How to Evaluate a Real Estate Investment

The concept of acquiring rental properties as a means to build passive income has become exceptionally popular recently. In fact, it’s difficult to peruse the internet for content on personal finance without bumping into videos/podcasts/blogs/courses on how to build passive income through real estate investing.

My take on real estate investing is that it can indeed be a wonderful complement to your investment portfolio. But the conditions need to be just right. And given how quickly housing prices have risen since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, the circumstances today are rarely compelling.

As you can imagine, this is a conversation I have with clients frequently. Some have an existing property we need to evaluate. Others fall in love with the idea of putting in sweat equity now & building an empire of properties that kick off income over time. This sounds nice in theory, but in my experience rarely pencils out. (At least of the opportunities I’ve seen recently in California & Oregon).

This post will explore how to evaluate real estate investing opportunities. We’ll cover cash flow, return on investment, and go through a real life scenario of a property I pulled from Zillow.com.

Continue reading→

72t Distributions: The Ultimate Guide to Early Retirement

What’s the most common piece of retirement advice you’ve ever heard? I bet it has something to do with tax advantaged retirement savings. Most people are inundated with voices telling them to start saving early and take advantage of tax deferrals. It’s solid advice. Saving tax deferred money through IRAs, 401(k) plans, and other retirement vehicles is a wonderful way to grow your wealth over time.

The downside? Those pesky withdrawal penalties. The IRS will typically ding you 10% if you withdraw from these accounts before turning 59 1/2. This can pose a problem if you’re considering an early retirement. Fortunately there are a few loopholes. eight of them, in fact:

Roll withdrawals into another IRA or qualified account within 60 days
Use withdrawals to pay qualified higher education expenses
Take withdrawals due to disability
Take withdrawals due to death
Use withdrawals for a qualified first-time home purchase up to a lifetime max of $10,000
Use withdrawals to pay medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of adjusted gross income
As an unemployed person, take withdrawals for the payment of health insurance premiums
Take substantially equal periodic payments pursuant to rule 72t

For those of you interested in an early retirement, the final loophole is likely the most interesting to you.

According to rule 72t, you may take withdrawals from your qualified retirement accounts and IRAs free of penalty, IF you take them in “substantially equal period payments”.

This post explores how.

Continue reading→

What Everyone Ought to Know About Long Term Care Insurance

You’ve seen the stats. Long term care is expensive, and we’re all likely to need it at some point in our lives. The cost of spending time in a nursing home or assisted living facility adds up quickly, which is why many retirees choose to insure against it through a long term care insurance policy.

Problem is, since there’s a high likelihood of requiring long term care, insurance is an expensive proposition in its own right. Plus, there’s no guarantee that the premium costs of a policy today don’t rise in the future. Genworth, one of the biggest underwriters in the long term care insurance, received approval in the Q1 of 2019 to raise premiums an average of 58%. (Insurance companies must receive approval on a state to state basis). That’s also after the company raised costs an average of 45% in 2018, and 28% in both 2017 and 2016. Ouch.

Are you better off crossing your fingers and hoping you don’t need expensive care for a long period of time? Or is it better to cover this risk through an insurance policy that will cost you an arm and a leg anyway?

This post will cover the essentials of long term care insurance, including exactly how to decide whether picking up a policy is a good decision for you and your family.

Long Term Care: The Stats

So here’s the big question. What are the chances you’ll ever need long term care? According to longtermcare.gov, about 70% of people turning 65 will need long term care services at some point in their lives. With the average annual cost of a nursing home totaling around $100,000 these days (depending on where you live), this can be a scary proposition.

The stats can be misleading, though. Many people who need long term care services only need them for short periods of time. And since most long term care policies have elimination periods (the waiting period before the policy starts paying out) of around 90 days, many people won’t even need care long enough for their coverage to kick in.

