On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 21:44:37 CST, Rich Carreiro
<rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us> wrote:

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Personally, my retirement goal is to miss no tricks with tax reduction
AND be in the top marginal bracket. Plus, to leave my bride with an
estate so large as to be taxable at her ultimate passing.

By the way, this is referred to as a "stretch goal". <grin
-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

Isn't that the OP problem?

"Rich Carreiro" <rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us> wrote in message
news:m3is2og3zx.fsf[at]animato.home.lan...
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Point taken, the assumption being that they are missing some current tax
deferrals and with little savings, barring a pension, they are unlikely to
sustain anything near their current levels.

"Will Trice" <wwtrice[at]paragondynamics.com> wrote in message
news:425F0E6F.3020304[at]paragondynamics.com...
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BMS wrote:
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Not if I do a good job planning for retirement :-)

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

BMS wrote:

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I hope that you just forgot to insert an "if" or two in the last
sentence. They will only be in the top tax bracket (future tense) if
they are married filing separately (and maybe not even then depending on
how long it takes them to get to an annual $160k). I'm not sure how you
determined that they would be in a lower bracket upon retirement, or
what the rate of that bracket will be.

-Will

"Rod" <rod[at]nospam.com> wrote in message
news:115o4b2t0ugf34a[at]news.supernews.com...
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Better late than never. At "early 40's", you still have a lot
of time -- but you really shot yourself in the foot by not starting
earlier. Some folks never get it. At least you got it with a
good number of years left.

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I, personally, would forgo this one. Think about it. Your kids
can get athletic scholarships, academic scholarships, grants,
stipends, work-study programs, low interest loans, they can
work through school, they can join the service and take
advantage of the GI Bill -- there's a whole world of financing
available to them to finance their own education.

Who's going to give you grant money or a low interest loan
to finance your retirement years? Nobody.

My opinion is that you're better off dealing with your
retirement plans first, and only after you've got that
under control should you contribute any excess funds
toward your kids' educations.

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Already there myself. Got phased out about 5 years ago.

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They stay there. You just can't add to them unless/until
your income drops below the threshold again.

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Whenever you want. If you don't have the money at the
time, quit contributing. You can start up later at
any time.

Get your retirement squared away first. Borrowing from the 401k and home
equity can help cover higher education. 529 plans are better estate planning
tools for grandparents than they are for you to save. When the calculation
for aid is done the 529 is counting far more than other assets.

As far as the Roth goes when you max out, it can just sit there.

Max out the 401k. You are in the top tax bracket, when you retire you will
be in a lower one, defer the max now.

You make contributions as you are able to any of these plans by the rules,
specific plans may have requirements unique to them.


"Rod" <rod[at]nospam.com> wrote in message
news:115o4b2t0ugf34a[at]news.supernews.com...
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Rod wrote:

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You can keep the funds already contributed in the Roth.

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No.

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Yes.

My wife and I are in our early 40's and unfortunately besides us both having
401k's at work we don't have much of a retirement plan. I know we should
have started planning sooner but we didn't so no bitching... We do plan on
getting some financial advice once I find someone that I feel we like and
can trust. I've been reading a lot but can't find answers to a couple of
questions that I had.

Our short term goals are to put some money aside for our kids college
education (2 of them), which we have about 10 years to save for. We were
looking at 529's and ufund but I've been reading some negatives about both
so not sure if this is the right direction.

I'd also like to start contributing to an ira. I was really leaning towards
a roth but I'm concerned that we'll get phased out in the next few years
when our income exceeds $160k per couple. It's at about $147k now.

If I did start a roth, what happens to the funds that were in there if and
when our ability to contribute gets phased out?

One other ira question, once you commit to one, do you have to make payments
all the time? Can you contribute intermittently?

Thanks,

Rod