Roth conversion as estate planning technique
September 28, 2009 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS · Leave a Comment
The 2010 lifting of income limits for Roth IRA conversions creates a sizable opportunity to reduce estate taxes. We’ve already discussed Roth IRA conversion basics, and who might want to convert. But if your estate is potentially subject to the estate tax at your death, you have an additional reason to take a close look at this opportunity.
For 2009, the estate tax exemption is $3.5 million. Under current law, the estate tax is scheduled to be completely revoked for 2010 and then in 2011 revert back to a $1 million per person exemption. Very few people think that the current law will stand as is. But no one knows right now what congress will do. So, for planning purposes, it’s prudent to consider Roth IRA conversion if your estate is potentially at or even near current estate tax levels. If you’re not sure about your estate, there’s a neat little calculator at SmartMoney.com.
How does converting help?
When you pass money in a traditional IRA to your heirs, you are passing the funds pre-income-tax. When you pass money in a Roth IRA, you are passing post-income-tax funds. Either way, the total being passed counts toward your taxable estate. So if you pay the taxes on the IRA funds before your death by converting traditional IRA funds to Roth, you reduce your taxable estate by the amount of the income taxes paid.
Let’s look at an example simplified for the case of illustration.
Suppose Mr. Smith has $5 million in assets that he will be passing to his son when he dies. Using the $3.5 million exemption, $1.5 million will be subject to the estate tax, and estate taxes would be approximately $675,000. $1 million of these assets are in a traditional IRA. Mr. Smith is in the 35% tax bracket.
If Mr. Smith converts the $1 million traditional IRA to a Roth, he will pay $350,000 in income taxes for the conversion, reducing his estate to $4,650,000. After conversion, only $1,150,000 will remain subject to the estate tax, and his estate tax will go down to $517,500 – a savings of approximately $157,500.
Other considerations with this strategy:
- What tax bracket is the beneficiary in?
- How much do we expect the IRA to grow between conversion and estimated life expectancy?
- What other estate planning techniques are available to Mr. Smith to otherwise reduce estate taxes?
In any case, if your assets potentially make your estate subject to the estate tax and you have a traditional IRA, converting to a Roth IRA merits consideration as an estate planning technique.
Best Financial Planner Award
September 23, 2009 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS · Leave a Comment
The Keller Citizen released their Best of the Best 2009 issue this morning, and I’m delighted to share that I was voted best financial planner in Keller by readers of the paper.
Thank you to everyone that voted! I greatly enjoy being a part of the Keller community and appreciate your support.
To view the winners in all the categories, visit the Keller Citizen’s website.
Who should consider Roth conversion
September 18, 2009 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS · 2 Comments
Given the historic opportunity of 2010 to spread the tax payment over 2 years in 2011 and 2012, everyone with a traditional IRA should take at least one look at Roth IRA conversion for next year.
It is most beneficial to you when all of these apply:
- You’ll pay the resulting “conversion” tax with non-IRA funds
- You have 10 years or more before you will be taking distributions from the Roth IRA
- You will be in the same or a higher tax bracket when you start taking those distributions.
But even if only some or none of these apply, it doesn’t mean you should rule conversion out.
There are still many times where it can make sense, and some that don’t. It’s easiest to discuss these by looking at few examples.
I did an analysis for a 64-year-old who didn’t have the money to pay the tax with non-IRA funds, so the taxes were going to come out of his IRA. He also only had 6 years until he planned to start taking distributions. He was going to be in the same tax bracket in 2011-2012 and in retirement. In his situation, he still came out ahead with conversion – having over $1,000 more in after-tax retirement income by converting. He won’t be subject to the 10% penalty on the amount withdrawn to pay the tax because he is over 59 ½. His situation was also helped by not planning to take social security until age 70. If he was already receiving social security benefits, we would have needed to consider any additional income tax implications on his social security benefits for the years he claimed the conversion income.