Continue reading→

A Beginner’s Guide to Cash Balance Plans

In my financial planning practice I work with a good number of business owners who want to make aggressive contributions to their tax deferred retirement accounts. This helps put them on strong footing for retirement, but also provides a generous tax deduction. While the 401k plan is the primary retirement plan most business owners are familiar with, a cash balance plans is one I often recommend in addition. In fact, cash balance plans can actually allow for far greater contributions & tax advantages.

A cash balance plan could be a good fit if you’d like to contribute over $50,000 per year to a tax advantaged retirement plan. They don’t come without their nuances though. This guide will explain how cash balance plans work and whether they might be a good fit for you.

Continue reading→

Should Your Portfolio Change After You Retire?

One question that’s come up several times over the last couple months centers on whether your portfolio should change after you retire. In fact, one person I’ve spoken with recently assumed that once he retired, his advisor would by default sell all the stock funds in his accounts and replace them with income producing bonds.

Typically the longer your time horizon, the more risk you have the capacity to take in your investment portfolio. Most people in their 20s and 30s have a high capacity to take risk, since they have a long time until they’ll need to live off their savings. A significant portfolio loss won’t impact their life, and they have a long time to recover. Because of that, many choose to hold mostly equities in their retirement accounts since they’ll provide the greatest long term returns.

The closer you get to retirement, the lower your capacity to take risk. Prudent investors tend to shift their asset allocations more and more toward bonds as this progression evolves. But for most people it should level out at some point. Most of us will need some growth out of our portfolios in retirement if our assets are going to last the rest of our lives, meaning that we probably don’t want to be 100% in bonds.

But how should our investment strategy change when transitioning from the accumulation to the distribution phases of our lives, and should it change at all? This post will explore the issues, and what you might consider when making the transition yourself.

Continue reading→

What You Should Know About the SECURE Act Retirement Bill

Every now and then, lawmakers in Washington make noise about changing various sections of the tax advantaged retirement accounts I’m so fond of recommending to my clients. Now that we’re living substantially longer, and a greater portion of our lives is actually spent in retirement, there’s a good argument that we should increase age limits, mandatory distributions, and other rules governing IRAs, 401(k)s and other types of accounts.

I usually don’t pay much attention to this speculation until there’s a bill on the floor that has a strong chance of becoming law. The majority of the legislation drafted in this area doesn’t get far, and often doesn’t even get out of committee.

Nevertheless, the house and senate have both recently introduced bills that would change how retirement accounts work. I’m no political expert, and don’t have the foggiest idea what the chances are of one of these bills passing. But from what I’m reading there’s more momentum for retirement reform now than there’s been in the last several years. Plus, more than one client asked my thoughts on the subject recently so I felt a summary post would be appropriate. This post will cover what happened & why it might be important to you.

Pending Legislation

In February the senate introduced a bill called the “Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act” (or RESA), aimed at fixing America’s retirement savings problems – both in the public and private sectors. This isn’t the first bill on retirement reform that’s been introduced recently. Multiple versions containing similar provisions have been introduced since 2016, which speaks to the growing interest in helping Americans save for retirement.

Meanwhile, the house passed the SECURE Retirement bill (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act) about a week and a half ago in a 417-3 vote. This bill contains many of the same provisions as RESA, and the bipartisan support on both sides of congress could mean one of the bills may actually make it into law sometime soon.

Continue reading→

Setting Up a 401(k) to Take Advantage of the ‘Mega’ Back Door Roth Conversion

If you’re a personal finance nut you may have heard of a strategy called the “back door Roth IRA conversion.” This maneuver essentially allows you to contribute money to a Roth IRA, even if your income is otherwise to high to make a direct contribution. You make a non-deductible contribution to a traditional IRA, convert those funds to a Roth IRA, and presto! You have cash in the Roth that won’t ever be taxed again. While it seems like this is a glaring loophole in the tax code, Congress has endorsed the strategy in a conference committee report from the Tax Cut & Jobs Act.

