I do a lot of 1-on-1 meetings with employees of my corporate clients.  The meetings tend to be clumped after employee education sessions as part of the 401k or 403b plan.  I always make sure that any employee who wants to have a private conversation with me about their situation has my contact information and we can schedule either a phone or in person consultation.
 
Yesterday I had a meeting with a young lady (24 years old is young to me) who works for one of my retirement plan clients.  She asked to meet to get an opinion that was not a friend’s or family member’s on whether or not what she was doing was the right thing.   She was a very impressive woman, in her first job out of college, and had done her homework on the retirement plan, investments, and savings options outside the plan.
 
As we were getting into her situation, it occurred to me that many individuals would benefit from the work she has done.  First, she noted that many of the free planning tools on the web are too simplistic to account for life as we live it.  How perceptive!  Even at 24 years old she realized that while some of these tools can provide some direction, they are not a map.  On-line tools are generally just calculators and none of us are math problems to be solved.
 
Secondly, she realized the value of saving both before and after tax. She had calculated what she needed to save in the corporate plan to maximize the company match, and then all additional dollars she is putting into a Roth IRA.  She has an auto-sweep on her checking account to automatically take $500 per month out of her checking and put into her Roth IRA.  What genius!  We discussed how having both before tax and after-tax buckets of money in her retirement years will be extremely beneficial.  She noted that many of her peers don’t even know that they can contribute to both a company retirement plan and a Roth IRA.  It’s true that there are income thresholds that phase out the ability to do this, but for 2020 that threshold is not met until her income hits $124,000, and she is well below that.
 
After we got a clear picture of her retirement savings strategy, we discussed the need for an emergency fund and only then did we discuss the merits of whether or not she should try to pay down her mortgage.
 
Suffice to say that she is a remarkable young lady who will clearly be in a great position once she reaches retirement age…in 41 years!  But what struck me most about her was how poised, confident, and in control she was after our meeting.  I couldn’t help but think what an asset she must be to her employer/my client.  
 
As a financial advisor, some days are better than others, but yesterday was pretty good, and inspired me to continue helping other employees of my clients to get the financial confidence she has.  I would love to speak with you about how we might work on this together.
 
Please give me a call!

​Pete Welsh a/k/a 401kGuy

​At first, it doesn’t seem as if this title makes too much sense.  Afterall, 401k plans are tax advantaged vehicles and only file informational tax returns.  There is no tax owed by a qualified retirement plan.  And this is certainly technically correct.
 
However, most plans now have Roth features which allow employees to have their deferrals taxed prior to them being deposited into the plan.  The advantage to Roth is that even though the deferrals are taxed initially, all future earnings on those deferrals can be withdrawn (with a few minor restrictions) tax free by the employee.  Pretty niffy.  Even so, the vast majority of 401k deferrals (and 403b deferrals) are pretax, meaning that employees will pay ordinary income tax on the deferrals AND all earnings when they withdraw those funds.
 
So tax planning for your retirement plan is really more of an employee issue versus an employer issue, and what a planning opportunity it is!  I am working with one of my clients now in anticipation of conducting employee meetings in early January to focus specifically on this issue.
 
Some details:  After the passage of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act in late 2017, the marginal tax rates for most Americans dropped. The marginal rate is only 12% for a married couple earning no more than $78,950, and it only increases to 22% if that couple earns no more than $168,400.  That covers a lot of young couples in this country!  In fact, my client has the majority of their employees under 30 and earning around $40,000.  Most are basically in the 12% marginal bracket.  Is it worth getting the traditional 401k tax break for deferrals for such a group?  I would argue NO.
 
People tend to think Roth or no-Roth and leave it at that.  I believe there are some pretty compelling arguments to be made that when employees are early in their career and earnings are more modest that Roth makes absolutely good sense.  Later in their career when they might be in the 35% or 37% tax bracket, if they are so fortunate, then traditional 401k deferrals might make sense.  You can always change!
 
So what makes the most sense for your employees?  What are you advising them as you enter into a new year?  Just as importantly, what is your advisor saying?  And does your advisor have the skill set to even make such recommendations?
 
If you would like an additional perspective and some thoughts on how to position your employees for long term financial success, give me a call.  I would love to visit about optimizing tax benefits. Just the thought makes me warm all over!
 
Pete Welsh a/k/a 401kGuy