5 IRA tips and tricks for advisors to note

Planning for the future has never been easy, but for millennials with children, the challenge of balancing saving for retirement while putting aside funds for school is getting even harder, as they watch the cost of a college education spiraling upwards.

What should millennial parents do? The usual answer is to start a 529 plan, where contributions grow tax-deferred and withdrawals are tax-free when used for educational expenses. However, there's an alternative.

"The most common answer [to education funding] is by using a 529 college savings plan," said Bloomberg's Erin Lowry. "But for some families, I'd argue that the Roth IRA — yes, the retirement account — offers a more flexible way to build up your kid's higher education fund."

Read more: Millennials should consider Roth IRAs over 529 plans for college 

The practice of rolling over retirement funds from a company-sponsored 401(k) plan into an IRA is very familiar. Less well known is the concept of doing this in reverse.

However, new, more stringent regulations on inherited retirement plans are helping to give this relatively obscure retirement and estate planning strategy new life. 

In a reverse rollover, an investor moves their money from an IRA into a company-sponsored 401(k). While the rules governing reverse rollovers are complex, and some companies may not accept them, this tax strategy has the potential to increase an investor's savings over time.

Read more: Yoga pose or killer tax strategy? The discreet charms of a reverse rollover

Staying on track for a financially secure retirement can be a challenge, so it makes sense to take advantage of every opportunity. For married couples, a spousal IRA is an option.

To be eligible, a married couple must file taxes jointly. More significantly, a spousal IRA can only be opened if one spouse chooses to stop working and makes virtually no taxable income.

For married couples who qualify, there are key tax advantages to spousal IRAs that can help protect the non-earning spouse and provide an additional way to prepare for their retirement.

Read more: Advisors should talk to serious couples about spousal IRAs