Comments on: Why You Don’t Need to Worry about Taxes in Retirement

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 22:01:03 +0000

It’s a tough call between simply contributing that amount or more to an employer sponsored 401K, or opening an auxiliary Roth IRA. Former reduces tax liability today while the latter doesn’t. So it really depends on a lot of factors including income, total asset mix if married etc. Finding this blog has already saved me $20,000 in money that would’ve essentially been wasted to hand over for a Roth IRA conversion though, so thank you.

I’m going to call and try to setup a consultation, I’ve spoken to other CPAs and they were of no use. I’d like to go over my financial situation from a tax perspective with someone like you who knows what they’re talking about. Even if it were to just confirm what I already believe I’ve come to in my own research. I can’t afford to be misinformed on this topic because I don’t want to end up working at Walmart when I’m 70.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 16:42:19 +0000

In reply to Mark. Mark, I agree with your assessment that as an additional amount, a Roth makes sense. :-)

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 01:33:20 +0000

Thanks for pointing me to this. I’m going to print it out and keep it with my important papers in fact for the longterm. It’s a very good point: how much are you going to withdraw upon retirement per year?

I will keep my traditional IRA, keep doing the full match of my 401Ks and moving them over as I go from job to job, draw it out slowly upon retirement to avoid paying taxes (or much). It does appear there is value to a Roth if you open one up from scratch as a secondary account and do no conversions into it. Just put in the $5.5K a year max and that will be another source of tax-free income off the books in retirement alongside social security. In the event I need them, for larger sums I think that will be handy. I’m demystified on Roth hype now but it does seem like a good supplement to 401Ks/traditional IRAs if looking for additional investments.

By: David Ann Arbor

David Ann Arbor — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 18:16:28 +0000

Thank you for this article. It helps me realize a traditional IRA is the right way to go right now while I’m working.

By: Mark Zoril

Mark Zoril — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 20:32:08 +0000

Nice piece. Yes, there is far too much anxiety among too many about paying taxes in retirement. And, like you and Bernstein say, if it is problem, congratulations! Of course, the financial services industry has products to sell, so promoting anxiety helps create demand.