 |
|
The source of the best business, financial and legal news |
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
 | |
| |
 |
Business Informations |
|
|
|
Making Every Penny Count
More and more workers are leaving their jobs and taking their 401 k retirement plan funds with them. While some are rolling their funds over into IRAs or other qualified plans; many are taking their distributions in cash. Once an employee has left the job, any payments of earned vacation, sick or other leave made after leaving the job were not considered for inclusion in deferrals to Solo 401k, 401(k), or 403(b) plans. These plans' definition of compensation excluded any post employment earnings as the IRS excluded it from the definition. As far as these plans' were concerned, it's as if the money was never earned. Since the post employment earnings were not included in 401 k or 403 b compensation, these earnings were not a factor in any non discrimination or top heavy testing, as well as not being available for profit sharing or matching contributions. Depending upon the employers' policy on vacation, sick or other leave accumulation, this exclusion could be a substantial amount. As an example, suppose you are earning $50,000 when you leave your company. You've been working hard, haven't needed a sick day in 3 years and haven't taken a vacation in two years. You have accumulated four weeks of vacation and twelve sick days. The vacation and sick leave represent $6400 in additional income. Had you had been contributing 10% to your plan; $640 extra would have been deposited into your account. That $640 at 7% for 20 years is $2,476.60 for a 400% return. But that 400% return has been left on the table up until now. On May 25, 2005 and retroactive back to January 1, 2005 the IRS has redefined section 415 Compensation to include post severance compensation if it's paid within 2-1/2 months after separation from service. But this is only for payments that would have been paid if the participant had continued in employment or if they are for bona fide sick, vacation and other leave. The leave-related payments can be included only if the employee could have used the leave had employment continued. This new definition will still exclude severance payments due to severance of employment Employers can now amend their 401 k or 403 b plans to accommodate the new definition but may find themselves making additional contributions for compensation paid in the next year. Employees can add more contributions to their accounts. Plan administrators may find that the new definition of Section 415 compensation presents some administrative challenges in tracking the information, separating it from non eligible compensation and performing timely non discrimination testing. Lawrence Groves is the Director of the small business retirement administration services for the Retirement Group with the Solo 401k administration program at http://www.solo-k.com and the special 401(k) "Free for Three" ? administration program. Lawrence comes to his clients with over 25 years as an experienced expert in plan design, administration, and compliance. Lawrence works closely with for profit, non-profit, and government agencies on 401(k), 403(b), 457, Profit Sharing, and Puerto Rican 165(e) small business plans. Lawrence can be reached at Lawrence@solo-k.com or 727.844.7000
MORE RESOURCES:
investing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Scots Beat Yanks in China Bank Deal With visions of an ATM in every neighborhood in China, foreign banks and investment firms are queuing up to join the "China Club."Moneybags CommunismThe initiation fee for the "China Club" is straightforward and pure moneybags communism: invest cold hard cash in its largely insolvent state-owned banks, put your reputation on the line, reassure nervous foreign investors about upcoming IPO's, and share your risk management, corporate banking and other expertise with eager Chinese executives. Finding a Broker "Hey Joe! I need help finding a broker. I notice that discount commission rates are pretty much the same. Critical Options Investing Tip When Trading Naked Calls and Puts An option is a derivative trading product that is best used by investors as a hedging tool providing investing profit protection and profit enhancement. Although it is a powerful risk management tool, it can also be used effectively as a stand-alone trading vehicle. Chinas Great Missed Opportunity While a U.S. Trading Commodity Futures Using Support and Resistance - Paper Trading Setting Up a Paper Trading AccountQuestion: I cannot trade with "real money" as yet; however, how do I go about setting up a paper trade account?Answer: You can paper trade various ways and it really does not require that you have anything more specialized than a notebook to track your trades and access to charts.Begin by funding your paper trading account with the amount of money you think you will really begin with, whether it is $2000 or $20,000. Why You Need To Buy and Sell Gold Coins (Part 3) Putting Rare Coin Market Cycles to Work for You.. What is an Investor Ready Business Plan A Business Plan, as all good entrepreneurs starting out in life should know is the foundation, or rather a springboard, towards the establishment and growth of a new business. A business plan is an essential tool for companies raising capital - and your business plan needs to be Investor Ready. Creating Momentum with Options - Pro and Cons of At-the-money, In-the-money, and Out-of-the-money To create momentum in your options trading you need to understand the advantages and disadvantages of at-the-money options, in-the-money options and out-of-the-money options.An at-the-money option has both advantages and disadvantages over stock and in-the-money options. Online Trading Options Strategies - Rolling Rolling is defined in options online trading as moving a position from one strike to another either vertically in the same month, horizontally to another month or some combination thereof.Other times, you may have to buy your short call back so that you will not lose your stock. Keeping It Interesting Some lines from a movie never leave your mind; I don't remember the context always, but I do recall the dialog. "The Big Chill" is one of the few movies I own (VHS). Investing in World Markets There are many different ways to invest in world markets: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, commodities or currencies. Sometimes people refer to these options as investment vehicles (or method of investment). A Gadfly On A Dinosaurs Butt, Or The Hood-winking Of The American Investor Have you ever noticed how some words in the English language are so perfectly named for what they describe? And how some words seem to be, I guess you could say, backwards? For instance, the word sunflower! How wonderfully aptly named is the sunflower, that beautiful yellow flower that follows the sun from sunrise to sunset.And then there are those words in the English language where there meaning appears to be backward, so to speak - like parkway and driveway. When Its Too Late to Save for Retirement You are 55 years old (or somewhere around there) and your company is going to force you to retire at 65. You have $35,000 saved in your 401K and that's all. How to Terror-Proof Your Money "To drift is to be in hell, to be in heaven is to steer." -George Bernard ShawFormer Homeland Security Director, Tom Ridge, has said it's not a matter of "if" we'll have another terrorist attack, but when. July 2005: Hurricane Forecasts for Weather Traders Tropical Storm Arlene formed as a tropical depression on June 8, 2005 near 83 West Longitude and 17 North Latitude. Although Dr. Wit and Wisdom on Money, Wall Street and Success - Part #1 I love to collect quotes as they concisely promote a philosophy which is readily understandable.In my 25+ years of investing I have collected hundreds of quotes related to Wisdom, Wall Street and Success. Stock Market Money Management Skills Let's start by saying: You can't be afraid to take a loss. The investors that are the most successful in the stock market are the people who are willing to lose money. The Basics of Tax-Free UK Financial Spread Betting Financial Spread Betting (or Trading) offers a tax free method of speculating on financial markets.Quite simply, if you think a particular index, share, commodity, currency or sector will rise, you place an UP bet. Effective Advice For A New Generation of Investors CATCHING A FALLING KNIFEOne of the most common mistakes made by inexperienced investors is trying to "catch a falling knife". This is a habit, common among new investors, of buying stocks that are in "freefall", and it's a bad idea for an investment strategy. Building The Foundation For Wealth You wouldn't build your home on anything less than a solid foundation. Similarly, you can't build wealth and financial independence without first having sound foundational principles to build upon.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
Comment by Frank O'Donnell
