Social Security Analyzed – Part 1 of 2

Posted on by in Educational Resources, Social Security and tagged , , , .

We have been “running the numbers” for Social Security benefit optimization to help clients choose the best strategy. We also analyzed Social Security more deeply that we ever have before in order to write our new book, Retire Secure! for Same-Sex Couples. This post is an adaption of a portion of the chapter on Social Security in the book that is applicable to everyone. If, after reading this excerpt you would like the rest of the chapter, please e-mail or call our office and we would be happy to send you the rest of the chapter. Of course we also offer custom analysis.

There are several sophisticated strategies that can be successfully used to maximize your benefits if you are married. But we find that many clients and readers need to understand some of the basic concepts and strategies before we move to the more sophisticated strategies which are usually possible if you are married.

For now, however, we will forget about the marriage issue. A point of contention regarding Social Security is when to begin receiving benefits: as soon as you are eligible, several years later, or even waiting until you are age 70. Let’s just talk about whether it makes sense, in general, to take Social Security early. For discussion’s sake, let’s assume your attitude is, “Well, gee, I’m retired, I’m 62 years old, I’ve been paying into this system for my whole life, and now it’s time for me to get some money out.” Should you start collecting Social Security benefits at 62?

Comparison of Taking Social Security at Age 62 or Age 70

First, it is important to understand that the dollar amount of your retirement benefit depends upon the age at which you begin to collect it. Let’s assume you were born between 1943 and 1954. Your Full Retirement Age (FRA) is 66. This is set by law. The amount you will get if you begin to collect benefits at age 66 is called your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA). If you begin to collect benefits at a different age, the amount you will receive is a function of your PIA. If you begin early, you obviously start receiving an income earlier, but allowing for interest, etc. (details to follow) you will receive less per month than if you had waited. If you start taking benefits at 62, the earliest age at which you can begin to collect benefits, you will suffer the maximum reduction in benefits. If you begin to collect benefits after full retirement age, you will receive larger benefits. You can get the largest benefit by waiting until age 70. So, the two extremes would be signing up for benefits at age 62, or waiting and taking at age 70. The earlier you collect, the lower your  benefit will be for the rest of your life.


The table on the left shows the percentage of your PIA (the amount you would get at age 66) that you will receive based on the age when you apply. For every year that you wait to collect benefits after Full Retirement Age (FRA) you will earn an extra 8% per year. Please note this table doesn’t include Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), which in all instances make the advantages of waiting even greater.

Our next post will touch on running the numbers for a single Social Security recipient as well as Social Security breakdown analysis with benefits reinvested at 4%.

The Hazards of Naming Different Beneficiaries for Different Accounts

Posted on by in 401(k), 403(b), Beneficiary Designations, Educational Resources, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan and tagged , , .

It is quite common in my practice for clients to say they want one particular account to go to one beneficiary and a different account to another beneficiary. The accounts might reflect the relative proportionate value that the client wants each of the different beneficiaries to receive, but I think this can turn into a nightmare.

• You will have a terrible time trying to keep track of the different
distribution schedules.

• As the different investments go up or down, the amount going to the different heirs would also go up and down, which is probably not the intent.

• A beneficiary designation may say, “ I leave my Vanguard account to beneficiary B and my Schwab account to beneficiary A. ” If during your lifetime you switch or transfer money from Vanguard to Schwab, you have, in effect, changed who is going to get what, and that may not be your intention.

In general, I prefer one master beneficiary designation for all IRAs, retirement plans, 403(b)s, 401(k)s, and the like. In it I describe distributions as I would in a will or irrevocable or revocable trust. That way, we can avoid mistakes and simplify estate administration after the retirement plan owner dies.

I recognize that, for investment purposes, people use different accounts for different beneficiaries. For example, you might treat the investments of a grandchild beneficiary differently from those of a child or spouse. Under those circumstances I would be willing to bend and accept different beneficiaries for different accounts.

