New IRAs and How to Make Them Work for You
- Book Review,
by Neil Downing
Book Description
Cash in on new tax breaks for IRAs, and enjoy the most favorable tax terms ever!
New, more liberal policies for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) make it easier for Americans to accumulate and retain IRA money. The New IRAs clearly explains how to take advantage of new rules and to avoid complicated tax traps.
About the Author
Neil Downing is a certified financial planner (CFP), staff writer, and personal finance columnist for the Providence (Rhode Island) Journal. A three-time winner of National Press Foundation journalism fellowships, he has authored two previous books on IRAs and employee benefits.
Excerpted from The New Iras and How to Make Them Work for You by Neil Downing. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
For Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), it’s a whole new ballgame. A new federal tax law has expanded and enhanced IRAs. You may now save more money on your own, through a traditional and/or a Roth IRA. You may save more at work, through an employer-sponsored plan that may be tied to an IRA. You may also move money freely from a retirement savings plan at work to an IRA (and vice versa). Under another new federal law, the Education IRA now has a new name, the Education Savings Account, and you may use it not only for college costs, but also for elementary and high school expenses. In yet another development, new federal regulations have made required withdrawals from traditional IRAs easier to calculate and easier to understand. These and other changes have made IRAs a lot more appealing but also a lot more complicated. To take advantage of all the benefits that IRAs offer while avoiding the penalties and other dangers, you need a clearly drawn roadmap, a plain-language guide. Although you may decide to read this book from front to back, you can also choose a chapter that contains the information you need to know about right now, saving the other chapters for later. For example: • If you’re leaving your old job—either because you’re retiring, moving to another job, or are being laid off—look to Chapter 12 to learn about the benefits (and drawbacks) of rolling over the money from your retirement savings plan at work to an IRA. • If you’ve inherited an IRA and want to know what to do next, see Chapter 6. • If you’re 50 or older and want to know about the rules that let you contribute more money to a traditional IRA than younger people can, see Chapter 1. For the rules that let you contribute more to a Roth IRA, see Chapter 9. • If you’re 701/2 or older and want to know how the new rules for figuring required withdrawals can cut your taxes and save you money, see Chapter 4. • How can you use an Education Savings Account to buy a new computer for your child or pay for other expenses in elementary school, high school, or college? Flip to Chapter 7. The point is that each chapter stands on its own and can be read independently of the others. If you own a car, you need an owner’s manual. If you have a computer, you need to know how to run it. If you have an IRA, you need an easy-to-read, easy-to-use guidebook to learn how your account works and how you can make it work best for you. That’s what this book is all about. I think you’ll like it.
Buy from Amazon
Compare Prices
|
|
Home
