Retirement financial planning is probably the nowhere in your immediate plans if you’re anywhere in your twenties.  However, this is actually the best time to start planning because you have little to no debt and besides there’s just not a lot of pressure on you at this time in your life.  The last thing you should want to happen is not being able to financially care for yourself as you get up in age.

Time goes by really fast and the worst mistake that you can make while you’re young is to think that its too early to begin saving for retirement.  Your 30’s 40’s and 50’s will be here before you know it.  Yes, you have a job today but with all of the uncertainty in the economy will that remain to be true five years from now?  Don’t leave your retirement financial planning up to chance, start saving now while your opportunity is ripe.

One of the first things you should do is take advantage of your company sponsored 401(k) retirement plan.  Sock away as much of money as possible into the plan and live off the rest.  We suggest contributing the maximum amount allowed, as these are pretax dollars plus there’s a great chance that your employer will match your contribution.  If you can put 5% to 10% of your gross income into a retirement plan while you’re in your 20’s you’ve jumpstarted your retirement while all your friends are spending their money on consumer items. Read the rest of this entry

During a time of transition, as you move from your old job or, as you re-enter the workforce after being unemployed, don’t forget about your 401k account. As you shift between jobs, your 401k rollover to Roth IRA account sits, waiting. There’s no harm in this, short term, but when you are ready, let’s do that 401k rollover!

You have two main options with the 401k rollover to Roth IRA. You can roll it to a new 401k, offered by your new employer. Or you can roll the funds into an IRA — an individual retirement account. These come in two flavors: pre-tax (the traditional IRA) and post-tax (the Roth). Each have their advantages for a rollover. 401k to IRA means that your money moves from one pre-tax fund to another. Nice and easy, plain and simple. Read the rest of this entry

Few people realize that they have a lot of flexibility if they choose to move their IRA retirement plan.  Yes, its true that if one day you simply decide that you can get a better return with your money somewhere else you move the money to another qualified plan without any penalties.  After all it is your money.  Of course the main reason you would make such a decision is to restructure your investments in order to achieve maximum profits.  One of the best ways to do achieve maximum profits is to place your money in a self-directed IRA.

Moving Investments From A Qualified Plan To a Self-Directed IRA

If you plan to roll your money over from a IRA retirement plan that is not qualified you company would pay 80% to you and 20% would go to the Internal Revenue Service.  You must make up the difference and deposit that amount with the new custodian.  At tax time you can file your return to apply for the refund. Read the rest of this entry