Potential Consequences of Taking IRA Distributions to Pay Off Debt
Once there is no longer a paycheck, retirees will typically meet expenses with a combination of social security, withdrawals from retirement accounts, annuities, and pensions. Social security, pensions, and annuities are usually fixed amounts, while withdrawals from retirement accounts could fluctuate based on need. This flexibility presents
Potential Consequences of Taking IRA Distributions to Pay Off Debt
Once there is no longer a paycheck, retirees will typically meet expenses with a combination of social security, withdrawals from retirement accounts, annuities, and pensions. Social security, pensions, and annuities are usually fixed amounts, while withdrawals from retirement accounts could fluctuate based on need. This flexibility presents opportunities to use retirement savings to pay off debt; but before doing so, it is important to consider the possible consequences.
Clients often come to us saying they have some amount left on a mortgage and they would feel great if they could just pay it off. Lower monthly bills and less debt when living on a fixed income is certainly good, both from a financial and psychological point of view, but taking large distributions from retirement accounts just to pay off debt may lead to tax consequences that can make you worse off financially.
Below are three items I typically consider before making a recommendation for clients. Every retiree is different so consulting with a professional such as a financial planner or accountant is recommended if you’d like further guidance.
Impact on State Income and Property Taxes
Depending on what state you are in, withdrawals from IRA’s could be taxed very differently. It is important to know how they are taxed in your state before making any big decision like this. For example, New York State allows for tax free withdrawals of IRA accounts up to a maximum of $20,000 per recipient receiving the funds. Once the $20,000 limit is met in a certain year, any distribution you take above that will be taxed.
If someone normally pulls $15,000 a year from a retirement account to meet expenses and then wanted to pull another $50,000 to pay off a mortgage, they have created $45,000 of additional taxable income to New York State. This is typically not a good thing, especially if in the future you never have to pull more than $20,000 in a year, as you would have never paid New York State taxes on the distributions.
Note: Another item to consider regarding states is the impact on property taxes. For example, New York State offers an “Enhanced STAR” credit if you are over the age of 65, but it is dependent on income. Here is an article that discusses this in more detail STAR Property Tax Credit: Make Sure You Know The New Income Limits.
What Tax Bracket Are You in at the Federal Level?
Federal income taxes are determined using a “Progressive Tax” calculation. For example, if you are filing single, the first $9,700 of taxable income you have is taxed at a lower rate than any income you earn above that. Below are charts of the 2019 tax tables so you can review the different tax rates at certain income levels for single and married filing joint ( Source: Nerd Wallet ).
There isn’t much of a difference between the first two brackets of 10% and 12%, but the next jump is to 22%. This means that, if you are filing single, you are paying the government 10% more on any additional taxable income from $39,475 – $84,200. Below is a basic example of how taking a large distribution from the IRA could impact your federal tax liability.
How Will it Impact the Amount of Social Security You Pay Tax on?
This is usually the most complicated to calculate. Here is a link to the 2018 instructions and worksheets for calculating how much of your Social Security benefit will be taxed ( IRS Publication 915 ). Basically, by showing more income, you may have to pay tax on more of your Social Security benefit. Below is a chart put together with information from the IRS to show how much of your benefit may be taxed.
To calculate “Combined Income”, you take your Adjusted Gross Income + Nontaxable Interest + Half of your Social Security benefit. For the purpose of this discussion, remember that any amount you withdraw from your IRA is counted in your Combined Income and therefore could make more of your social security benefit subject to tax.
Peace of mind is key and usually having less bills or debt can provide that, but it is important to look at the cost you are paying for it. There are times that this strategy could make sense, but if you have questions about a personal situation please consult with a professional to put together the correct strategy.
About Rob……...
Hi, I’m Rob Mangold. I’m the Chief Operating Officer at Greenbush Financial Group and a contributor to the Money Smart Board blog. We created the blog to provide strategies that will help our readers personally, professionally, and financially. Our blog is meant to be a resource. If there are questions that you need answered, please feel free to join in on the discussion or contact me directly.
Percentage of Pay vs Flat Dollar Amount
Enrolling in a company retirement plan is usually the first step employees take to join the plan and it is important that the enrollment process be straight forward. There should also be a contact, i.e. an advisor (wink wink), who can guide the employees through the process if needed. Even with the most efficient enrollment process, there is a lot of
Retirement Contributions - Percentage of Pay vs Flat Dollar Amount
Enrolling in a company retirement plan is usually the first step employees take to join the plan and it is important that the enrollment process be straight forward. There should also be a contact, i.e. an advisor (wink wink), who can guide the employees through the process if needed. Even with the most efficient enrollment process, there is a lot of information employees must provide. Along with basic personal information, employees will typically select investments, determine how much they’d like to contribute, and document who their beneficiaries will be. This post will focus on one part of the contribution decision and hopefully make it easier when you are determining the appropriate way for you to save.
A common question you see on the investment commercials is “What’s Your Number”? Essentially asking how much do you need to save to meet your retirement goals. This post isn’t going to try and answer that. The purpose of this post is to help you decide whether contributing a flat dollar amount or a percentage of your compensation is the better way for you to save.
