No. 1: Live only for today
IRAs, or individual retirement accounts, may be trickier than you think. And what you don't know can cost you money.
Many
of the most common IRA mistakes occur simply because people don't know
the rules, of which there are many, governing these accounts. Complex
rules provide many opportunities for things to go awry, but the biggest
mistake with IRAs may be not contributing to one at all.
"If you
don't put anything in, you won't have anything at the end," says IRA
expert Ed Slott, president of Ed Slott and Co., and author of "The
Retirement Savings Time Bomb ... and How to Defuse It."
Each
year that you're eligible to make IRA contributions and don't is a
chunk of retirement income lost. The most significant factor in the
amount of money accumulated at retirement is the amount you save, not
the rate of return on investments.
In
general, "If you run the numbers, someone who doesn't skip contribution
years versus someone who does, the person who doesn't skip years will
end up with more money in retirement," says Ken Hevert, vice president
of retirement products at Fidelity Investments.
No. 2: Missing tax-free growth
The most widely used types of IRAs are the Roth and the traditional IRA.
Both
accounts allow annual contributions of $5,500 in 2014, but they receive
different tax treatment. In a nutshell, Roth IRA contributions are made
with after-tax money, while contributions to a traditional IRA may
qualify for a tax deduction for the year the contribution was made.
Contributions to an IRA for the 2014 tax year must be made by the April
15 tax-filing deadline.
With the Roth, taxes are paid on the front
end so that in retirement all distributions, including interest and
earnings, are tax-free. Conversely, the traditional IRA generally gets a
tax advantage at the time the contribution is made, but distributions
are taxed as ordinary income in retirement.
There is an exception
to that rule. High earners who are covered by a retirement plan at work
may not qualify for a tax deduction.
Big moneymakers are hemmed in on the Roth side, as well.
Income
limits prohibit high earners from contributing directly to a Roth. For
2014, a married couple who files taxes jointly and earns more than
$191,000 per year cannot contribute to a Roth, and single people earning
more than $129,000 are also prohibited.
But all is not lost. Read on to see how to sidestep these apparent obstacles to IRA investing.
No. 3: Lost opportunity due to ignorance
Make too much money to contribute to an IRA? You can get around this problem.
High
earners can still take advantage of the Roth IRA by contributing to a
nondeductible IRA and then converting to a Roth. A nondeductible IRA is
simply a traditional IRA for which there is no tax deduction, and it is
available to almost everyone with wages or self-employment income.
"I
do that myself. I make too much to contribute to a Roth, so I can
contribute to a nondeductible IRA and convert it to a Roth," says Slott.
"It's
really just moving money from a taxable pocket to a tax-free pocket.
Why wouldn't everybody do it to shelter their money from future higher
taxes at no cost?" he says.
No. 4: Messing up RMDs
IRS
rules call for required minimum distributions, or RMDs, from
traditional IRAs beginning at age 70 1/2. Failing to take the entire
amount required can lead to stiff penalties.
"The IRS can charge a
tax penalty of up to 50 percent of the distribution. So it could be
quite severe," says Certified Financial Planner professional Evan
Shorten, president of Paragon Financial Partners in Los Angeles.
With
a Roth IRA, no minimum distributions are required during your lifetime.
If you pass on and leave the Roth to a non-spouse beneficiary, that
person will be required to take distributions based on their own life
expectancy if they choose to stretch the tax advantage of the retirement
account until the end of their own life.
Beneficiaries of
traditional IRAs who choose the stretch option are subject to the
required minimum distribution rules as well and face the same 50 percent
penalty for neglecting to take the full distribution.
No. 5: Contributing too much
The
IRS limits the amount that may be contributed to a Roth or traditional
IRA in any one year. The contribution limit is $5,500. For the 50 and
older crowd, the limit is $6,500.
With contribution limits
strictly controlled, putting in more than the allowed amount can trigger
a penalty -- to the tune of 6 percent on the excess each year.
There
are several ways to run afoul of this rule, not the least of which is
simply forgetting you made a contribution earlier in the year.
Excess
contributions can occur by funding an IRA after age 70 1/2,
contributing more than your taxable income for the year or contributing
on behalf of a deceased individual.
"Some
people may have gotten into the routine of contributing to a personal
and spousal IRA, and for whatever reason, the spousal IRA continues
after they're deceased," says Fidelity's Hevert.
Luckily, this mistake is easily remedied as long as you catch it before taxes are filed.
"Get it out before you file and no harm, no foul," Hevert says.
"Another
(option) is to essentially carry that contribution to another year, and
have that count toward that tax year's contribution amount, but you
have to document that with the IRS," he says.
No. 6: IRA rollovers gone wrong
Unfortunately, paying someone to take care of your financial transactions is no guarantee of perfection.
"Advisers are generally not proactive, and they don't check things," Slott says.
Administrative
transactions, such as transferring a retirement account, require
attention to detail. Whether you're rolling over a 401(k) or
transferring your IRA to a new custodian, not only do you need to pay
meticulous attention to those little check boxes, the customer service
representative at the receiving institution also needs to be on alert.
"We
see cases of this all the time. They find out the money never got to an
IRA, the broker or bank moved the money and hit the wrong box, and it
went to a regular account. That's a taxable distribution," says Slott.
Facing
the prospect of losing the tax shelter of the IRA, as well as paying
the taxes owed on the entire account balance, an IRA owner has only one
way of remedying rollover mistakes like these: : request a private
letter ruling from the taxman himself.
"You have to go to the IRS
for relief, and that is going to be expensive and take six to nine
months to get a decision," Slott says.
No. 7: Blowing the deadline
A
trustee-to-trustee rollover isn't the only option for moving between
retirement accounts. Individuals can take money out of their IRAs or
take a distribution from their 401(k) when they leave an employer and
put it back into a qualified retirement account without tax
consequences, as long as they do so within 60 days.
"That
may seem like a long time, but a lot of people blow it. And another
thing: You can only do that once every 365 days, not once a calendar
year. Some people can lose their entire IRA because they did two
rollovers in a year and didn't realize it," Slott says.
A
rule going into effect in 2015 further limits 60-day rollovers. Only
one 60-day rollover can be done every 365 days per taxpayer. Even if you
have 10 IRAs, you get one 60-day rollover per year.
The
safest bet is to do a direct transfer from one institution to another.
When everything goes correctly, the money never comes out of a
retirement account because the check is written to the receiving
institution, not an individual. In the end, however, the burden is on
the account owner to make sure their new account is set up correctly.
No. 8: Neglecting beneficiary forms
Properly
filling out a beneficiary form is a pain. Personal information from the
beneficiaries is needed, including birth dates and Social Security
numbers. It's so easy to focus on just getting the account open and then
taking care of the beneficiaries later.
"When
you open an account or transfer or convert, you need new beneficiary
forms. Most don't check those things because they think someone else did
or it's in their will," Slott says.
Not
having a beneficiary form won't affect you after you die, obviously,
but "your beneficiaries can lose valuable tax benefits, they won't be
able to stretch (distributions) over their lifetime, so a lot of
benefits can be lost -- or it can go to the wrong person," Slott says.
As
with many aspects of these accounts, failure to properly check the
details can come back to haunt you or your loved ones. When in doubt,
consult a professional. But don't be afraid to double-check their work.
It is your life savings, after all.
Culled from BankrateInc
