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Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

May 13, 2020 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: Your 401(k) match may be in jeopardy. Here’s what you should do. Also in the news: What happens to your travel rewards if your airline goes bankrupt, how to upgrade your old car with new tech, and why your student loan Coronavirus forbearance is messing up your credit report.

Your 401(k) match may be in jeopardy. Here’s what you should do
Steps to take right now.

Airlines are on the brink of bankruptcy — what happens to your voucher, travel miles and airline credit card if they go belly up?
No guarantee of a refund,

Upgrade Your Old Car With New-Car Tech
You can get rid of those 8-track tapes.

Why Your Student Loan Coronavirus Forbearance Is Messing Up Your Credit Report
Scores are dropping as much as 50 points.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: 401(k), 401(k) match, airline rewards, airlines, Coronavirus, credit card rewards, new car tech, student loan forbearance

Should you give your kids an equal inheritance?

May 13, 2020 By Liz Weston

Your estate plan may be your last words to those you leave behind. If you’re a parent, you should think carefully about the message you’ll be sending.

Parents who leave their children unequal inheritances risk fueling family feuds. But strictly equal bequests also can cause resentment if the heirs don’t see the distribution as fair.

“Money can cause family discord, and you want to make sure that you are thinking through this and keeping sibling relationships intact,” says Colleen Carcone, co-author of “Principles of Estate Planning” and a wealth planning specialist at TIAA.

In my latest for the Associated Press, learn how to define “fair” when it comes to your kids’ inheritance.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

May 12, 2020 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: 5 questions to ask before canceling your travel credit card. Also in the news: Think it’s bad now? Wait until hurricane and fire seasons start, 8 types of credit card relief you can ask for, and tomorrow is the deadline to receive your Coronavirus payment by direct deposit.

5 Questions to Ask Before Canceling Your Travel Credit Card
You might hurt your credit score.

Think it’s bad now? Wait until hurricane and fire seasons start
Mother nature doesn’t care about your pandemic.

8 types of credit card relief you can ask for
From delayed payments to credit line increases.

Tomorrow Is the Deadline to Receive Your Coronavirus Payment by Direct Deposit
Get your information in.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: CARES Act, Coronavirus, Credit Cards, fire season, hurricane season, IRS, stimulus payment, travel credit cards

Monday’s need-to-know money news

May 11, 2020 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: 5 money goals if you’re still employed during COVID-19. Also in the news: A new episode of the SmartMoney podcast on credit card offers, good reasons to get a personal loan, and how to find companies offering payment relief during the pandemic.

5 Money Goals If You’re Still Employed During COVID-19
Save, save, save.

SmartMoney Podcast: ‘Where Have All the 0% Offers Gone?’
The economy isn’t the only thing slowing down.

What’s a Good Reason to Get a Personal Loan?
Watch out for high interest.

Find Companies Offering Payment Relief During the Pandemic
Give BillGo a try.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: BillGo, COVID-19, Credit Cards, money goals, pandemic, payment relief, Personal Loans, SmartMoney podcast

Q&A: Spousal benefits go to spouse, not partner

May 11, 2020 By Liz Weston

Dear Liz: I’ve been separated from my husband for 50 years but there’s been no legal divorce. If he dies, do I receive his Social Security benefit or does his common-law wife of 20 years?

Answer: You do.

Social Security recognizes common law marriage if a couple lives in a state that recognizes such unions, or lived in one when the marriage began. No state, however, recognizes common-law bigamy. As long as he’s still married to you, he can’t be legally married to someone else.

If the two of you divorced and he re-married, his spouse could qualify for benefits on his work record — but so could you. Since your marriage lasted more than 10 years, you could qualify for divorced spousal benefits (a percentage of his benefit while he was alive) as well as divorced survivor benefits (100% of his benefit when he dies). Your divorced spousal benefits would end if you remarry. If he dies and you get divorced survivor benefits, you would be able to keep those if you’re 60 or older when you remarry.

Filed Under: Q&A, Social Security Tagged With: q&a, Social Security, survivor benefits

Q&A: What to do if an employer messes up your 401(k) coronavirus hardship withdrawal

May 11, 2020 By Liz Weston

Dear Liz: I used the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to cash out my 401(k). My ex-employer waived the 10% penalty but withheld 20% for federal taxes. It seems unconscionable to keep $20,000 of my money for at least eight months instead of sending it to me. The law states I have three years to pay the taxes and I need that hard-earned money now. Is there anything I can do to make my former employer release my money?

Answer: Please contact your former employer immediately. It sounds like what you got was a regular distribution, which can be penalized as well as taxed and which can’t be paid back. Your employer can’t waive an IRS penalty — it either applies to the distribution by law or it doesn’t — and the 20% withholding indicates this was not a coronavirus hardship withdrawal, said Mark Luscombe, principal analyst for Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting.

Coronavirus hardship withdrawals allow qualified people to withdraw as much as $100,000 of their balances from 401(k)s and IRAs, but these withdrawals aren’t available to everyone. You must have been affected physically or financially by the pandemic.

Plus, if you want to take the distribution from a 401(k), check if your employer is offering the option. A majority of employers now offer coronavirus hardship withdrawals, according to a Willis Towers Watson survey, but some are opting not to do so.

If you qualified for a coronavirus hardship withdrawal from a 401(k) plan offering that option, the distribution should not have been subject to withholding.

You would owe income taxes but not the usual 10% federal early withdrawal penalty, and you would have three years to pay the income taxes on the withdrawal. You also would have the option to pay the money back within three years and then amend your tax returns to get the taxes you paid refunded.

If your former employer did not offer coronavirus hardship withdrawals but you otherwise qualified, you had the option of rolling your 401(k) money into an IRA and then taking a coronavirus hardship withdrawal from the IRA. (You can typically roll money out of only a former employer’s plan. If you’re still working for that employer, such rollovers usually aren’t allowed.)

If your employer won’t release the withheld money, you still have a way to limit the damage. You can put the rest of what you received into an IRA, as long as you do so within 60 days, and then take a coronavirus hardship withdrawal from the IRA.

Unless you can come up with the $20,000 that was withheld, however, you’ll have to pay taxes and penalties on that $20,000 and you won’t be able to pay that money back. That’s unfortunate, but it’s better than having the entire $100,000 penalized and not having the option to pay any of it back.

Filed Under: Coronavirus, Q&A, Retirement Tagged With: 401(k), coronavirus hardship withdrawal, q&a

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