Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.
The normal mantra these days for Social Security strategy is delay as long as possible. If clients can wait until 70, their monthly payment Delaying Social Security benefit will be 8% higher than at age 62. But there are times when waiting until 70 can be a wrong move, according to this article on personal finance website Motley Fool. For instance, clients who are suffering from a chronic health condition, clients with spouses with lower income, clients with a big debt or those who do not expect to live on their retirement benefits are among those who would be better off forgoing this strategy and filing for their benefits early on. Also, future retirement benefits may be reduced because of the program's financial woes, and clients who intend to delay their benefits could be affected by the future benefit cuts.
A surviving spouse has the option of rolling over inherited IRAs to their own account when the account owner dies, but this option is not available to non-spouse beneficiaries, writes a law expert on Morningstar. "When an IRA owner dies, whoever inherits the IRA (the "beneficiary") generally is allowed to transfer the assets in that account, via direct "IRA-to-IRA transfer," to another inherited IRA," writes the expert. "This is not a 'rollover.' It’s an IRA-to-IRA transfer--a complete nonevent as far as the tax code is concerned."
When investing in equities, retirement savers are advised to choose the right assets and decide the percentage of international equities if they opt to include these options in their portfolio, writes an expert on MarketWatch. They also need to decide the portion of their portfolio to be invested in equities and in fixed income, writes the expert. A world-wide equity portfolio consisting of small-cap stocks and value stocks is recommended for young investors. "The combination improves long-term returns at no appreciable increase in risk."
Rolling 401(k) assets into an IRA is not recommended if the investment options in the plan are of better quality compared with those in the IRA, according to this article from the Los Angeles Times. Clients should also compare the cost of investing in both accounts, as fees can significantly reduce overall investment returns. Required minimum distributions from the two accounts will also be computed separately.
Doing an indirect rollover is a common mistake that non-spouse beneficiaries make, according to this article on Forbes. Many IRA beneficiaries also fail to give proper titles to the new account or to take required minimum distributions on time. Moreover, putting funds earmarked for a personal IRA into an inherited IRA can be a big mistake, as it will mean voiding the inheritance and making the entire account taxable.
