Whose Agenda Drove This Decision, Anyway?

A: Thank you for being an astute planning-minded reader of my weekly blog. As may be the case Jim and many of my other readers, his IRA may have now become one of the largest financial assets that he owns. Unfortunately, current tax law changes such as those proposed by the Biden Administration and those that were a part of the 2019 SECURE Act, take direct aim at what could be your largest retirement asset. Jim is correct to be concerned. If one as a small IRA under $500,000, a Trusteed IRA may be a planning solution; however, if you own an IRA or 401k with assets that exceed that amount you may have created significant obstacles in effectively maneuvering these latest changes. Step one is get a third party to review your custodial trust agreement. Why? Because for years the motivations of some investment companies have been to promote these Trusteed IRAs so that they can lock in the potential for multi-generational asset management opportunities. In short, you may die, but they do not lose the opportunity to manage the assets due to dilution if your trust document requires all beneficiaries to maintain a financial management relationship with your bank or brokerage firm. Follow me over to www.miser-wp.com/dear-derek-blog to learn the step to potentially extricate yourself from these arrangements and mitigate future tax liabilities that may have and may continue to evolve with tightening tax policies in the coming months.