But as great as it is to take advantage of Roth IRAs while you’re in high tax brackets, you’re still limited to the annual IRA contribution maximums of $6,000 per year (or $7,000 if you’re 50 or older). The “Mega” back door Roth conversion is a similar strategy, but allows for up to $37,000 per year in additional Roth contributions using a 401(k) plan.

Why the “Mega” Back Door Roth Conversion Strategy Works

The Three Types of 401(k) Contributions

To start, let’s review the three types of contributions you could make to a 401(k) plan. The first is the most common: your employee deferrals. You can instruct your employee to defer funds from your paycheck and deposit them on your behalf into the company’s 401(k) plan. Some plans allow you to make these deferrals on a Roth basis, and the limit in 2019 is $19,000 per year.

The second type of contribution is an employer contribution. This is anything your employer puts into the plan on your behalf, and includes matching contributions, or contributions based on a percentage of your compensation or company profitability. It may be subject to a vesting schedule, and is always made on a pre-tax basis.

The third, and widely unknown type of contribution is an after-tax deferral. Some 401(k) plans allow you to make additional contributions beyond your employee deferral on an after-tax basis, once you’ve reached the $19,000 annual limit. Note here that 401(k) plans are not required to allow this feature, and not all do.

There are two limitations to annual 401(k) contributions. The first is the $19,000 limit on employee contributions ($25,000 if you’re over 50 years old). The second is on the total amount contributed to the plan on your behalf. This limit is $56,000 in 2019, and consists of the three contribution types listed above.

So, to determine how much you could contribute in after-tax deferrals, you’d need to subtract $19,000 (again, $25,000 if you’re over 50) and the total amount of your employer contributions from $56,000.

Theoretically you could make up $37,000 per year in additional Roth IRA contributions using this maneuver ($56,000 – $19,000). You’d need to be under 50 though, and you couldn’t receive any contributions from your employer.

Continue reading→

A Review of Providence’s 457(b) Plan

In my financial planning firm I work mostly with business owners and medical professionals. A good number of my clients are employees of Providence, which is one of the major medical providers in the Pacific northwest. Providence offers its employees a very strong benefits & retirement package. Employees can contribute to a 403(b) plan on a tax-deferred or Roth basis and Providence contributes to a 401(a) plan on their behalf, depending on compensation and years of service.

Providence also offers a 457(b) plan to its employees. While it’s convenient to have another tax-deferred savings vehicle available, 457 plans come with some quirks – especially surrounding distribution options once you separate from service.

Recently, one my of my clients and I discussed the possibility of them leaving to take another job. So to wrap our heads around the ins and outs of the 457 plans, we jumped on the phone with one of Providence’s retirement plan administrators. The administrator helped to explain the unique features of the plan, which I’ll explain in this post. Hopefully this review is helpful to anyone thinking about participating in Providence’s 457 plan.

A Quick Primer on 457(b) Plans

457(b) plans are sometimes mistakenly considered an alternative to a 403(b) plan. There is actually some nuance to 457(b) plans, and much of it depends on whether the plan is sponsored by a governmental entity.

457(b) plans sponsored by governments have nearly identical rules to 403(b) plans. The contribution limits are the same, the distribution options & limitations are the same, and by and large the plans operate in the same way.

Non-governmental 457(b) plans are different, in several ways. Whereas the contribution limits are the same, the distribution options are not. For non-governmental 457(b) plans, you are not allowed to roll your balances into an IRA. Yes, you read that correctly. Whereas participants in government sponsored 457(b) plans may roll their balances into IRAs after separating from service without triggering a taxable event, participants in non-governmental plans may not.

Instead, as a participant in such a plan you’re limited to the unique distribution options of the plan. This is worth some investigation, as some plans require full distribution shortly after separating from service. There isn’t an early distribution penalty for withdrawals prior to age 59 1/2, but withdrawals are still taxed as income. Think about that for a moment. You participate in a non-governmental 457(b) plan for years, accumulating potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in the plan. Then when you separate from service you’re forced to take everything out, and be taxed on it, in one year.