The one area where it might make sense to direct certain money to particular beneficiaries is FDIC insured deposits. At press time, the amount that the FDIC would insure rose from $ 100,000 to $ 250,000 through 2009. Assuming the money is outside the IRA (there are different protections for IRAs) one way to get more FDIC insurance is to have different beneficiaries with different paid on death designations. If you are a parent with four kids and you have four $ 250,000 CDs, you can do a pod account for each child and have the entire amount federally guaranteed. If the money was in an IRA, you are also insured up to $ 250,000 but you can ’ t get additional coverage by naming additional beneficiaries.

Retire Secure! Pay Taxes Later – The Key to Making Your Money Last, 2nd Edition, James Lange, page. 271-272 https://paytaxeslater.com/

7 Good Reasons to Change Your Will

Posted on by in Educational Resources.

1. You Get Married

Your new spouse doesn’t automatically become your chief heir. Most states give a spouse one-third or one-half of an estate. If you don’t have any children, your parents or siblings would get the rest. To leave all your property to your spouse, you’ll need a will. You cannot disinherit a spouse without his or her consent.

If you are living with someone but are not married and you want your significant other to inherit any of your property, you need a will.

2. You Become a Parent

Obviously, the big question is how your children will be cared for if both you and your spouse die. Now you definitely need a will to name a guardian for your children, as discussed earlier.

Consider using trusts, perhaps in your will, to handle assets that would go to your children. Execute a durable power of attorney naming your spouse or someone else to act for you in financial matters when you can’t. Durable power remains effective even if you become mentally unable to handle your own affairs.

3. You Approach Middle Age

Your assets are growing, so tax planning could save your heirs thousands in federal estate taxes. The time to act is when you and your spouse have a combined net worth, including house, retirement plans, and insurance proceeds, that approaches the amount vulnerable to the federal estate tax. You can give an unlimited amount to your spouse tax-free, by designating it in your will or by owning all assets jointly, for example. But with a little more planning, a married couple can leave twice the amount of the estate-tax exemption–up to $7 million after the second spouse dies, assuming that Congress reinstates the estate tax that lapsed at the end of 2009 and continues the $3.5 million exemption in effect at that time.

Some in Congress would like to boost the estate tax threshold to $5 million and reduce the tax rate to 35%. If they have their way, a married couple could exempt up to $10 million from estate taxes.

Update your will to reflect family births, deaths, separations, or divorces. Review guardian, trustee, and personal-representative appointments. Reevaluate the nature of specific gifts to people or groups. And recalculate how much life insurance you need.

 4. You Get Divorced

Review absolutely everything. The people in your life are changing. So must your estate plan. You need a new will altogether because in most states a divorce automatically revokes the provisions of a will that apply to a former spouse. In some states a divorce revokes the entire will.

You’ll want to set up trusts to control the assets you plan to leave your children. And revise any living trusts to remove your former spouse as a beneficiary or trustee. Do likewise with a durable power of attorney or a living will. Plus, unless restricted by a divorce decree, change the beneficiaries on your life insurance, pensions, and IRA.

5. You Remarry

You and your new spouse may have to plan for families from prior marriages and for children you have together. Consider a prenuptial agreement, should you want to keep assets separate and nullify your inheritance rights to each other’s estates.

You’ll want to provide for your new spouse and still be certain your children are taken care of. To do this, talk to an estate-planning lawyer about a qualified terminable interest property trust — QTIP, for short. This trust can be set up in a will to give your spouse the income from the trust property and some rights to principal. But when he or she dies, the assets go to beneficiaries you have chosen.

6. You Retire or Move to Another State

If you retire to another state (or any time you move to a new state, for that matter), have your estate-planning documents reviewed in light of that state’s laws and your current needs.

Durable powers of attorney become even more important. For example, if you are stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, you may become unable to give the required consent for financial transactions. Life insurance coverage may not be needed anymore. But if your estate faces an estate-tax liability or if your spouse is dependent on retirement income that will end with your death, consider keeping the coverage.

