Retirement Report Four Hacks to Boost Your Retirement Savings in 2018 How to ramp up savings for a spouse who doesn’t work, Roth IRA contributions and other options to build your tax-free nest egg After November’s column on using health-savings accounts to build a pot of tax-free retirement money, some readers (and editors) asked about other ways to save more and reduce taxes for retirement. So I polled retirement experts for ideas, which range from a backdoor way for high-income taxpayers to make Roth IRA contributions in order to build tax-free retirement assets to ramping up savings for a spouse who doesn’t work. Here, four of the best retirement hacks: Save for a nonworking spouse To contribute to an individual retirement account, you have to earn income. But there is an exception for nonworking spouses: a so-called spousal IRA. Provided one spouse has wages, self-employment earnings or other forms of income, he or she can set up a spousal IRA and contribute up to $5,500 a year (or $6,500 if the nonworking spouse is 50 or older) on behalf of a spouse. A couple must file a joint tax return to qualify. WSJ for iPad & iPhone What’s News Your destination for the day's most important business and markets news. DOWNLOAD THE WSJ APP The nonworking spouse can stash money in a traditional IRA or, if the couple meets income requirements, in a Roth IRA. With a traditional IRA, employees generally get to subtract the contributions from their income and reduce the taxes they pay, but they must pay ordinary income tax on the money when they withdraw it. With a Roth IRA, there is no upfront tax deduction but the money grows tax-free. A nonworking spouse in a couple that earns less than $199,000 can opt for a Roth IRA; above that, he or she is restricted to a traditional IRA. With a traditional IRA, the nonworking spouse must be younger than age 70½ years when the contributions are made. Also, if the working spouse is covered by a 401(k)-type plan, both spouses can still contribute to an IRA. But the working spouse can’t take a tax deduction for contributions to a traditional IRA if his or her income is above $121,000. The nonworking spouse loses the deduction when household income is above $199,000. Those with incomes above those thresholds can contribute after-tax money, and when they tap the account in retirement they will be liable for income tax only on the earnings. Make a “backdoor” Roth IRA contribution Individuals who earn $135,000 or more and couples with incomes above $199,000 can’t contribute to a Roth IRA. But there is a way around this rule. The key is to put money you already paid taxes on into a traditional IRA and convert it to a Roth IRA. Because you already paid income tax on the contribution, you will owe tax only on the appreciation your investments have earned when you do the Roth conversion. If you do the conversion quickly, your investments won’t have much time to appreciate and you won’t owe much tax on the conversion, says Ed Slott, an IRA expert from Rockville Centre, N.Y. One potential hurdle: If you have other IRAs, a conversion is likely to become more complicated. That is because tax rules prevent those with traditional IRAs that contain both pretax and after-tax money from converting only the after-tax money. Say you have $50,000 in a pretax IRA that you transferred from a previous employer’s 401(k) plan. If you now put $6,500 of after-tax money into a separate IRA, you can’t convert only the $6,500 tax-free. Instead, you must divide your after-tax contributions of $6,500 by the total balance in both of your IRAs of $56,500. The result—11.5%—is the percentage of the conversion the Internal Revenue Service considers tax-free—or $747.50 of a $6,500 conversion. You can avoid this problem if you roll all of your pretax IRA money into your current employer’s 401(k) plan. Because you can’t roll after-tax money into a 401(k), the $6,500 in nondeductible contributions will remain behind in your IRA, where it can be converted tax-free to a Roth IRA. Do a “mega-backdoor” Roth IRA conversion With this strategy, some employees can potentially convert larger sums to a Roth IRA while minimizing the tax consequences. After contributing the $18,500 maximum—or $24,500 if you are 50 or older—to a traditional pretax 401(k) or a Roth 401(k), ask if your plan permits after-tax contributions. About half do, according to 401(k) record-keeper Alight Solutions LLC. In total, the IRS allows employees to set aside up to $55,000 a year in pretax, after-tax, and