As we look at each method, it may seem like I favor the percentage of compensation because that is what I use for my personal retirement account but that doesn’t mean it is the answer for everyone. Using either method can get you to “Your Number” but there are some important considerations when making the choice for yourself.
Will You Increase Your Contribution As Your Salary Increases?
For most employees, as you start to earn more throughout your working career, you should probably save more as well. Not only will you have more money coming in to save but people typically start spending more as their income rises. It is difficult to change spending habits during retirement even if you do not have a paycheck anymore. Therefore, to have a similar quality of life during retirement as when you were working, the amount you are saving should increase.
By contributing a flat dollar, the only way to increase the amount you are saving is if you make the effort to change your deferral amount. If you do a percentage of compensation, the amount you save should automatically go up as you start to earn more without you having to do anything.
Below is an example of two people earning the same amount of money throughout their working career but one person keeps the same percentage of pay contribution and the other keeps the same flat dollar contribution. The percentage of pay person contributes 5% per year and starts at $1,500 at 25. The flat dollar person saves $2,000 per year starting at 25.
The percentage of pay person has almost $50,000 more in their account which may result in them being able to retire a full year or two earlier.
A lot of participants, especially those new to retirement plans, will choose the flat dollar amount because they know how much they are going to be contributing each pay period and how that will impact them financially. That may be useful in the beginning but may harm someone over the long term if changes aren’t made to the amount they are contributing. If you take the gross amount of your paycheck and multiply that amount by the percent you are thinking about contributing, that will give you close to, if not the exact, amount you will be contributing to the plan. You may also be able to request your payroll department to run a quick projection to show the net impact on your paycheck.
There are a lot of factors to take into consideration to determine how much you need to be saving to meet your retirement goals. Simply setting a percentage of pay and keeping it the same your entire working career may not get you all the way to your goal but it can at least help you save more.
Are You Maxing Out?
The IRS sets limits on how much you can contribute to retirement accounts each year and for most people who max out it is based on a dollar limit. For 2024, the most a person under the age of 50 can defer into a 401(k) plan is $23,000. If you plan to max out, the fixed dollar contribution may be easier to determine what you should contribute. If you are paid weekly, you would contribute approximately $442.31 per pay period throughout the year. If the IRS increases the limit in future years, you would increase the dollar amount each pay period accordingly.
Company Match
A company match as it relates to retirement plans is when the company will contribute an amount to your retirement account as long as you are eligible and are contributing. The formula on how the match is calculated can be very different from plan to plan but it is typically calculated based on a dollar amount or a percentage of pay. The first “hurdle” to get over with a company match involved is to put in at least enough money out of your paycheck to receive the full match from the company. Below is an example of a dollar match and a percent of pay match to show how it relates to calculating how much you should contribute.
Dollar for Dollar Match Example
The company will match 100% of the first $1,000 you contribute to your plan. This means you will want to contribute at least $1,000 in the year to receive the full match from the company. Whether you prefer contributing a flat dollar amount or percentage of compensation, below is how you calculate what you should contribute per pay period.
Flat Dollar – if you are paid weekly, you will want to contribute at least $19.23 ($1,000 / 52 weeks = $19.23). Double that amount to $38.46 if you are paid bi-weekly.
Percentage of Pay – if you make $30,000 a year, you will want to contribute at least 3.33% ($1,000 / $30,000).
Percentage of Compensation Match Example
The company will match 100% of every dollar up to 3% of your compensation.
Flat Dollar – if you make $30,000 a year and are paid weekly, you will want to contribute at least $17.31 ($30,000 x 3% = $900 / 52 weeks = $17.31). Double that amount to $34.62 if you are paid bi-weekly.
Percentage of Pay – no matter how much you make, you will want to contribute at least 3%.
If the match is based on a percentage of pay, not only is it easier to determine what you should contribute by doing a percent of pay yourself, you also do not have to make changes to your contribution amount if your salary increases. If the match is up to 3% and you are contributing at least 3% as a percentage of pay, you know you should receive the full match no matter what your salary is.
If you do a flat dollar amount to get the 3% the first year, when your salary increases you will no longer be contributing 3%. For example, if I set up my contributions to contribute $900 a year, at a salary of $30,000 I am contributing 3% of my compensation (900 / 30,000) but at a salary of $35,000 I am only contributing 2.6% (900 / 35,000) and therefore not receiving the full match.
Note: Even though in these examples you are receiving the full match, it doesn’t mean it is always enough to meet your retirement goals, it is just a start.
In summary, either the flat dollar or percentage of pay can be effective in getting you to your retirement goal but knowing what that goal is and what you should be saving to get there is key.
About Rob……...
Hi, I’m Rob Mangold. I’m the Chief Operating Officer at Greenbush Financial Group and a contributor to the Money Smart Board blog. We created the blog to provide strategies that will help our readers personally, professionally, and financially. Our blog is meant to be a resource. If there are questions that you need answered, please feel free to join in on the discussion or contact me directly.
