As a trusted financial advisors for our clients, our priority is to stay apprised on current tax laws, as well as provide planning opportunities to reduce future tax liabilities. For many of our clients, their Traditional IRAs are also their largest tax liability. When an IRA is responsibly managed, the hope is that the account will continue growing until the owner’s late 70s. At that point in time, the mandatory withdrawals from the account may offset any capital appreciation and earnings on the account. When taking into account these growth expectations, as well as the client’s necessary cash flow, many clients find that the RMDs in their 80s will far exceed their necessary cash flow. These factors contribute to an increasing likelihood of the client having a higher tax rate later in life. Higher Modified Adjusted Gross Income(MAGI) is one concern that has a trickle down effect. When MAGI gets high enough, it can result in an income based adjustment for Medicare Part B and D. It should be clear by now that a healthy retirement can actually increase tax concerns.
The first step in keeping MAGI low is controlling income. For retired individuals, there are two main sources of cash flow. The first being social security and pensions. These are fixed amounts that cannot be changed. The second source is income from personal assets. This includes brokerage accounts, Traditional IRAs, and Roth IRAs. A brokerage account is not a tax-deferred account. Therefore any income produced by the account will contribute to MAGI. It is possible to manipulate a brokerage account’s holdings to reduce taxable income. The second source of cash flow is withdrawals made from Traditional IRAs to supplement income or fulfill an RMD. These withdrawals are fully taxable to the individual. In addition to Traditional IRA withdrawals, Roth IRA withdrawals can be made, however, these withdrawals are not taxable to the individual if made after 59 ½. The IRS gives us tax tables, from these, we are able to determine the maximum amount of taxable income we want to produce for clients. As I said before, it may become impossible to keep income below this desired threshold when RMDs get larger and larger. If this is the case, we move on to advanced planning techniques.
