Directive free to the public on their website.

This style of Power of Attorney certainly gets the job done, but there are a few ways that the cookie-cutter POA most frequently fails to meet people’s wishes.

While your student loans may be a daunting sum, it is still possible to build wealth even while paying off student debt.

Most investors think that whenever you buy or sell a security the money is immediately deducted or deposited into your account. This is not true.

Too much leverage is risky because it endangers meeting your goals.

We don’t normally recommend being on margin, but we recommend having the option in case it is needed.

Most people are unaware that giving a gift can be a taxable event because they themselves have not yet experienced the tax.

Any legislation which can include FINRA’s commission-based advisors will dilute what it means to be a fiduciary.

Wash sale rules need to be followed when realizing capital losses for taxes but can be burdensome to track and monitor.

Even the most brilliantly crafted investment plan has to be given time to work.

This is a summary of the six steps required to create a well-crafted investment plan.

This Schwab checking account provides six impressive services not true for most local banks.

Index investing seeks to track the return of a portion of the market. The opposite is active management.

An HSA is one of many accounts used in comprehensive wealth management for tax optimization and planning.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is notorious for misunderstanding the recharacterizations of Roth conversions.

The University of Virginia plan includes funds sufficient to produce these excellent portfolios.

QCDs allow individuals age 70 1/2 or older to give directly to a charity from your IRA without counting the distribution as taxable income.

Here is a review of Marotta’s 2015 Vanguard Gone-Fishing Portfolio and a description of our changes for 2016.

The gone-fishing portfolio provides suggested asset allocations for investors up to age 70 and up to $1 million.

Adding a little bit of Chile to your portfolio can boost returns and reduce volatility.

These are just some examples of the creative beneficiary designations, but the important part is to dream big about what your wishes are.

We’ve written about how to select securities but in this article we are going to apply those principles to the process of selecting a specific fund for a specific sector of the economy.

Here is a simple way to think about commercial property.

For children with lower incomes, there is an opportunity to give them appreciated stock to shift the capital gains to a lower tax bracket.

The kiddie tax was first added to the tax code in 1986 for children under age 14. Now, it can burden them until they are 23.

Financial Christmas gifts don’t need to be a piggy bank. They can be more serious and more meaningful than that.

Will substitutes sacrifice some of the customization of trusts but avoid the accounting complexities.

I encourage you to read the books and watch the film.

After you reach the age of 70 1/2, the IRS requires you to begin taking minimum distributions from your traditional retirement accounts.

Assumptions about these adjustments to your net worth should be made carefully and conservatively.

Carefully computing and adding your Social Security early retirement safe withdrawal rate can safely boost your early retirement standard of living without jeopardizing your future finances.

We highly recommend a Donor Advised Fund for generous investors.

The shortest answer is yes, you can. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Here are the most common reasons that your plan might need to be updated or revised and what to do about them.

Regardless of the reason, if you have put too much money in your Roth IRA, the solution is the same.

Even over the income threshold, you may still be able to add funds to your Roth IRA with what is called a backdoor Roth.