IRA

Optimize Your IRA and 401(k)

Posted July 29, 2009 - 12:00 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Apollo 4 Liftoff

Your IRA and 401(k) (or 403(b) if you work for a non-profit) are great tools for deferring taxes, and have other advantages as well. But because they're labeled "retirement" accounts, people are much too likely to put the wrong investments in them. Here's how to use them correctly.

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Retirement accounts and money to spend

Posted April 8, 2009 - 09:54 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Statue of Athena with an Owl in Chicago's Union Station

Everybody knows that retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs offer great tax advantages (and once upon a time--and maybe again someday--a corporate match). But people who have plans to spend the money before they reach retirement age worry about the restrictions on early withdrawals that come with the various retirement plans. Here's a cheat-sheet for working the angles.

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Retirement for Stay-at-Home Parents

Posted January 13, 2009 - 07:23 by Debbie Dragon

Personal Finance, Investment

Mom and Kids

Many families make a sacrifice by having one parent stay at home to raise their children. If the stay-at-home parent remains at home and unemployed for the majority of his or her working years, what happens when the stay-at-home parent reaches retirement age?

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The "one big lump" theory of your money

Posted January 3, 2009 - 08:47 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Budget envelopes

Don't get confused by the way your money's divided up. It might be split up into IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 529 plans, and annuities. Separately from that, it might be invested in different things--stocks, bonds, real estate, and cash. You might even use separate accounts to segregate your funds by goal--emergency fund, retirement savings, car down payment, and sending the kids to college. Despite all that, it's really one big lump of money.

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Should You Choose a Roth 401k or a Regular 401k?

Posted May 22, 2008 - 23:46 by Xin Lu

Personal Finance, Investment, Taxes

Yesterday I was talking to a friend and he mentioned that his company just started offering the option of investing in Roth 401ks. He was wondering if he should stick with his regular 401k or switch to the new option and we talked about the pros and cons of each for a little bit. Here are my conclusions.

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Left a job? Do a rollover.

Posted March 23, 2008 - 03:02 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Your previous job is no place to leave your retirement savings

I saw this poster on the window of a store-front brokerage firm office near the grocery store.  Although the firm in question has an obvious self-interest in getting you to consolidate your investments with them, the underlying message is a good one.

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Intimidated by Retirement Investing? Get Professional Help!

Posted 2 years ago by Sarah Winfrey

Filed Under: Investment

911 emergency

It might seem like something of a no-brainer to ask for professional investment advice, particularly about retirement. That said, there's still an astonishing number of people I know who don't. They either go it alone, wading through jargon that they don't understand and desperately trying to make numbers that don't mean anything to them mean something, or the guess and hope they get lucky, or they avoid the topic altogether.

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