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Time to act fast. We’re sharing some important tax strategies you might want to put in place before Dec. 31 to maximize your retirement accounts. We’ll share what they are and why you might want to make these changes now.
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Show Notes
In last week’s episode we talked about year-end tax strategies. Today, we’re breaking that down even further and focusing on how to maximize your retirement accounts. You need to put a lot of these strategies in place before Dec. 31 if you want to get the benefits.
First, you need to know what types of accounts are available to you and which ones you can contribute to based on your income. Some, like a 401k, you can contribute to it. But an IRA or Roth IRA, for example, is based on your income and could be phased out or limited.
One of the things you really want to be thinking about when it comes to your life and your finances is tax diversification. That means, where are you saving your funds? You want to look at your tax bracket and where you want to save today and in future years.
If you have a 401k and are under the age of 50, you have the ability to contribute up to $19,500 a year into that account. If you’re over 50, they allow catch-up contributions for a total of $26,000 a year.
You can also save into an IRA or Roth IRA $6,000 a year. If you’re over 50, you can save $7,000.
If you’re self-employed, you have options as well. You can look at a SEP (Simplified Employee Pension Plan) or a solo 401k or solo Roth 401k plan. Each structure has its benefits.
If you have a non-working spouse, you can start a spousal IRA. There are income limits, and this a good way to put away money for retirement.
Listen to the full podcast or use the timestamps below to jump to a specific section.
2:06 – Types of accounts
6:04 – Maximizing accounts
9:09 – Self-employed
10:35 – Non-working spouse
13:07 – Roth conversions
16:43 – Strategies
21:27 – Be careful
Thanks for checking out this episode. We’ll talk to you again soon.
“Understand all the different accounts that are available to you and if you’ve got that ability, maximize the accounts that are available to you.”
-Scott Sierens