Another analysis was for a 32-year-old woman. She has a pre-tax employer
401k and was also trying to decide if conversion made sense. She also does not have the funds to pay the taxes with non-401k money, and she would be subject to the 10% penalty by withdrawing funds from the 401k before age 59 ½ to pay the taxes. We estimated her tax bracket in 2011-2012 and in retirement as the same. In her case, conversion did not make sense. But it was quite close. If she believed that her tax rates were going to be higher by the time she retired by even 1%, the conversion would have significantly increased her after-tax income.
One last example – 44 year old. He had a traditional IRA and had money to pay the taxes from a non-IRA account. However, we estimated that his tax bracket in retirement would likely be lower than it is now, by about 3%. In his case, conversion was still a great deal even with the projected lower retirement tax rate. Having all those years of after-tax growth more than off-set the potential for a slightly lower rate in retirement.
If you have a traditional IRA, an analysis is in order.
The above examples illustrate that even when your situation doesn’t meet the “ideal conversion” criteria, it still may make a significant difference in your after-tax retirement income. If you’d like to see the specific calculations on any of the examples listed above, please feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to send them to you.
A few other considerations to keep in mind
If your estate is potentially subject to the estate tax, a Roth conversion can be a powerful planning tool.
The market’s relative “high” or “low” value when you convert is also a factor in how good a deal conversion is – low values mean you pay tax on a lower amount.
There are also opportunities to convert in early 2010 and undo the conversion later based on circumstances or market performance. We’ll discuss this in future posts.
Roth IRA Conversion Overview
September 14, 2009 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS · 2 Comments
Through 2009, converting an IRA from a traditional IRA to Roth is only available for those with household incomes under $100,000. Beginning next year, that changes. However, a lot of people aren’t aware of the upcoming changes — according to Financial Planning magazine, only 42% of advisor clients were aware of the new Roth IRA conversion opportunity. I will be doing a series of blog posts over the next couple of weeks giving you the details on this opportunity and some examples of who should consider this strategy. Of course, everyone’s situation is unique and these posts are for informational purposes only, so you should only make the decision after consulting with your own financial advisor.
First, why would you want to convert?
Funds withdrawn from a traditional IRA are subject to regular income tax. Funds withdrawn from a Roth IRA (both contributions and earnings) after age 59 1/2 and after you’ve owned the IRA for 5 years are federal income tax-free. By converting from a traditional to Roth IRA, you are paying taxes sooner rather than later on your IRA balance. This strategy allows your post-conversion earnings to avoid taxation altogether and to have potential tax savings on the contributions if your tax rate goes is higher in the future. It also gives you greater flexibility on when you use the funds because Roth IRAs do not have required minimum distributions. For some people, using this strategy can create a larger pool of after-tax retirement income and help with estate planning.
If you’d rather watch a video than read about the Roth IRA changes, this video comes from a service I subscribe to and provides a good overview of the conversion opportunity. Let me know what you think!
Roth IRA Conversion VideoFree Financial Advice in Keller
September 8, 2009 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS · 1 Comment
Free financial advice will be available to residents of Keller, TX for Financial Planning Week October 5-12, 2009. Many individuals and families are facing financial challenges or uncertainty right now. Retirement plans are shifting. Investments are volatile. Jobs are less secure. And debt is a bigger issue than ever. In this environment, people are hungry for reliable, objective financial advice.
Keener Financial Planning has partnered with the Greater Keller Chamber of Commerce to provide two informational
financial workshops at Keller Town Hall on Tuesday and Thursday evening, October 6 and 8 from 5 to 6:30 pm. Both workshops are free and open to the public. Tuesday evening’s topic is Financial Tranquility: Get Back to the Basics for a Stress-Free Financial Life. Thursday’s topic is 7 Mistakes Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them. There is limited space available, so attendees are encouraged to RSVP to info@keenerfinancial.com to reserve their seat. Light refreshments and door prizes will be provided.
Keener Financial Planning will also be offering Free Financial Advice Friday on October 9. I will be providing pro bono financial advice and coaching sessions all day at my office in Keller. Times will be by appointment on a first-come, first-serve basis. To participate in Free Financial Advice Friday, email info@keenerfinancial.com to request a time.
