Legislation augmenting the SECURE Act of 2019 now goes to the Senate after passing the House.
Retirement planning
Roth IRAs: Are they right for your client?
The choice between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA in saving for retirement depends on the person’s age, tax bracket, expected future earnings and other factors.
The long-term-care quandary: Helping clients prepare
Long-term care is a critical topic when discussing retirement plans with aging clients.
Tax returns are underrated financial planning tools
Tax time provides an excellent opportunity to create or update a financial strategy. By examining your tax returns, you can glean information that can help you build a financial plan.
COVID-19 and withdrawals from retirement plans
Taxpayers under financial duress caused by the pandemic can avoid penalties.
Inflation-adjusted income ranges for 2021 IRA and 401(k) plans
The IRS announced that the income ranges for employee participation in workplace 401(k) plans and IRA contributions will increase from 2020 to 2021. Most of the other retirement plan contribution limits stayed the same, however.
Unclaimed property distributions allowed as self-certified rollovers
The IRS issued guidance adding state unclaimed property fund distributions to the list of reasons that taxpayers may self-certify that they missed the 60-day deadline to roll over funds to a qualified retirement plan.
Time to consider a Roth conversion
A qualified rollover contribution to a Roth IRA or an in-plan rollover to a designated Roth account, known as a Roth conversion, can be attractive for CPA advisers’ clients because it provides a higher net present value of cash flow from their retirement savings, benefiting themselves or their beneficiaries.
One CPA financial planner’s approach to retirement
Mackey McNeill, CPA/PFS, founder of Mackey Advisors, based in Bellevue, Ky., developed a process for encouraging clients to discuss the nonfinancial aspects of retirement.
Talk about more than money when readying clients for retirement
Discussing the nonfinancial side of retirement with clients gives them a better idea of what to expect and gives CPA financial planners insight into how much they might spend.
How to help a client retiring abroad think about taxes
This article discusses how CPAs can help their clients navigate the tax and financial planning complications of retiring overseas.
The SECURE Act’s changes
Practitioners can advise on the most sweeping retirement reforms since 2006.
Why Roth conversions still make sense after the SECURE Act
Changes brought on by the SECURE act have added new wrinkles to the planning process that must be considered by IRA owners and CPA financial planners.
Calming clients’ fears during the coronavirus outbreak
How can CPAs deal with client anxieties during a time of uncertainty? The best steps include preparing them for unexpected events before they happen and acknowledging their concerns.
CPAs need to watch these health care pricing rules
New rules are designed to make health care pricing more transparent, and CPA financial planners could use that information to help clients make more informed decisions.
The financial and human cost of loneliness in retirement
Isolation and loneliness can have serious emotional, social, and financial consequences, and can contribute to declines in clients’ physical and mental health and quality of life.
Proceeding into retirement
CPAs describe how they made a successful transition at the end of their careers.
Retirement plan contribution limits increase for 2020
Annual contribution limits for 401(k) plans will increase from $19,000 in 2019 to $19,500 in 2020, and most other limits are increasing as well.
How CPAs can help family businesses with succession planning
Jonathan Flack, CPA, discusses why leaders of family businesses have such a difficult time with succession planning and what CPAs can do to help them.
The father of the 401(k) on how his invention has reshaped retirement
Ted Benna talks about how and why he came up with the 401(k), its advantages and drawbacks, how he’d change it if given the chance, and how it’s reshaped retirement.
Features
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Building a better CPA firm: Stepping up service offerings
A key step in business model modernization is determining how to implement services that satisfy clients and employees.