Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Entrepreneurial Exit Planning: IRA Rollover

By Rich Regalas


When planning for retirement or selling a business, it is important to consider where you will continue to put your investments after your exit. If yourcompany has established a 401(k) or other retirement plan (probably where most of your money is), you must consider what you are going to do with these retirement assets when you retire. An IRA rollover is frequently used as an option since it provides a number of benefits.

A direct IRA transfer could be a viable choice for a number of reasons. If you were to take a direct distribution from your retirement account, you would be subject to a required 20% withholding for income taxes (regardless of your tax situation). If you chose to reinvest the initial amount in another retirement plan or IRA, you would have only 60 days to do so. This can be avoided by choosing a direct rollover strategy. Simply open an IRA at a bank or another financial institution, and direct your former personnel department to send a check directly to the financial establishment.

With an IRA rollover, you can continue to benefit from a tax deferral. In delaying taxes, it can significantly increase your account's balance by the time you exit. Also, it is possible that you could be in a lower tax bracket when you exit the workforce. This is another benefit of delaying your assessable investments.

IRAs offer a variety of investment options, which makes this type of investment all the more beneficial. They allow you to diversify your investments in shares of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, REITs, and other types of investments that may not be available in your 401(k) plan. Your financial advisor can help you select the best asset distribution for your IRA.

If you put your retirement savings into an IRA plan, you could be allowed to transfer it to a Roth IRA in the future. This method will only involve paying taxes on the money transferred, but not on any future profits (after the conversion) if certain conditions are met. Your Roth IRA total would always be accessible without additional fees. Also, remember that you may be eligible to make disbursements tax-free for purposes such as buying a first home, disability, or death.

There are other options besides rolling over your retirement assets to an IRA. You could perhaps just choose to leave your assets in the original account. Another choice could be to take a cash-withdrawal from your plan. Finally, if you were to choose to buy a business and that company offered a retirement plan (i.e. 401(k) plan), you could shift the money to the new company's retirement plan.

Ask your advisor about the advantages of an IRA account. The strategy can help you keep more of your money, maintain tax deferral on your assets, and provide you with more investment opportunities.




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