employer contributions. The number rises to $61,000 if you are 50 or older. Once employees are 59½ or older, many 401(k) plans allow them to roll over their savings tax-free to an IRA. Some plans permit younger employees to do the same—but only with their after-tax contributions. That gives those younger employees an opportunity to withdraw just their after-tax money, pay income tax on the earnings, and convert the withdrawal to a Roth IRA, where it can grow tax-free. People who are 59½ or older can withdraw all of their 401(k) money and funnel the pretax portion into a traditional IRA, while converting the after-tax portion to a Roth IRA. Fund another IRA If you work a side job—as a freelancer or gig worker—you can save more than double the amount you are allowed to set side in a 401(k) plan. The trick is to put $18,500 a year into a 401(k) at your primary employer and $5,500 into an IRA and then save even more by putting some of your self-employment income into a SEP IRA, a Simple IRA or a Solo 401(k). Many brokerage firms and banks offer these plans. The simplest is the SEP IRA, which has little to no administrative costs or annual filing requirements, says Denise Appleby, of Appleby Retirement Consulting Inc. in Grayson, Ga. With a Simple IRA, you can save as much as $12,500 a year pretax—or $15,500 for those who are 50 or older–plus a deductible matching contribution of up to 3% of pay that comes from you, because you’re the employer. Both the SEP IRA and Solo 401(k) allow you to save as much as 25% of your self-employment compensation. With the Solo 401(k) you can set aside an additional $18,500 a year—or $24,500 for those 50 or older. (That extra $18,500 or $24,500 is reduced by any salary contributions you make to other 401(k)-style plans, says Ms. Appleby.) The SEP IRA and Solo 401(k) both cap total annual contributions at $55,000—a number that rises to $61,000 for people 50 or older in a Solo 401(k). (An employer’s matching or profit-sharing contributions—which you, as the employer, can make—are counted toward that $55,000 limit, as are employee contributions.) Because the $55,000 limit generally applies to each employer’s plan you participate in, those with two jobs can theoretically save up to $110,000 a year—not to mention the $5,500 allowed in an IRA. Write to Anne Tergesen at [email protected] Full access to the trusted insights you need DOWNLOAD THE WSJ APP
首先 55K 的上限主要是靠 employer match。如果你工资高，employer match 多，达到了 55K limit, 那恭喜你，要不然存不够你也没法子。
其次说 SEP IRA.
The limit of 25% applies to wages, not (adjusted) net profit. In the above example, where an employee earns $40,000 and the employer contributes 25% of that, $10,000, the employee has received $50,000 total, of which 20% goes to the SEP-IRA.
lz 是一知半解啊。 首先 5.5K 的上限主要是靠 employer match。如果你工资高，employer match 多，达到了 5.5K limit, 那恭喜你，要不然存不够你也没法子。 其次说 SEP IRA. The limit of 25% applies to wages, not (adjusted) net profit. In the above example, where an employee earns $40,000 and the employer contributes 25% of that, $10,000, the employee has received $50,000 total, of which 20% goes to the SEP-IRA. 首先你个人的公司得赚够足够多的钱，能给自己开高工资，才能存的多。 其次，就算你公司收入颇丰，收入开到给你个人的 W2 上了，你是不是还得多缴税？这个是不是也不是太划算哈？
首先 55K 的上限主要是靠 employer match。如果你工资高，employer match 多，达到了 5.5K limit, 那恭喜你，要不然存不够你也没法子。
其次说 SEP IRA.
The limit of 25% applies to wages, not (adjusted) net profit. In the above example, where an employee earns $40,000 and the employer contributes 25% of that, $10,000, the employee has received $50,000 total, of which 20% goes to the SEP-IRA.
首先 55K 的上限主要是靠 employer match。如果你工资高，employer match 多，达到了 55K limit, 那恭喜你，要不然存不够你也没法子。
其次说 SEP IRA.
The limit of 25% applies to wages, not (adjusted) net profit. In the above example, where an employee earns $40,000 and the employer contributes 25% of that, $10,000, the employee has received $50,000 total, of which 20% goes to the SEP-IRA.
lz 是一知半解啊。首先 55K 的上限主要是靠 employer match。如果你工资高，employer match 多，达到了 5.5K limit, 那恭喜你，要不然存不够你也没法子。其次说 SEP IRA.The limit of 25% applies to wages, not (adjusted) net profit. In the above example, where an employee earns $40,000 and the employer contributes 25% of that, $10,000, the employee has received $50,000 total, of which 20% goes to the SEP-IRA.首先你个人的公司得赚够足够多的钱，能给自己开高工资，才能存的多。其次，就算你公司收入颇丰，收入开到给你个人的 W2 上了，你是不是还得多缴税？这个是不是也不是太划算哈？ 莫小贝 发表于 1/12/2018 11:38:57 AM
啥公司能401K match那么多。。。。年薪30万，公司match 6%，那也才1万8啊。。。。 stacych8008 发表于 1/12/2018 11:43:25 AM
首先 55K 的上限主要是靠 employer match。如果你工资高，employer match 多，达到了 5.5K limit, 那恭喜你，要不然存不够你也没法子。
其次说 SEP IRA.
