Social Securty questions

[Jeriatric]

Youngins take note. A little financial pain(saving) over the years while you're young and full of it, beats the holy heck out of being cash strapped in retirement. Think about it.

 

[bhern]

You've gotten a lot of input, so I just wanted to add/encourage you to consider making Roth contributions a part of your strategy; you mentioned that you are getting a bit of a late start, and they're a great way to tackle that. As opposed to a traditional IRA, which accumulates tax deferred, but then requires the payment of taxes upon withdrawal, plus the mandated minimum distributions at the age of 70.5, a Roth IRA is taking after-tax money which both accumulates AND is drawn down tax free, and there are no minimum distribution requirements -- ever. (The rare case where it really is your money!)

Point being, if you can squeeze out the extra cash while you're still working now, the Roth could give you a bit of extra altitude to work with so that you can let your 401(k) (or IRA, if you roll it over) keep on in full accumulation mode until you have to start taking those distributions. Being over 50, you also can take advantage of the "catch-up" provision in the tax code -- allows you to invest an extra $1000 per year in your IRA, Roth or traditional. Limit is $7,000 this year. There are a couple of minor caveats/things to deal with -- similar to traditional IRAs, you have the 59.5 starting point for any tax-free withdrawals, there are some income limits (ranging from around $125-130K if filing single, $190K if married) to be able to take advantage, and the Roth has to be established for 5 years before any withdrawals can be taken tax free, so set it up now...)

 

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

How many like myself are planning when retiring to get out of you high tax state and moving somewhere more livable? i plan on trading my
$12k property tax to $2,500.

 

[Rogue Hawk]

You've gotten a lot of input, so I just wanted to add/encourage you to consider making Roth contributions a part of your strategy; you mentioned that you are getting a bit of a late start, and they're a great way to tackle that. As opposed to a traditional IRA, which accumulates tax deferred, but then requires the payment of taxes upon withdrawal, plus the mandated minimum distributions at the age of 70.5, a Roth IRA is taking after-tax money which both accumulates AND is drawn down tax free, and there are no minimum distribution requirements -- ever. (The rare case where it really is your money!)

Point being, if you can squeeze out the extra cash while you're still working now, the Roth could give you a bit of extra altitude to work with so that you can let your 401(k) (or IRA, if you roll it over) keep on in full accumulation mode until you have to start taking those distributions. Being over 50, you also can take advantage of the "catch-up" provision in the tax code -- allows you to invest an extra $1000 per year in your IRA, Roth or traditional. Limit is $7,000 this year. There are a couple of minor caveats/things to deal with -- similar to traditional IRAs, you have the 59.5 starting point for any tax-free withdrawals, there are some income limits (ranging from around $125-130K if filing single, $190K if married) to be able to take advantage, and the Roth has to be established for 5 years before any withdrawals can be taken tax free, so set it up now...)

I will look into that I have some cash doing nothing