The purpose of Financial Planning Week is to raise awareness of the importance of financial planning in all of our lives and the value of getting objective advice to help you achieve your financial goals and dreams. Please join me for one of these events and help spread the word about how a solid financial plan helps create a secure future. Thank you!
New Texas Teacher Long-Term Care Insurance Option
September 4, 2009 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS · 1 Comment
Beginning on September 1 this year, the new long-term care insurance provider for the Texas Teacher Retirement System (TRS) switched from Aetna to Genworth. During open enrollment from September 15 – November 15 this year, teachers will have the option to sign up for this insurance. If you’re thinking about getting long-term care insurance anytime soon, now is the time to take action while you have the greatest number of options.
How do you know if the TRS Genworth group option is right for you?
The first thing to do is to get a quote for the TRS group policy through the Genworth website. To do this, go to www.genworth.com/groupltc For active employees, the group ID is TRS. For retirees, the group ID is TRSRetiree. The access code for both is groupltc.
After you’ve received your quote, you’ll want to go out and shop for individual quotes. Some of the companies in addition to Genworth offering long-term care insurance are John Hancock, MetLife, Prudential, Mass Mutual, Berkshire, and New York Life. You’ll want to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples, so print out the options you selected for the Genworth TRS policy to show to your insurance agent.
If you want an objective second opinion on when you should get long-term care insurance or the “right” amount of long-term care coverage to purchase for your situation, that’s something an independent financial planner like myself can help with.
If you find that the Genworth group TRS program is providing the best pricing and benefits for you, then it’s easy. You’ll want to go ahead and sign up if you’ve decided now is the right time for you to get long-term care insurance.
If you find an individual option could provide superior benefits at the same cost or comparable benefits at a lower cost, you’ll have some additional work to do. You need to go through under-writing and make sure you qualify. You will need to answer some health questions and possibly have an exam. This process can take some time, so you should start now. Only after you’ve been offered coverage through the other company can you really make a decision about which option to choose.
If you’re declined by the other company — good news — you still have the TRS group option. During the initial enrollment period, Genworth is providing a coverage guarantee to active employees. The coverage guarantee is why it’s so important to investigate this group option now if you have any health issues that may prevent coverage on an individual policy. According to the Genworth website, “During your enrollment period, if you are an actively at work employee on the day you apply, and on the day your coverage becomes effective, your coverage is guaranteed without answering any health questions. Also, during this time your spouse will have streamlined underwriting which limits the health questions they´ll have to answer. If you decide to apply after the enrollment period, you will be required to complete a full health questionnaire and go through underwriting. There is a chance that a health condition may prevent you from qualifying for coverage.”
Just to give you one example of this process, I compared the TRS group option for one couple. In this couple’s particular situation, the couple’s group coverage through TRS was going to cost slightly more than purchasing a comparable individual policy through Genworth directly, about the same as through MetLife, and a little less than through John Hancock.
Also of note, in the 3 individual quotes received, the prices were based on 100% of the maximum daily benefit being available for home healthcare vs. 75% for the Genworth group policy. 75% may be enough because home healthcare can be less costly than skilled nursing care. But if you can get 100% for the same or less premium — all other things being equal – it’s definitely the smart move.
In addition to price and features, it’s important to look at the ratings of the insurer, claims-paying experience of policyholders, and length of time the company has been in the long-term care arena. For this couple, it made more sense to go with one of the individual options. However, if they had health issues that would have kept them from qualifying for the individual policy, taking advantage of the TRS group policy during this initial enrollment period would have been a wonderful opportunity. It’s also important to note that everyone’s situation is different, so you need to complete this process for yourself.
Bottom line: if you’re thinking about getting long-term care insurance anytime soon, now is the time to take action while you have the greatest number of options.
For more information on making this decision, you can visit these links:
TRS long-term care information
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services site on long-term care information
Medicare’s site on long-term care
My blog post on 5 claims to watch out for in Long Term Care Insurance
My blog post Long Term Care is a Women’s Issue
September 2009 Newsletter
September 2, 2009 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS · Leave a Comment
The September 2009 newsletter is now available. It includes information on 2010 retirement plan contribution limits, health insurance protection for college students, KFP’s new Dallas office, and more. To read it, click here.