Summary of Ed Slott's The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Ed Slott's The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: If you're like most Americans, your most valuable asset is your retirement fund. We diligently save money for years, yet most of us don't know how to avoid the costly mistakes that cause a good chunk of those savings to be lost to needless and excessive taxation. Now, in the midst of a financial crisis, there is more need than ever to protect your assets. The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb, by renowned tax advisor Ed Slott, shows you in clear-cut layman's terms how to take control over your retirement savings plan. This easy-to-follow plan helps you place your assets to avoid the latest traps set out by congress in addition to any that might be set down the road, so you can keep your hard-earned money no matter what. And, it's fully up-to date with information on the SECURE Act and everything you need to know about how the coronavirus relief bills will affect your savings down the road. This book is required reading for every American with savings and investments who is planning to retire, be it five years from now or fifty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781669342410

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Ed Slott's The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Americans have invested trillions of dollars into retirement plans, which have become the biggest and most valuable assets they own.

#2

This book is about protecting your hard-earned money from being taken away by the government.

#3

The author will explain the many traps and complexities in the tax code governing retirement savings, and provide a plan to help the millions of Americans at risk save a fortune in retirement income.

#4

The author will help you develop a strategy to protect your retirement assets and keep your money in the family. Remember, where taxes are concerned, it’s what you keep that counts.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The author’s website, irahelp. com, provides the most up-to-date information regarding retirement account tax laws.

Insights from Chapter 3

#1

A glossary of key terms is provided at the beginning of the book, to help the reader understand the book’s content. The author uses these terms throughout the book to explain specific tax terms.

#2

Your Adjusted Gross Income is the total amount of money you earn before any standard or itemized deductions or tax credits. It's an important number to know since many tax provisions are based on AGI, not taxable income.

#3

After-tax and pre-tax money look different from one another. After-tax money is taxable now; pre-tax money is taxable later. It is important to know the distinction in order to not inadvertently pay taxes on funds that should be tax-free.

#4

The three main components of a real estate investment are the property, the money you put into it, and the basis of that money. The higher your basis, the lower your taxable gain when you sell the property.

#5

A designated beneficiary is the person named on an IRA or company plan beneficiary form, and must be a person with a pulse and a birthday. If you cannot prove that you have both, you fall into the non-human category, and your account may be subject to tax. A beneficiary can be a person who is not a designated beneficiary.

#6

If your beneficiary is a human being and is named on the beneficiary form, they qualify as a designated beneficiary. Designated beneficiaries fall into two categories: noneligible designated beneficiaries (NEDBs) and eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs). Only eligible designated beneficiaries can take advantage of the stretch IRA.

#7

The final class of designated beneficiaries for an employer-sponsored retirement account is the employee's spouse, children, parents, disabled individuals, and chronically ill individuals.

#8

Capital gains are what everyone wants, and ordinary income is what most people get. Income from your trade or business, or IRA distributions, is defined as ordinary, which means it is taxed at a higher rate.

#9

There are two ways to add money to a Roth IRA. The first is through a traditional contribution, which is subject to income tax. The second is through a conversion, which is not.

#10

Conversions can be accomplished through a rollover or a trustee-to-trustee transfer. A recharacterization of a Roth conversion is when you transfer converted funds back to an IRA, thereby annulling the conversion. But the tax law did away with recharacterizations of Roth conversions after 2017.

#11

A direct transfer is when you physically move funds from one retirement account to another. This is the preferred method because it is safe and tax-free. The IRS also loves this method because it is difficult to trace.

#12

A gift is something you give while you’re alive, whereas a bequest is something you give after your death through a will or trust. Gift and estate taxes are intended to be the same whether you give something away while you’re alive or it’s taxed in your estate after you’re dead.

#13

The difference between your own and inherited IRA is that your own is funded only by money that you yourself contribute, while an inherited IRA is funded by anyone except a spouse. An inherited IRA is subject to different required distribution rules than your own.

#14

The Internal Revenue Code is the tax law