Why Rolling Your 401k Into An IRA Can Backfire
📊 Plan your Roth conversion window: https://cognitofinance.gumroad.com/l/... How to roll over a 401k without triggering taxes: the direct trustee-to-trustee transfer vs indirect rollover, plus 3 reasons NOT to roll into an IRA. For ages 50-65. Your advisor's warning about 401k rollover taxes is half true. The indirect rollover triggers a mandatory 20% withholding and a 60-day deadline — but the direct trustee-to-trustee transfer is IRS-sanctioned and not a taxable event. Here's the spreadsheet I built to model my own rollover-and-conversion math before sitting down with a CPA. This walks through the four-word phrase that defuses the tax issue, then the three-question filter for whether to roll at all: the Rule of 55, the backdoor Roth pro-rata trap on Form 8606, and ERISA creditor protection. If you want to run the Roth conversion and bracket math for your specific numbers before that professional conversation, the link above does that — and more. Chapters: 0:00 The 20% withholding trap explained 2:56 Direct rollover: no tax event 3:49 The four words to say 8:05 Rule of 55 closes forever 10:28 Backdoor Roth pro-rata blender 13:18 Creditor protection by state 14:56 The third door nobody mentions 18:01 The retirement tax planner → Roth Conversion & Retirement Tax Planner: https://cognitofinance.gumroad.com/l/... General education only — talk to a CPA or fee-only fiduciary before acting. See you in the next one. #RetirementPlanning #401k #TaxPlanning #RothConversion #RetirementSavings
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