Ken Clark

401k’s are subject to anti-discrimination rules. I am not going to list them all out here (there are formulas), but that has a lot to do with the question you are asking. There are also rules about vesting, contribution limits, loans, etc.

The basic idea with the 401k is that higher paid executives and certain classes of employees cannot contribute a certain amount more than lower paid or different classes of employees.

There are tax benefits for both the company and executives for staying inside these rules.

Supplemental executive packages, deferred comp, etc., are basically bonuses that the company gives key executives / employees as a means of tying them to the company. It is often referred to as “golden handcuffs”.

The executive plans promise a greater future benefit for sticking around then they could get even if they just maxed out their 401k’s.

However, because they are geared at those key employees only, they lose many of the tax benefits.

Often times, life insurance contracts are used as the underlying vehicle in these executive perks.

A lot of executives take advantage of both the 401k and their executive package.

Hope that helps!

Ken Clark
Certified Financial Planner

Disclaimer:
Answers provided are for general educational purposes only, and may exclude other important factors relevant to your unique situation. No reader should act on the information contained in this article without consulting Ken Clark or another financial professional directly.

Ken Clark, was named one of four finalists (out of over 500 nominees), for the Mentoring Excellence award presented by Investment News in New York City.

The award is in recognition of Ken’s work mentoring at-risk teens in south Orange County over the last decade.

Click here to see the official news release.

Question: Can I move my fixed annuity into an IRA?

Yes and no…

You can do a “1035″ exchange between annuities, fixed to variable (although technically questionable, it has never been challenged by the IRS), variable to fixed, and fixed to fixed.

The 1035 exchange refers to the IRS code that allows an annuity holder to move the profits from one annuity to another without being subject to taxes or the 10% early withdrawal penalty at that time. The profits will generally always be taxable (at ordinary income rates, not capital gains) in the future when withdrawn and spent.

Whenever you exit (or 1035) an annuity, you have to be aware of surrender charges. Annuities can have some of the highest, and longest lasting surrender charges in the financial industry. Thus even if you avoid paying taxes in the switch from one annuity to another, you still may pay a surrender charge ranging from 1% to 10%+.

Now, to the heart of your question, can you move an annuity into an IRA?

If the annuity you own is already titled as an IRA (annuities can be owned in IRA’s or outside them), then you can exit the contract within the IRA (minus surrender charges), and buy something else under the IRA “umbrella”.

If the annuity you own is not an IRA, then the only way to get the funds into the IRA (which is probably not advisable), is to take a distribution, and use the money leftover after taxes and penalties to fund an IRA.

In that case, I generally feel like you would be better to find a low-cost annuity, with good investment options, and move on with life.

I’d also seek out professional tax help if you do anything with your IRA, a mistake could cost you a lot of money!

Hope that helps!

Ken Clark
Certified Financial Planner

Disclaimer:
Answers provided are for general educational purposes only, and may exclude other important factors relevant to your unique situation. No reader should act on the information contained in this article without consulting Ken Clark or another financial professional directly.

Question from a reader: I’m 51 years old. I am wondering if there is any possibility of my being able to retire within the next year. I have approximately 120,000 in savings (50,000 in an IRA and 70,000 in regular savings/investment account. I don’t owe money for anything except my $400 loan payment on my home, which has about 25 years left on it. Any ideas?

Answer:
The biggest problem is that you are going to live a long time.

Your nest egg of $120k needs to last, so you generally are going to want to avoid drawing on your principal.

A safe rule of thumb for a moderately invested portfolio (50/50 stocks / bonds) is to take about 6% per year in withdrawals.

That would give you about $7,200 or $600 per month.

Since your social security is not due to kick in for a at least a decade, I’m not sure how you can reasonably do it.

To make matters worse, you are below the minimum age for withdrawals on your IRA. There is a way around this (IRS rule 72t… but it will force you take out withdrawals even if you don’t want them), but it may force you to pay some taxes.

My rule of thumb, is that you need 16 times your first year’s living expenses, in the bank, on the day you retire.

If you think you are going to need $20,000 per year to retire, you need to have $320,000 in the bank ($20,000 x 16). That would let you take out 6% comfortably for a long time.

Good luck. Let me know if I can be more help!

Ken Clark
Certified Financial Planner

Disclaimer:
Answers provided are for general educational purposes only, and may exclude other important factors relevant to your unique situation. No reader should act on the information contained in this article without consulting Ken Clark or another financial professional directly.

My teacher’s pension: Do I get a lump sum or monthly payments when I retire?

It could be both, depending on what state you are in.

For many states, the teacher’s pension is an alternative to paying into the Social Security system. In other words, instead of paying into FICA like most of us do, a teacher in California pays into STRS. It is roughly the same amount.

When you retire, it pays you a monthly benefit, depending on how long you worked and how much you made. That is the classic definition of “pension”.

Your state or district also may offer an in-house, self-directed system or access to outside 403b programs, which works similar to a 401k, but probably does not have a match. If it does, this program will hand you a lump sum when you retire that you can roll over to an IRA.

Hope that helps!

Ken Clark
Certified Financial Planner

Disclaimer:
Answers provided are for general educational purposes only, and may exclude other important factors relevant to your unique situation. No reader should act on the information contained in this article without consulting Ken Clark or another financial professional directly.

Question from a reader on Yahoo: How can I keep the capital gains taxes from blowing my investing profits to pieces?

There is not a lot of fancy stuff you can do outside of IRA’s.

But, here are some legal ways to lower your capital gains, each has their downfalls. Each of these has its complexities, which should be discussed at greater length with a professional.

1. Buy and hold.

2. Avoid mutual funds that have a history of large capital gains distributions.

3. Do “tax-loss” selling… sell something with an off-setting loss at the same time you sell something with a gain.

4. Donate appreciated shares instead of donating cash. You can write off th entire value, and avoid cap gains on the appreciation (there are holding period rules).

5. Gift appreciated shares to your children, and sell them in a UGMA / UTMA account. A portion of the gains will be taxed at their bracket.

6. Consider using a exchange fund (not an index fund, or exchange traded fund) for concentrated positions. These are special funds that will let you trade in a concentrated position of a stock (ie, $250,000 of Microsoft) for shares in a more diversified portfolio. These are also known as swap funds.

Hope that helps!!

Ken Clark
Certified Financial Planner

Disclaimer:
Answers provided are for general educational purposes only, and may exclude other important factors relevant to your unique situation. No reader should act on the information contained in this article without consulting Ken Clark or another financial professional directly.