The limit of 25% applies to wages, not (adjusted) net profit. In the above example, where an employee earns $40,000 and the employer contributes 25% of that, $10,000, the employee has received $50,000 total, of which 20% goes to the SEP-IRA.
Mr. Romney's retirement account wasn't a Roth IRA, on which he would already have paid taxes, according to the campaign aide. He is required by law to begin withdrawing funds from his account beginning in 2017, when he reaches age 70½. Those withdrawals will be treated as ordinary income, which currently is taxed at a maximum federal rate of 35%. (For most Americans, IRAs make sense because their savings are so modest their retirement income won't likely trigger high tax rates.)
你对的。我错了。 不过romney是因为他命不好，存的时间后long term cap gain is taxed at ordinary income level.谁知道后来就变了。 现在有钱人无脑solo Roth 401k.
你的脸都要肿了 Mr. Romney's retirement account wasn't a Roth IRA, on which he would already have paid taxes, according to the campaign aide. He is required by law to begin withdrawing funds from his account beginning in 2017, when he reaches age 70½. Those withdrawals will be treated as ordinary income, which currently is taxed at a maximum federal rate of 35%. (For most Americans, IRAs make sense because their savings are so modest their retirement income won't likely trigger high tax rates.) https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204468004577168972507188592
https://apple.news/AFfFoE0UXSCmsSvoRcn7Qhwhttps://apple.news/AFfFoE0UXSCmsSvoRcn7Qhw
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/four-hacks-to-boost-your-retirement-savings-in-2018-1515753001
这个真的写得很全面很通俗易懂了，一年每人可以存12万+。一家可以存近24万。以后大家不要再发一半是错的理财贴了。所有理财，先问问自己24万存满了吗？
Four Hacks to Boost Your Retirement Savings in 2018
How to ramp up savings for a spouse who doesn’t work, Roth IRA contributions and other options to build your tax-free nest egg
After November’s column on using health-savings accounts to build a pot of tax-free retirement money, some readers (and editors) asked about other ways to save more and reduce taxes for retirement. So I polled retirement experts for ideas, which range from a backdoor way for high-income taxpayers to make Roth IRA contributions in order to build tax-free retirement assets to ramping up savings for a spouse who doesn’t work.
Here, four of the best retirement hacks:
Save for a nonworking spouse
To contribute to an individual retirement account, you have to earn income. But there is an exception for nonworking spouses: a so-called spousal IRA.
Provided one spouse has wages, self-employment earnings or other forms of income, he or she can set up a spousal IRA and contribute up to $5,500 a year (or $6,500 if the nonworking spouse is 50 or older) on behalf of a spouse. A couple must file a joint tax return to qualify.
WSJ for iPad & iPhone
What’s News
Your destination for the day's most
important business and markets news.
DOWNLOAD THE WSJ APP
The nonworking spouse can stash money in a traditional IRA or, if the couple meets income requirements, in a Roth IRA. With a traditional IRA, employees generally get to subtract the contributions from their income and reduce the taxes they pay, but they must pay ordinary income tax on the money when they withdraw it. With a Roth IRA, there is no upfront tax deduction but the money grows tax-free.
A nonworking spouse in a couple that earns less than $199,000 can opt for a Roth IRA; above that, he or she is restricted to a traditional IRA. With a traditional IRA, the nonworking spouse must be younger than age 70½ years when the contributions are made.
Also, if the working spouse is covered by a 401(k)-type plan, both spouses can still contribute to an IRA. But the working spouse can’t take a tax deduction for contributions to a traditional IRA if his or her income is above $121,000. The nonworking spouse loses the deduction when household income is above $199,000. Those with incomes above those thresholds can contribute after-tax money, and when they tap the account in retirement they will be liable for income tax only on the earnings.
