September 13, 2021 By

Q&A: How a 529 plan can help with education loans after graduation

Dear Liz: I have a 529 plan for my niece who has now graduated from college. She has student loan debt and would like to use the money left in the 529 account to pay this debt. Is this allowable without incurring penalties?

Answer: Yes, up to $10,000.

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, or SECURE Act, of 2019 allows a beneficiary a lifetime limit of $10,000 to repay the beneficiary’s student loans, including federal and most private loans, without taxes or penalties. You can withdraw an additional $10,000 to repay student loans for each of her siblings.

If there’s still money left in the 529 after that, you have the option of changing the beneficiary to another qualifying family member (including the beneficiary’s spouse, children, siblings, in-laws, aunts and uncles, nieces and cousins, parents and grandparents). You also can change the beneficiary to yourself, as the account owner. Such beneficiary changes preserve your ability to make tax- and penalty-free withdrawals for qualified education expenses.

Filed Under: College Savings, Q&A Tagged With: , ,
September 6, 2021 By

Q&A: How a card switch affects your credit score

Dear Liz: I have one American Express card and two Visa cards, all of which I have held for many years. I received notice that my American Express card was being converted to a Visa card. I do not want a third Visa card but have no choice. For credit score purposes, will this conversion appear to be a closing of my old card and an application for a new one? Obviously, closing a long-held credit card and applying for a new one will affect my excellent credit score, which is 830. If I decided to apply for a new American Express card, how would that impact my score?

Answer: Conversions from one issuer to another can have a temporary negative impact on your credit scores as one account is closed and another opened. The effect should be minor as long as you have other open, active accounts.

Within a month or two, the new account should show the same history as the old one, and your scores should recover. (You have more than one credit score, by the way, and your scores change all the time. As long as they’re generally above 760 or so, you should get lenders’ best rates and terms.)

The type of card usually matters less than the benefits associated with the card. If those benefits are useful to you and are enough to offset any annual fee, consider keeping the card. Its long history and credit limit are likely helping your scores.

That doesn’t mean you have to keep a card you really don’t want. The fewer cards you have, though, the more careful you probably need to be about closing one.

You can still add an American Express or other card to your portfolio. Adding a new card typically dings your scores less than five points. The effect is temporary, and the new account could contribute positively to your scores over time.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Credit Scoring, Q&A Tagged With: , ,
September 6, 2021 By

Q&A: Social Security and the tax torpedo

Dear Liz: People are typically advised to wait as long as possible (full retirement age or later) to take Social Security to maximize the benefit. If a couple has low expenses and substantial pensions, wouldn’t it make sense to take Social Security earlier, to preserve retirement funds to pass on to their heirs? Social Security payments stop upon death, whereas retirement accounts are passed on to heirs.

Answer: If your primary concern is preserving an inheritance, maximizing your Social Security payments could help you reduce how much you have to withdraw from retirement funds in the long run.

Starting early also could make you more susceptible to what’s known as the tax torpedo, which is a sharp increase in marginal tax rates due to how Social Security is taxed when someone receives other income. People who only receive Social Security don’t face the torpedo, and higher-income people probably can’t avoid it, but middle-income people may be able to lessen the hit by delaying Social Security and drawing from their retirement funds instead.

One way to preserve assets for heirs is to convert traditional retirement accounts to Roth IRAs. This requires paying taxes on the conversions, but then you wouldn’t face required minimum distributions on the Roth accounts.

Calculating the best course can be difficult. You can pay $20 to $40 to use sophisticated claiming software such as Social Security Solutions or Maximize My Social Security to model various options, or consider consulting with a fee-only advisor.

Filed Under: Q&A, Social Security, Taxes Tagged With: ,
September 6, 2021 By

Q&A: Long-term-care insurance

Dear Liz: I’d appreciate your thoughts about long-term-care insurance programs. Ours has just announced a 52% rate increase with a possible 25% increase next year. Although I realize that none of us can predict the future, are there any guidelines you can suggest for deciding whether, for example, an 80-year-old in good health needs the maximum 10-year coverage or can get by with a three-year coverage period?

Answer: Most people over 65 will need some kind of long-term care, but most need it for less than three years. You may want to err on the side of caution and opt for a longer coverage period if you have a family history of dementia.

Filed Under: Insurance, Q&A Tagged With: ,
August 30, 2021 By

Q&A: Retiring early doesn’t mean losing affordable health insurance

Dear Liz: I am 55 and have health issues that I don’t talk about at work. I want to retire soon. I know that getting health insurance is going to be hard. I am just at a loss as to how I am going to keep working when I don’t feel well. What are my options?

