Here’s the irony of the tax saving incentive. If it’s wildly successful and leads to very large retirement accounts, the required minimum distributions at retirement may place the now retired employee in a higher tax bracket than the one experienced while working.
Tag "IRA"
It’s critical that plan sponsors consult with compliance professionals before adding the Deemed IRA feature.
If you’re over fifty, that gold watch gleams closer and closer. You start thinking. You start wondering. You start asking questions.
“I was [once] a major skeptic of the use of annuities, I have subsequently changed my mind regarding the efficacy of low-cost fixed and variable annuities in both personal and retirement accounts.”
Retirees should think for themselves and what alternatives they have regarding their retirement assets. These aren’t the same as they were when they were working.
As with many things, hands-on instruction is generally the best way to achieve this, especially if you make it into an engaging workshop that’s all about the employee and the employee’s dreams, not about the plan.
There’s not a sin in listening to radio shows sponsored by those selling gold and silver. It’s quite another thing to actually act on their “recommendation.”
In theory, 401k plans were always intended to be highly portable, but that’s not what happened. “Portability” only evolved to the extent that the most-attractive balances were picked off and rolled over to IRAs, and everyone else was left holding the bag.
The decision to retain and service company retirees appears (at first blush at least) to be a no-brainer. But that includes a very important assumption.
In a nutshell, what was initially considered a “pick me because you like me” decision on the part of the prospect has been reframed as a “pick me because I sold you investments” decision. It’s a subtle distinction, but it drives the difference between a fiduciary act and a non-fiduciary act.
