Turn Your Retirement Savings Into a Retirement Plan
By Melissa Phipps, About.com Guide
- Retirement Account Selection
- Investing for Retirement
- Special Considerations During Your Working Years
- Income Limits
Retirement Account Selection
Choosing the type of account to put your retirement money is important. Note: this isn't about investing - that comes later. First, you must choose an account. Options presented by your employer, plus your income and tax situation, will play major roles in your choices.
- Saving in Both a Roth and a 401(k)
- Self-Employed? Special Account Options
- SEP-IRA - An Effective Choice for the Self Employed
- Choosing Between a Traditional and a Roth IRA
Investing for Retirement
Once you pick an account or two for your retirement plan money, it's time to put that money to work. Your investment choices will go a long way toward determining how much money you have available when the day to retire finally comes. Here are some words to the wise when investing for retirement.
- Summary of Your Retirement Planning Investment Choices
- Automatic Investing Programs
- An Introduction to Mutual Funds
- No-Load Mutual Funds - That's a Good Thing
- Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
- Lifecycle (Target Retirement) Funds
- Index Funds
- Bonds
- Asset Allocation
- Dollar Cost Averaging
- Rebalancing
- How Your Personality Affects Your Investment Choices
- Mutal Funds vs. Exchange Traded Funds
Special Considerations During Your Working Years
While your working years are the key (and only) time to significantly add to your retirement accounts, you face the simultaneous hurdle of providing enough money for yourself and, perhaps, your family. You may also change jobs several times during your career. Consequently, there are several important decisions you'll face while you're working. Some will obviously affect your retirement. Others will do so, but you might not realize it until later. Here are some of the key considerations while you're accumulating retirement funds.
- When You Leave Your Job - IRA Rollovers
- Health Savings Account - Use as a Retirement Plan?
- Roth IRA Distributions
- IRA Withdrawals
- Roth IRA Conversions
- Inherited IRAs
- All About Spousal IRAs
- 401(k) Withdrawals
- 401(k) Loans
- 401(k) Vesting Schedules
- 401(k) Matching Programs
Income Limits
Your flexibility to participate in certain retirement accounts and receive specific tax benefits is based on your income. Such income limits tend to change each year. Consider the following income restrictions and opportunities when determining how to proceed.