7. Your Spouse Dies

This loss can leave you emotionally vulnerable to financial mistakes. For at least several months, avoid selling your house or making other drastic changes.

Seek expert advice. There may be tax benefits to disclaiming some of your inheritance in favor of alternate beneficiaries, such as your children, if your spouse’s estate is subject to the federal estate tax and you have enough assets of your own, including liquid assets.

You’ll need to get a new will and, if needed, a revocable living trust. Execute a new durable power of attorney and a living will (which expresses your wishes in case of an illness that leaves you permanently incapacitated). Put these in a safe place, and tell people who need to know where they are.

The Best Response to the New Estate Laws

Posted on by in Educational Resources, Estate Tax, Income Tax, IRAs, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, QTIP Trusts.

The top estate planners in the country warn IRA and retirement plan owners to develop an appropriate response to the new estate tax laws just passed this December. We are now in a completely different tax environment ripe for the cruelest trap of all: where the standard language of traditional wills and trusts forces too much money (now up to $5,000,000) into a trust limiting the surviving spouse to income and the right to invade principal for health, maintenance and support.  If the trust is overfunded, which is likely under the new law, less discretionary income is available for the surviving spouse.  Furthermore, if this common trust is the beneficiary of an IRA or retirement plan, massive income taxes are also triggered – all this can be avoided with appropriate language in wills and trusts and appropriate beneficiary designations of IRAs, Roth IRAs and retirement plans.

Under the new estate tax laws, older traditional estate plans are not helpful, but harmful, because of the severe restrictions they place on the surviving spouse, something most couples do not want.  Many IRA and retirement plan owners have this detrimental language in their existing wills and trusts and don’t even know it. IRA and retirement plan owners with assets between $600,000 and $5,000,000 are particularly vulnerable. Both spouses have likely become quite accustomed to making expenditure decisions based on desire in addition to need. To lose that control would be devastating. Without a review of their older traditional estate plan they could be  thinking they have left everything under the control of their spouse, but in reality, they have not.

I encourage you to have your will reviewed and updated to comply with the estate planning law.  In Pittsburgh?  Please join us for one of our FREE workshops entitled, “How to Avoid the Cruelest Trap of All:  Don’t Unknowingly Restrict Your Surviving Spouse’s Independence or Access to the Family Money After the Tax Relief Act of 2010.”   See our location and times on www.paytaxeslater.com.  Not in Pittsburgh, you can purchase this workshop to view in the comfort of your own home for just $97 – to order call our office at 412.521.2732.

New Tax Law Creates Enormous Opportunities for Millions of Employees

Posted on by in 401(k), 403(b), Educational Resources and tagged .

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: JAMES LANGE, CPA
OFFICE: 412.521.2732

September 27, 2010 – The President signed a new law, effective immediately, that has an enormous impact on millions of retirement plan owners.

The new law will allow employees to convert all, or a portion, of their traditional 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan to a Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b). The law is actually part of the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act which has implications for small businesses, but this little known provision also has a profound impact on employees with these retirement plans who will want to make a Roth conversion.

This bill would allow 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) employees to convert their pre-tax account balances into Roth designated accounts, which is the official title for a Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b). A Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b) will enjoy income tax-free growth for the lives of the plan owner, spouse, children and grandchildren. The amount of the conversion, however, would be considered taxable income. If an employer has an existing 401(k) or 403(b) plan, employees could immediately make the conversion to either a Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b).

This new legislation will be extremely important to people who are still working and have substantial wealth in their employer retirement plan as it will essentially allow them to convert their traditional 401(k) or 403(b) to a Roth designated account that would still be part of their employer retirement plan. Previously, if an employee’s retirement plan was tied up in a 401(k), they would not have been eligible to make a Roth conversion while they were still working. Now, if employers have Roth designated accounts, employees can make a Roth conversion of whatever amount they wish.