Answer: In the past, getting health insurance could be difficult or prohibitively expensive if you had even relatively minor health conditions. That changed with the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to extend coverage without jacking up the premiums for preexisting conditions. In addition, most people qualify for tax subsidies that reduce the premiums, and those subsidies were expanded this spring when President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. You can start your search for coverage at HealthCare.gov.

Before you quit, however, consider whether your employer could make accommodations that would allow you to continue working. Many people at 55 don’t have enough saved for a comfortable retirement that could last decades. Shifting to part-time work, if your employer allows it, could help you continue to save or at least reduce the amount you need to withdraw from your savings.

Filed Under: Health Insurance, Q&A, Retirement Tagged With: , ,
August 30, 2021 By

Q&A: Refinance or use IRA funds on mortgage?

Dear Liz: I owe $360,000 on my mortgage. I have sufficient funds in my IRA to pay this amount off without depleting income distribution for the next 20 years. I am currently paying $1,100 monthly on an interest-only loan, but I have to start making much larger principal payments in November 2022. Would you advise withdrawing IRA investment monies (and taking a tax hit) to pay off the full loan amount, or simply getting a conventional mortgage and live with a higher payment ($1,500) each month? I am 77 and retired now for four years.

Answer: Making that large a withdrawal will almost certainly hurl you into a much higher tax bracket and increase your Medicare premiums. Refinancing the mortgage while rates are low likely makes the most sense, but consult a tax pro or a fee-only financial advisor before making any big moves with retirement funds.

Filed Under: Mortgages, Q&A Tagged With: , , ,
August 30, 2021 By

Q&A: Pensions and Social Security benefits

Dear Liz: My situation is similar to the former teacher who wrote about a pension impacting Social Security benefits. I started Social Security at 62. My wife’s government pension is from a job that didn’t pay into Social Security. I’ll receive her pension if she should die before I do. If this occurs, how will my Social Security be impacted?

Answer: It won’t, because your situation is actually the reverse of the former teacher’s.

You paid a portion of each paycheck, currently 6.2%, into the Social Security system. The teacher (and your wife) did not, so their benefits are affected by rules designed to prevent people who didn’t pay into Social Security from getting more than those who did.

Filed Under: Q&A, Social Security Tagged With: , ,
August 30, 2021 By

Q&A: Investing a windfall

Dear Liz: My husband and I are retired and recently inherited a large sum of money. We already have money of our own invested and have a good income. Would a whole-life insurance policy based on an index account be a good place to put this money?

Answer: The insurance agent trying to sell you that policy certainly thinks so, because it’s an expensive product that would generate a substantial commission. You’d be smart to get a second opinion from a fee-only financial planner that doesn’t profit from the investments they recommend.

Filed Under: Investing, Q&A Tagged With: , ,
August 30, 2021 By

Q&A: Refinancing in your golden years

Dear Liz: I just wanted to comment on a recent question about refinancing a mortgage in retirement. The writer wrote: “… at 67 and 72 years old, it’s unlikely that both of us will survive for another 15 years to pay off this loan.” This seems an old way of thinking about age. The obituaries in my paper are full of people who have lived into their 90s and even past 100 years old!

Answer: Good point. People often misjudge life expectancies, which over time have lengthened considerably. At 67, a typical female could expect to live nearly 19 more years, according to Social Security’s life expectancy tables, while a male at 72 has a 13-year life expectancy. People with higher incomes, good health and good habits (nonsmokers, for example) could add many years to those estimates.

Filed Under: Q&A, Retirement Tagged With: ,
August 23, 2021 By

Q&A: Medicare and Social Security

Dear Liz: If my wife and I wait until we are 70 to collect Social Security but retired at our full retirement age of 66 and 2 months, would we still be able to get Medicare for those 3 years and 10 months before we reach 70?

Answer: You’re eligible for Medicare at age 65, which is typically when you should sign up. Delaying can incur penalties you’d have to pay for the rest of your life.

People receiving Social Security benefits at 65 are signed up automatically for Part A (hospital coverage) and Part B (which pays for doctor visits), with the Part B premiums deducted from their benefits. If you’re not already receiving Social Security, you’ll need to contact the Social Security office, which manages Medicare enrollment, to sign up and pay the Part B premiums.

Filed Under: Medicare, Q&A, Social Security Tagged With: , ,