Make a “backdoor” Roth IRA contribution
Individuals who earn $135,000 or more and couples with incomes above $199,000 can’t contribute to a Roth IRA. But there is a way around this rule.
The key is to put money you already paid taxes on into a traditional IRA and convert it to a Roth IRA. Because you already paid income tax on the contribution, you will owe tax only on the appreciation your investments have earned when you do the Roth conversion.
If you do the conversion quickly, your investments won’t have much time to appreciate and you won’t owe much tax on the conversion, says Ed Slott, an IRA expert from Rockville Centre, N.Y.
One potential hurdle: If you have other IRAs, a conversion is likely to become more complicated. That is because tax rules prevent those with traditional IRAs that contain both pretax and after-tax money from converting only the after-tax money.
Say you have $50,000 in a pretax IRA that you transferred from a previous employer’s 401(k) plan. If you now put $6,500 of after-tax money into a separate IRA, you can’t convert only the $6,500 tax-free.
Instead, you must divide your after-tax contributions of $6,500 by the total balance in both of your IRAs of $56,500. The result—11.5%—is the percentage of the conversion the Internal Revenue Service considers tax-free—or $747.50 of a $6,500 conversion.
You can avoid this problem if you roll all of your pretax IRA money into your current employer’s 401(k) plan. Because you can’t roll after-tax money into a 401(k), the $6,500 in nondeductible contributions will remain behind in your IRA, where it can be converted tax-free to a Roth IRA.
Do a “mega-backdoor” Roth IRA conversion
With this strategy, some employees can potentially convert larger sums to a Roth IRA while minimizing the tax consequences.
After contributing the $18,500 maximum—or $24,500 if you are 50 or older—to a traditional pretax 401(k) or a Roth 401(k), ask if your plan permits after-tax contributions. About half do, according to 401(k) record-keeper Alight Solutions LLC.
In total, the IRS allows employees to set aside up to $55,000 a year in pretax, after-tax, and employer contributions. The number rises to $61,000 if you are 50 or older.
Once employees are 59½ or older, many 401(k) plans allow them to roll over their savings tax-free to an IRA. Some plans permit younger employees to do the same—but only with their after-tax contributions. That gives those younger employees an opportunity to withdraw just their after-tax money, pay income tax on the earnings, and convert the withdrawal to a Roth IRA, where it can grow tax-free.
People who are 59½ or older can withdraw all of their 401(k) money and funnel the pretax portion into a traditional IRA, while converting the after-tax portion to a Roth IRA.
Fund another IRA
If you work a side job—as a freelancer or gig worker—you can save more than double the amount you are allowed to set side in a 401(k) plan.
The trick is to put $18,500 a year into a 401(k) at your primary employer and $5,500 into an IRA and then save even more by putting some of your self-employment income into a SEP IRA, a Simple IRA or a Solo 401(k).
Many brokerage firms and banks offer these plans. The simplest is the SEP IRA, which has little to no administrative costs or annual filing requirements, says Denise Appleby, of Appleby Retirement Consulting Inc. in Grayson, Ga.
With a Simple IRA, you can save as much as $12,500 a year pretax—or $15,500 for those who are 50 or older–plus a deductible matching contribution of up to 3% of pay that comes from you, because you’re the employer.
Both the SEP IRA and Solo 401(k) allow you to save as much as 25% of your self-employment compensation. With the Solo 401(k) you can set aside an additional $18,500 a year—or $24,500 for those 50 or older. (That extra $18,500 or $24,500 is reduced by any salary contributions you make to other 401(k)-style plans, says Ms. Appleby.)
The SEP IRA and Solo 401(k) both cap total annual contributions at $55,000—a number that rises to $61,000 for people 50 or older in a Solo 401(k). (An employer’s matching or profit-sharing contributions—which you, as the employer, can make—are counted toward that $55,000 limit, as are employee contributions.)
Because the $55,000 limit generally applies to each employer’s plan you participate in, those with two jobs can theoretically save up to $110,000 a year—not to mention the $5,500 allowed in an IRA.
Write to Anne Tergesen at [email protected]
Full access to the trusted insights you need
DOWNLOAD THE WSJ APP
是 $5万6 个人吧，12 万应该是 family。
Backdoor每年顶多能转税后3万。5万6 包括了1万8的401K，可能5千到8千的employer match，剩下的才是back door limits。
最主要的条件就是公司的 401K 必须有after tax 401K选项。我的公司有，我老公的公司是没有的。我个人觉得老牌公司比如制造业或者能源行业可能有这个after tax 401K，但是金融和新型科技公司没有？
首先 55K 的上限主要是靠 employer match。如果你工资高，employer match 多，达到了 55K limit, 那恭喜你，要不然存不够你也没法子。
其次说 SEP IRA.