Since tax rates are expected to go up in 2011, at least for upper income taxpayers, it will definitely be to their advantage to make a conversion to a Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b) in 2010 while they can still pay a lower tax on the conversion.

One strategy that would be highly beneficial for middle income taxpayers who are still employed and have limited access to their retirement plan is that they will be able to make a partial conversion of their 401(k) to a Roth 401(k), since it might be too aggressive for them to convert their entire 401(k) and pay income taxes on that conversion. An even better long-term strategy for this middle income group is a series of multiple, partial conversions over a period of years of the pre-tax dollars in a 401(k) to the Roth designated account in the 401(k). Conversely, if a person is a high income employee or will likely always be in the top tax bracket, they should consider a much more substantial Roth conversion.

Another huge benefit of this law is that these new Roth designated accounts will enjoy excellent creditor protection since, for the most part, 401(k) and other retirement plans are controlled by a federal law called ERISA which offers better creditor protection than ordinary IRAs or even Roth IRAs. A good example of this is OJ Simpson, who is collecting substantial income while he is in jail because the judgments against him could not penetrate the ERISA creditor protection on his retirement plan.

Obviously, the law only covers employees who have access to Roth designated accounts at work, but it would be to an employer’s advantage

An Indecisive Congress on Federal Estate Tax

Posted on by in Educational Resources, Estate Tax and tagged , , .
As the old adage goes, there are two things for certain, you will die and you will pay taxes. For decades this statement has remained true, but in 2010, one of these is far from conclusive. Why the uncertainty swirling around paying estate taxes?

Most advisors thought that Congress would extend the estate tax law before it was due to expire at the end of last year. But while the House did act, the Senate did not. So… what few predicted would happen, did…the tax is gone for a year but is expected to be revised in 2011 at a higher rate and a lower exemption.

At this point many suggestions have been made from keeping it the same and making it retroactive to changing it completely. No one knows what Congress will eventually do, but as we wait patiently, we must be smart and continue to plan for our futures.

As Benjamin Franklin said, “Time is Money”. Time is of the essence when talking estate planning even under this kind of uncertainty. Regardless of your estate’s size, it would be wise to seek the advice of an experienced estate planning attorney who can help you sort through your options.

New Website Feature

Posted on by in Educational Resources, Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan, Life Insurance, Roth IRA, Roth IRA Conversions and tagged , , , .

Six months into our new radio show, The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks, we’re happy to report that we have loyal listeners from all over the country. Calls, emails and questions have been coming in on a regular basis from California, Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Florida and New Jersey (as well as across Pennsylvania).

We’ve also discovered that many listeners enjoy listening to the shows again once they’ve been posted here at www.retiresecure.com.  Thanks to the listeners who made the suggestion that we offer shorter audio clips in addition to our full-length shows.

Since we also thought that was a great idea, we’ve created a new page featuring clips from every show.  The link is posted on the left-hand side of the homepage — click on Audio: Key Advice From The Lange Money Hour.

To make this feature even more user friendly, we provide a description of the topic and the date of the show.  Now you can get quick advice from Ed Slott, Bob Keebler, Natalie Choate and all of our other guests, just by clicking on the appropriate link.

All of our favorite topics are covered including Roth IRAs and Roth IRA conversions, safe withdrawal rates, the use of insurance in estate planning, tax-loss harvesting and the best estate plan for most traditional families — Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan.

Please use and enjoy these clips at your leisure and keep the ideas coming!

New Alternative to LTC Insurance

Posted on by in Educational Resources, Life Insurance and tagged .

If you’re one of the millions of baby boomers approaching your golden years, you’ve probably given consideration to the purchase of LTC (long-term care) insurance. You may also be concerned that you’d be throwing your money away. It’s possible that you could pay a lot in premiums and never need the coverage.

Jim Lange has always felt that if a husband and wife had enough money to provide for both of their potential long-term care expenses, they were really just insuring their estate.  In that case, Jim would typically advise that life insurance was a more certain bet.

