Author Topic: Retirement Account Clean-up  (Read 1651 times)

free_fries

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Retirement Account Clean-up
« on: April 28, 2016, 06:29:23 PM »
Hi folks,

Please help me sort out my finances! I’m projecting/hoping to leave the rat race in about 10 years (my mid-40s).

Retirement Accounts
Acct #1 Rollover IRA $40.3k
Acct #2 Roth IRA $22.9k 
Acct #3 403(b) from most recent job $46.8k (still at brokerage, allowed to leave it indefinitely)
Acct #4 401(a) from most recent job $36.3k (still at brokerage, allowed to leave it indefinitely)

Liquid Accounts
Checking currently at $12k

Debt
None

Property, other assets
None

Issue 1 – Rollover IRA
History – Left job in 2008, rolled over 401(k) into Acct #1 above. 
Question – Pre-MMM, I added $2,500 to that account in 2011.  I was a full-time grad student and had a surplus from my summer internship.  Instead of I don’t know putting it towards my student loan, I took this after-tax money and added to the Rollover IRA account.  I’m pretty sure I deducted it on 2011 taxes so am I square or do I need to be careful withdrawing these funds vs. the original deposit which is pre-tax money when the time comes? What does this mean if I combine this with other retirement accounts?

Those were my only two deposits to the account and each transaction its own line item.

Issue 2 – This year’s Roth IRA contribution
History – In Jan 2016, I made my 2016 Roth IRA contribution for tax year 2016.  My job was eliminated at the end of 2015  and I had a large amount of cash stockpiled for my layoff. I knew I'd be easily able to cash flow my expenses with unemployment income so I figured I’d use my liquid stash to buy.  Fast forward to late April and I just started my new role. $86k annual salary.  For 2016, will receive 17 paychecks for $56,231 gross salary.  After maxing out my 403(b) ($18k) and HSA account ($2.75k, employer kicks in $600), my adjusted earnings will be ~$35.5k.  Even combined with my $6,640 of unemployment income, I have my lowest income in years. Note - that contribution has earned $447.99 since January.
Question – Should I leave that $5,500 where it is in my Roth IRA or can I do something better with it? If I make changes when? ASAP or late 2016?

Issue 3- What’s next
As mentioned above with my new gig, I have a new 403(b) and will have access to HSA (first time) so I will be adding two more accounts to the mix.   What do people here do?  Combine accounts with each new job?  Keep multiple?  Fees are pretty low all around and I feel my funds are a pretty good mix so I’m not super motivated on moving things around.  For now, just curious about account management.  I’ll move on to the nitty gritty of allocations next.

Thanks!

 

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