If your employer doesn’t offer retirement plans such as 401(k), an Individual Retirement Account can offer many investment choices. You may opt to self-manage it or work with a broker, bank, or robo-advisor.
Make sure that you independently verify any account statements involving nontraditional investments or assets with low liquidity levels, especially for investments with which you don’t typically deal.
Tax-Advantaged Retirement Savings
If you are saving for retirement, tax-advantaged accounts can make the task simpler. Earnings within these accounts accumulate tax free or deferred until withdrawal at retirement time.
Many employers provide matching contributions to employee 401(k) or IRA contributions; if this is available to you, make sure that you take full advantage of it!
Households without access to workplace retirement plans or wanting an additional savings vehicle should consider taxable accounts as an efficient means of investing. Keep in mind, though, that these investments will be subject to ordinary income tax upon withdrawal.
Tax-Deferred Growth
IRAs provide tax-deferred compounding. This means that any interest earned will be added to your account balance and reinvested, increasing the amount you earn every year.
Dependent upon your income, contributions made to traditional or SEP IRAs may qualify for deduction. Roth IRAs on the other hand can be funded with post-tax dollars so assets withdrawn at retirement age will be tax-free.
Diversifying IRA investments to minimize the risk of losing hard-earned savings is paramount; however, certain IRAs have specific restrictions regarding what types of investments they accept – this might include artwork, rugs, coins, stamps or precious metals as well as real estate. When making decisions about your IRA investments it is important to balance growth opportunities against restrictions when deciding where best to put them.
Tax-Free Withdrawals
Financial professionals are always exploring new strategies for minimizing taxes due to IRA withdrawals. Before making any decisions on your own, consult with a trustworthy tax expert first.
One way of withdrawing funds from an IRA would be making equal periodic payments over your life expectancy or that of you and your beneficiary to avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty.
As well as taking distributions without incurring penalties for higher education expenses for yourself, your spouse, or any of their dependent children (up to $10,000 annually), first-time homebuyers can withdraw up to $10,000 penalty-free withdrawals from an IRA each year when buying their first home; first-time homebuyers may withdraw up to an additional $10,000 each year as penalty-free withdrawals; medical expenses due to disability are exempted from paying a 10% fee or when being the beneficiary of deceased IRA owners are used instead of traditional distributions made available from an IRA in case they needing the funds used from paying down their own retirement savings plans (up to $10,000 each year), withdrawals for expenses incurred when paying educational expenses on behalf of themselves or another.
Flexibility
Many don’t realize it, but traditional and Roth IRAs can be powerful investments vehicles. You can use your self-directed IRA to invest in various alternative assets such as real estate or physical gold, private equity investments, tax liens or startup equity via crowdfunding platforms – whatever best meets your financial goals.
Your IRA provides access to an array of financial instruments, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds, that allow you to customize its asset allocation by choosing which types of riskier investments to include in your portfolio.
However, an IRA has its limits. You cannot use it to buy a home or pay qualified higher education expenses (unless there are exceptions), nor can the money be withdrawn before turning 59 1/2 without incurring taxes and penalties.
Security
Many retirees and soon-to-be retirees worry about market volatility and inflation wiping out their retirement savings. To combat this risk, investing in alternative assets such as commercial real estate, LLC membership interests or high-risk, high-reward investments such as Bitcoin can protect retirement savings from traditional stock market risks.
Be wary of fraudsters posing as IRA custodians and selling fraudulent investments to investors through these IRA accounts. Custodians do not need to conduct due diligence on investments or their promoters and may fail to check whether financial information provided is accurate and complete.
Alternative investments may take longer to sell than more liquid assets like stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which could make accessing savings difficult in an emergency situation.
