Thursday, August 20, 2009

403b Rollover Effects Social Security - Does It?

Here’s a look at how a 403b rollover effects social security benefits, as well as a few other common concerns.

Whether you are coping with a permanent disability or planning for retirement, it pays to learn about your options.

Social Security Insurance or SSI is a government sponsored plan that you have paid into for all of your working years. If you become disabled or retire, you will be eligible to receive a check from this “insurance” plan. There is also a benefit for your surviving spouse or under-age child, should you die before retirement age.

The 403-b is very similar to the 401-k, except that it is only available to people that work in universities, public hospitals or for certain charitable organizations.

You made contributions to the plan, which reduced your taxable income for the year. Your employer may have made additional contributions in your name.

There is a maximum total annual contribution that is currently $41,000.

That’s the total that you and your employer can contribute to your account.

There is little reason to be concerned about how a 403b rollover effects social security. Whether a person is disabled or retired, they are entitled to both benefits.

IRS approved retirement plans were specifically designed to encourage people to save for the future, because SSI benefits, alone, fail to cover a person’s expenses.

The amount of a monthly SSI check varies according to how long a person has worked or how much they have paid into the account.

The distributions that you can take from a retirement account should be planned to insure that the account continues to grow and will be sufficient to support your for the rest of your years.

You might also be concerned about how a 403b rollover effects social security taxes. As long as you redeposit the check into an approved account within 60 days, there are no tax penalties of income, neither income nor SSI.

But, if you failed to redeposit the check, you would incur income taxes on the total account value. Because of that, transfers are safer.

Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, rollovers and transfers are quite different. Transfers are transactions made strictly between one financial institution and another. You initiate the transaction, but are not involved in other ways.

Rollovers require that the account be liquidated and a check is made payable to you directly. Finding a new plan provider and depositing the check that you receive is your responsibility.

Now that you don’t have to worry about how a 403b rollover effects social security, you might want to learn about the best way to grow the account.

Even if you are already retired or disabled, you still need to make good investment choices or what you have saved might not be enough to cover your expenses.

Diversification is one thing to learn about, which basically means to invest in lots of different markets, in case one fails.

Although taking a 403b rollover effects social security in no way, it could affect the amount of taxes that you pay.

Consult your tax advisor for more information.

2 comments:

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Ed,

I would like to know if you could be interested in becoming a guest blogger for the Roth IRA Help blog?

Please visit our site at www.rothirahelp.com and let me know what you think.

Thanks,

-David