News

Welcome to NuView IRA’s IT Corner!

We, here at NuView, are committed to providing the best customer experience possible for our clients. This includes making sure we utilize new and expanding technologies to better your experience. This month brings some upgrades to your client portal. Upon logging into your client portal, you will find the following enhancements: Continue reading…

When NuView started 14 years ago, most IRA account owners were completely unaware that they could use their accounts to purchase assets outside the traditional stock market.  It was an industry served by administrators with a few thousand accounts, mostly used to purchase real estate. Continue reading…

Article by NuView president Glen Mather, in response to this Wall Street Journal article:

With a considerable push from the current administration, the Department of Labor (who has oversight over IRAs and 401(k) rules) is creating new rules for financial advisors that provide services for retirement plans and participants. As a separate initiative, the SEC is devising new fiduciary standards, which has introduced a great deal of uncertainty in the world of financial advisors.

The agencies seemed to have a particular concern about advisors who recommend rolling their client’s funds from a 401(k) plan to an IRA to make particular investments. Should these advisors be held to the higher standard of “fiduciary,” which under the current definition would mean getting to know the client and their personal financial situations at a far deeper level, as their recommendations must be in the best interest of the client?

Most legislative and administrative changes, drafted with the best possible intentions, lead to unintentional consequences. In this case, since most advisors who spend a significant amount of time with their clients charge a fee for their services, most would elect not to serve the client with smaller account balances, as they would either be unprofitable to the advisor, or expensive to the retirement account holder.

Perhaps a further result of tightening the advisor rules will be that the employee leaving their 401(k) plan will be forced to make decisions on their own – or in other words, self-direct their decisions.

In either case, making an informed decision is a key component.  What is a bit tragic is that there are so many 401(k) and IRA holders who simply choose not to inform themselves about choices they have. There will be no one, including your financial advisor, who has a greater stake in your retirement plan. With a self-directed IRA, you serve as your own fiduciary – and thus you never have to worry about not knowing your own financial situation. You educate yourself about the choices and make the best decision on your investments, and your IRA administrator will move the funds as directed.

For the 75 million IRA and 401k plan participants, perhaps these new initiatives will be positive ones. The fact is, the self-directed IRA holders have figured this out for themselves long ago.

Guest article by James K. Duerr:

So you thought you could defer taxes on your IRA forever?    

Sorry, the IRS will not wait forever. Although pretax money going into a Traditional IRA is tax deferred, there is a requirement at age 70 ½, to take RMD’s (required minimum distributions). The minimum distribution is based on tables of life expectancy and the balance in your account. There are worksheets on the IRS website, and many brokerage companies have calculators available to find out your RMD’s. If you do not take the RMD distributions, you may be subject to penalty. Per the IRS, “You cannot keep retirement funds in your account indefinitely”. The penalty could be up to a 50% excise tax on the amount not distributed as required.

 Roth IRAs & Roth Conversions

Roth IRA’s, do not require minimum distributions until after the death of the owner. Be careful with Roth 401K’s, as those plans do require RMD’s. That being said, it may be wise to roll the Roth 401K into a Roth IRA, if possible.Many clients consider converting Traditional IRA’s into Roth IRA’s. The amount converted is subject to tax, but is not subject to penalty. If you are in a low income year, you can have your CPA project the tax that you would owe on conversion.  You do not have to convert all of the funds at once. In fact, you can minimize the tax implications by converting the funds a little at a time.

Solo (or Individual) 401K Plans

For people who are in their own business, and do not have outside employees, the individual 401K plan can offer you flexibility and the opportunity to make large pension contributions to the plan.  If made pre-tax, the contributions may lower your tax liability. For example, if you took a $50,000 payroll, you have the ability for your company to contribute up to $12,500 to your pension plan, and you could, if under age 50, contribute another $17,500, for a total of $30,000 being contributed to the plan, and becoming a tax deduction. Assuming a conservative tax rate of 20%, you would save $6,000 in taxes. The plan has (2) components, an employer portion (up to 25% of earned income) and an employee deferral portion (up to $17,500, or if  age 50 and over, $23,000 with a catch up provision). The employee piece can be either pre-tax, or  Roth, if the plan allows.  Be sure that the original paperwork is completed correctly, and these plans can also allow borrowing rights. Most retirement plans are available as self-directed plans. These self directed plans allow you to have more control over your investments, by purchasing real estate or other assets, such as gold, notes, joint ventures, tax liens, etc.

Maximizing Profits and Minimizing Taxes

Whether you are in your own business, or not, it is smart tax planning to have a professional review your taxes, prior to year end. By doing this, you may be able to make some decisions that could significantly lower your taxes, and provide for your future financial freedom. As I always advise my clients, “It’s not what you make, it’s what your keep.”

James K. Duerr, CPA

CFRI Business Member

Small Business Resources USA, Inc.