Retirement Planning, Annuities, IRAs, Roth Conversions

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I am a knowledgeable financial professional with over 15 years experience in helping individuals reach their retirement goals.

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Please check out the articles I have written on different retirement issues. I will be adding more pertinent information all the time.

For more information and special deals related to any of the issues on this page, place your cursor over the double-underlined links. All information supplied by Kontera.com.

Is A Roth Right for You?

Beginning in 2010, the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act lifted the restrictions on who can have a Roth IRA by allowing anyone, regardless of their income or tax filing status to convert their Traditional IRA to a Roth. Some articles and advisers are saying everyone with a Traditional IRA should convert to a Roth. However, not everyone would benefit from a Roth Conversion. More>>

Avoiding Penalties for Early Retirement

The Substantially Equal Periodic Payments portion of the IRS Code 72(t) is of particular importance to early retirees, because it allows a person to access their IRA funds prior to reaching age 59 ½ without paying an additional 10% penalty. More>>

Roll Over

With so much being written and talked about regarding Roth IRA conversions, you may be wondering whether you can “roll-over” your qualified retirement plan directly into a Roth IRA. The simple answer is “yes,” because of the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The new legislation allows eligible qualified retirement plan assets to be rolled over directly into a Roth IRA beginning January 1, 2008. There is no longer a requirement that the qualified plan be rolled over to a Traditional IRA and then converted to a Roth IRA. However, there are rules that must be followed when rolling over qualified assets to a Roth IRA: More>>

Maximizing Your Retirement Savings

You have contributed to Social Security your entire life, and now you wonder if it will be there for you when you are ready to retire. None of us have that answer, but there are ways to help ensure you maximize your opportunities to save for retirement. More>>

Investing in an Annuity

People are retiring younger, living longer and have a desire for a better life in their later years. In many cases their savings are low or non-existent and pensions are scarce. The markets are constantly changing. many investors find they need fixed assets in their portfolios as they near retirement because of their desire for stability. Some people turn to CDs for this dependability, but many have invested in fixed annuities. More>>

Choosing an IRA

Choosing which IRA is right for your individual circumstances is very important. There are distinct differences in a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, however they are both good choices when saving for retirement.

An IRA can best be described as a "Basket" holding different investment options, i.e. stocks, bonds, annuities, CDs, mutual funds. Your investment choices will depend on several criteria, More>>

Traditional vs a Roth IRA

There are two different types of IRAs available today, the traditional IRA (deductible and non-deductible) and a Roth IRA. Traditional IRAs are usually funded with pre-tax dollars, which means you will have to pay taxes on the entire amount when you withdraw your funds. Roth IRAs are funded with after-tax dollars, and can be taken tax-free when certain conditions are met. You may be hearing a lot lately about converting your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in order to take advantage of tax-free withdrawals in retirement. More>>

Year End Tax Planning

Since we are in the last few weeks of 2009 and looking forward to a new year in 2010, now is an excellent time for a financial review to ensure you take advantage of every opportunity to increase your savings for retirement and lower your tax bill as much as possible. More>>

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