Now there’s an alternative to LTC insurance and that was the topic on the July 1st edition of The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks. Guest Tom Hall of Capitas Financial/Pittsburgh Brokerage explained the ins-and-outs of a relatively new hybrid product that is essentially a life insurance policy with a long-term care rider.

It works like this — if you need long-term care, the insurance company will pay for your care.  The amount the insurance company pays you will be subtracted from your death benefit.  If you never need long-term care, your life insurance death benefit will remain the same.

All of this is acheived with a single premium that is significantly lower in cost than separate LTC and life insurance policies.  Plus, if you do need to tap into the long-term care coverage, you will be withdrawing the money income tax-free.  In this way, this hybrid policy becomes an effective estate planning tool.  You avoid the possibility of dipping into your retirement plans and paying taxes upon withdrawal.

Tom Hall pointed out that, just like any other policy, you can be turned down for this hybrid product.  However, it also works the other way.  Some people who don’t qualify for LTC coverage may qualify for life insurance with an LTC rider.

By the way, if you currently have a life insurance policy, you can’t just call your agent and add an LTC rider.  An entirely new policy needs to be put in place.

We’d also like to thank the listener who emailed the question asking what happens to your premiums if your insurance company goes bankrupt.  We’re glad she asked because it gave Tom the chance to explain that in Pennsylvania, if your insurance company fails, you are protected for up to $300,000.

Of course, this hybrid product isn’t for everyone — in some cases, straight LTC coverage might still be the better idea.  Each case needs to be evaluated on its own.  As always, the Lange team is happy to provide you with a thorough analysis — just contact the office toll-free at 800-387-1129.

Beneficiary Designations in a Second Marriage

Posted on by in Educational Resources, IRAs, QTIP Trusts and tagged .

Estate planning can be tricky to begin with — toss in a second spouse and children from different marriages and relationships and it becomes even more difficult.

Recently, Jim Lange came across an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that dealt with the estate planning challenges caused by divorce and remarriage.  The example that was used was that after 15 years of a second marriage, a husband was getting ready to retire with $1 million in his IRA.  His second wife was shocked to learn that she had no ownership rights to the account.

One of the proposed solutions listed in the article was a tool called a QTIP trust (qualified terminable interest property trust).  In this case, a QTIP trust would be listed as the beneficiary of the husband’s IRA and would then provide an income stream for the surviving spouse while protecting a portion of the assets for the children.

Jim thinks that this is the wrong approach and offered his solution in a letter to the editor.  Jim’s first point is that naming a QTIP trust as the beneficiary of an IRA accelerates income and taxes to the detriment of both the surviving spouse and the children.  The surviving spouse is left with only an income stream and the kids don’t inherit anything until the second spouse dies.  He’s also concerned about the fees generated by the QTIP trust solution — attorneys have to be paid to draft the trust and annual CPA and trustee fees have to be paid after the first death.

Instead, Jim prefers to leave a certain percentage of the IRA to the surviving spouse and give the rest to the children of prior marriages.  It’s a simple solution that provides more money for the heirs and less for the IRS.

Coincidentally, the topic of the June 3rd edition of our radio show, The Lange Money Hour, was trusts — so, we started the show with a discussion about the Post-Gazette article.  A special thank-you to a guest who agreed to join us on short notice — Tom Crowley, Senior Wealth Planner and VP at PNC Wealth Management.  While Tom agreed with Jim about the tax consequences of naming a QTIP trust as beneficiary of an IRA, he pointed out that in his practice, some clients are willing to sacrifice more money in taxes in order to gain greater control over the distribution of the funds.

During the rest of the show, Jim went on to explain the ins and outs of various trusts including living trusts, spendthrift trusts, charitable trusts and trusts for minors.  Keep in mind that every case needs to be evaluated on an individual basis.  If you have questions about any of these trusts or think that you need a thorough review, be sure to call the office at 412-521-2732 and a member of the Lange team can help.