The limit of 25% applies to wages, not (adjusted) net profit. In the above example, where an employee earns $40,000 and the employer contributes 25% of that, $10,000, the employee has received $50,000 total, of which 20% goes to the SEP-IRA.
首先你个人的公司得赚够足够多的钱，能给自己开高工资，才能存的多。
其次，就算你公司收入颇丰，收入开到给你个人的 W2 上了，你是不是还得多缴税？这个是不是也不是太划算哈？
所以12万是个人的
5万6可以全部是employee存的。
至于你说的什么一定要通过w2更是莫名其妙。
如果你想搞个自己的公司，靠这个存 SEP IRA, 那还是有局限的。就是我贴的 regulation.
一般高 match 的公司/学校有 match cap, 很可能就是 55K-18.5K
What’s new?
--------------------------------------------
wallstreet也在瞎搞，现实中有几个人会用SEP做到55k的呀。
HR退钱是怎么一回事啊。
钱还是拿在手里最好--------不一定对，但是有提醒你呀。
能这么干的人早去做DB了，谁去做那个SEP呀。。。。
这你做梦呢吧，401K是自己的钱。不是SOCIAL SECURITY。
尊重私有财产是资本主义的根本，你以为是我党的法治社会呢！真这样，美国人民手里是有枪的。
所以有roth 大把力气花在roth上吧。。
后门roth 11000了。。每年这就是58000了。。 足够了。。。
一般情况下，做plan的人和开account的是一伙的。。
Defined Benefit
每个公司不一样。我们match 10%，但是$10K封顶，所以大家都封顶了。
各有各的贱法！我们公司是高工资人员的after tax最多存个特别小的个位数百分比，不许存多了。
知道啊，上百M？这个不算是丑闻么？给富人设计的loophole，主要增值来源是buyout equity, carried interest，他最早期的$30000变成了后来的40milllion。普通人怎么用。。。
哪个有上百M的有钱人会这么做呀。
要说这些退休计划，我最服的就是你，真是摸得透呀！
别提了，我们公司没通过 去年就被退了。。。。 以公司内部的薪酬分布来看distribution实在是不合理啊。
不过mockingjay mm比我人好。解释耐心。
Wrong
some companies match 10-20% depends on business performance.
你知道romney的IRA有100M，他70岁force wirthdraw的时候要付最高bracket的tax rate
如果他当年没用IRA的钱，他只要付15%的long term capital gain.....
romney的IRA就是个joke
因为同样说一句话，她的信息量更大更有效
没准人家存的是 roth, 取钱不交税啊。
既然他能想出 loop hole，很难想象他笨到存了 pre-tax。
romney 2012年选举的时候，已经被全国人民嘲笑过一遍了
他是存的SEP-IRA，从84-99年每年存了三万进SEP-IRA，一共45万
然后他用SEP-IRA的钱买了bain capital的equity
现在他这个SEP-IRA 帐户值100M+，但是他要付ordinary income tax, 而不是long term capital gain
你的脸都要肿了
Mr. Romney's retirement account wasn't a Roth IRA, on which he would already have paid taxes, according to the campaign aide. He is required by law to begin withdrawing funds from his account beginning in 2017, when he reaches age 70½. Those withdrawals will be treated as ordinary income, which currently is taxed at a maximum federal rate of 35%. (For most Americans, IRAs make sense because their savings are so modest their retirement income won't likely trigger high tax rates.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204468004577168972507188592
mark
mark
不过romney是因为他命不好，存的时间后long term cap gain is taxed at ordinary income level.谁知道后来就变了。
现在有钱人无脑solo Roth 401k.
惭愧惭愧，我做的方向和HR 有一点关系。这些test都是参与过的。
有你开话题我们才能参与嘛，所以你还是更热心。
年底了突然来一封信， 超的全从401k里面吐出来， 连利息也要重新收税
这样一来公司match就不剩多少了
不怼人，
懂得多
无私分享：）
这种是不是就不值得存了