Another unique difference is creditor protection. Whereas 403(b) and 403(k) plans are held in trust, 457(b) plans are held in the name of the organization sponsoring the plan. This seems like a subtle difference, but can be impactful in the event of liquidation. If the sponsoring organization falls into bankruptcy, your assets in the plan would be exposed to creditors. The chances of this happening are probably quite small (especially for an organization like Providence), but I’m sure that’s what everyone at WorldCom and Enron thought as well.

Continue reading→

Pro’s & Con’s of Long Term Care Insurance: 3 Top Arguments For & Against

I have a good number of clients who are in their mid-50s, and hearing from friends and colleagues that they should consider obtaining long term care insurance. They’ll often quote stats about the staggering percentage of us who will need long term care services at some point in our lives, or the mention the high cost of services.

These are valid points. But there are equally valid reasons NOT to obtain a policy. I’ve written on long term care insurance in the past, and how to determine whether you’re a good candidate for it. Since this is a topic that comes up in my practice with some frequency, I thought I’d devote another post to the top arguments for and against long term care insurance. If you’re reviewing your own situation and wondering whether to obtain coverage, you should consider these six points.

Let’s start with the top arguments FOR obtaining long term care insurance:

1) There’s a Good Chance You’ll Need Care at Some Point

Long term care services are described (in insurance policies) as requiring help in two of six “activities of daily living”. The six activities are:

Eating
Bathing
Dressing
Getting on and off the toilet
Getting in and out of bed or a chair
Maintaining continence

Needing help with two of these six activities is a triggering event for long term care policies. Policyholders in this situation can make claims on their policies.

The stats say that 68% of us will require long term care (needing help in two of the six areas) at some point in our lives. This is a staggering number. And with longevity rising around the world, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that number climb over the next 20-30 years.

While not everyone will need help for a long period of time (many will only need some assistance for a couple weeks, maybe after recovering from surgery) chances are pretty good you’ll need a hand at some point. Rather than relying on family or friends, long term care policies can pay for professional help in your home or a stay in a facility.

Continue reading→

What’s an Appropriate Cash Reserve in Retirement?

Cash flow is one of the first topics I like to cover when working with new financial planning clients. Cash flow is so fundamental to the rest of your household finances that it’s really helpful to understand how much money is coming in every month and how much is going out. With this in place we can begin to wrap our heads around concepts like your capacity to take risk, disability insurance needs, and other components of a typical financial plan.

We can also use this information to determine how big your cash reserve should be. There are many different names for a cash reserve: cash buffer, cash safety net, emergency fund, and so on. Regardless of what you might call it, the objective is to keep enough cash on hand so that no matter what happens in your life, you don’t need to sell investments at an inconvenient time (i.e. during corrections or market crashes).

The easiest way to view your cash reserve is as a function of monthly living expenses. Simply multiply your monthly living expenses by the number of months you feel comfortable with and voila! That’s how big your cash reserve should be.

During your “accumulation” or working years, most financial planners recommend a cash reserve of somewhere between 6 and 24 months’ worth of living expenses. Where you fall on that spectrum depends on a several different factors:

Your capacity and willingness to take risk
How many incomes you have in your household
How consistent your income is
How many dependents rely on your income
What your disability insurance situation looks like

In retirement the situation is quite a bit different. You’ve already amassed the amount you need to quit working, and are obviously not concerned with the possibility of being laid off. Instead, the biggest issue is avoiding having to sell assets at an inconvenient time.

It’s a challenging line to walk. You want to keep enough cash on hand to cover unexpected expenses and avoid selling stocks in periods of market turmoil. But you also don’t want to keep more in cash than you need to. Keeping too much is a drag on your portfolio, and inflation will slowly eat it away over time. The right amount of cash for you in retirement depends on a different set of factors, which I’ll cover in this post.

Continue reading→