The Marriage Penalty: Past and Present
Whether you're currently married or not, the new tax legislation may impact how the "Marriage Penalty" affects you. Never heard of such a thing? Let's take a look at a simple example and show how it may be different under the new tax regulation.
The Marriage Penalty: Past and Present
Whether you're currently married or not, the new tax legislation may impact how the "Marriage Penalty" affects you. Never heard of such a thing? Let's take a look at a simple example and show how it may be different under the new tax regulation.
The Past (kind of)
I say "kind of" because most people still have to file their 2017 tax return. Here is the 2017 tax table for Single Filers and Married Filing Joint Filers:
A reasonable person would think that the income subject to tax would simply double if you went from filing Single to Married Filing Joint. As you can see, this isn't the case once you are in the 25%+ tax bracket and it can mean big dollars! Let's take a look at a simple example where each person makes the same amount of money. We will also assume they will be taking the standard deduction in 2017.
Note: To calculate the “Federal Income Tax” amount above, you can use the IRS tables here 2017 1040 Tax Table Instructions. All of your income is not taxed at your top rate. For example, if your top income falls in the 25% tax bracket, as a single payer you will only pay 25% on income from $37,951 to $91,900. Everything below that range will be taxed at either 10% or 15%.
As you can see, because of the change in filing status, this couple owed a total of $771 more to the federal government. This is the “Marriage Penalty”. Typically as incomes rise, the dollar amount of the penalty becomes larger. For this couple, their top tax bracket went from 25% each when filing single to 28% filing joint.
The Present
Here is the 2018 tax table in the new tax legislation for Single Filers and Married Filing Joint Filers:
Upon review, you can see that the top income brackets are not doubled for Married Filing Joint. At 37%, a single person filing would reach the top rate at $500,001 while married filing joint would reach at $600,001. That being said, the “Marriage Penalty” appears to kick in at higher income levels compared to the past and therefore should impact less people. The income bracket for Married Filing Joint is doubled up until $400,000 of combined income compared to just $75,901 under the 2017 brackets.
Let’s take a look at the same couple in the example above.
Due to the income brackets doubling from single to married filing joint for this couple, the “Marriage Penalty” they would have incurred in 2017 appears to go away. In this example, they would also pay less in federal taxes in both situations. This article is more focused on the impact on the “Marriage Penalty” but having a lower tax bill is always a plus.
Standard vs. Itemized Deductions
The tax brackets aren’t the only penalty. Another common tax increase people see when going from single to married filing joint are the deductions they lose. If I’m single and own a home, it is likely I will itemized because the sum of my property taxes, mortgage interest, and state income taxes exceed the standard deduction amount. Assume the couple in the example above is still not married but Person 1 owns a home and rather than taking the standard deduction, Person 1 itemizes for an amount of $15,000. For 2017, their total deductions will be $21,350 ($15,000 Person 1 plus $6,350 Person 2) and for 2018, their total deductions will be $27,000 ($15,000 Person 1 plus $12,000 Person 2).
Now they get married and have to choose whether to itemize or take the standard deduction.
2017: Assuming they live together in the same house, in 2017 they would still itemize because they have deductions of $15,000 for Person 1 and some additional items that Person 2 would bring to the table (i.e. their state income taxes). Say their total itemized deductions are $18,000 when married filing joint. They would still itemize because $18,000 is more than the Married Filing Joint standard deduction of $12,700. But now compare the $18,000 to the $21,350 they got filing single. They lose out on $3,350 of deductions. Usually, less deductions equals more taxes.
2018: Assuming they live together in the same house, in 2018 they would no longer itemize. Assuming their total itemized deductions are still $18,000, that is less than the $24,000 standard deduction they can take when married filing joint. $24,000 standard deduction in 2018 is still less than the $27,000 they got filing separately by $3,000. Again, less deductions usually means more taxes. The “Marriage Penalty” lives on!
A lot of people will still lose out on deductions in 2018 but the “Marriage Penalty” will hit less people because of the increase in the standard deduction. If Person 1 has itemized deductions of $10,000 in 2017, they would itemize if they filed single and possibly take the standard deduction of $12,700 filing joint. In 2018 however, Person 1 would take the standard deduction both as a single tax payer ($12,000) and married filing joint ($24,000) which takes away the “Marriage Penalty” related to the deduction.
The Why?
Why do tax brackets work this way? Like most taxes, I assume the idea was to generate more income for the government. Some may also argue that typical couples don't make the same salaries which seems like an archaic point of view.Was it all fixed with the new tax legislation? It doesn't appear so but it does look like less people will be struck by Cupid's Marriage Penalty.
About Rob.........
Hi, I’m Rob Mangold. I’m the Chief Operating Officer at Greenbush Financial Group and a contributor to the Money Smart Board blog. We created the blog to provide strategies that will help our readers personally , professionally, and financially. Our blog is meant to be a resource. If there are questions that you need answered, pleas feel free to join in on the discussion or contact me directly.
