What do you think future tax rates will be? Will it be lower, about the same or higher? Many believe that taxes are only to increase in the future. Without a plan, it could hit your retirement assets hard.

Adrian Pereira, Shirley Cotter, Gary Cotter and Ed Slott.

Bear in mind that your retirement plan or IRA is not tax-free, it is tax-deferred. Recent reports esti­mate a figure of between $10 trillion to as much as $30 trillion of tax-deferred assets to be rolled out in the coming decade. Apparently Uncle Sam is aware of that windfall. There is already a long list of guidelines that you have to adhere to, how much you should withdraw, when to withdraw, to whom it can go to once you no longer need it. Don’t be surprised if the rules and regulation keep getting more complicated. There are all sorts of traps and penalties if you fail to adhere to the guidelines. It is your money, but is it ­really all yours? Well, “your money” is after the government decides how much their cut is. And that is worrying, because for many people, it is a large part of their overall assets. You simply have to know what to do, how to do and when to do, and do according to the rules. More folks are becoming rightly concerned, and their first priority is to not make an error, because there are instances where an error could be irreversible. One thing is for certain – it is not simple.

According to tax advisor Ed Slott, CPA, Americans could poten­tially risk being taxed as much as 90% on their investments, and for over 20 years he has been on a ­mission to educate Americans on the ­importance of having a withdrawal plan. Slott is widely regarded as the most knowledgeable authority on IRA distribution planning strategies. The Wall Street Journal named him “the best source for IRA advice,” Mutual Funds Magazine calls him “America’s IRA Expert.” He is the author of three best-selling books including “The Retirement Savings Time Bomb,” and “Parlay Your IRA into a Family Fortune.” He is currently on the road with his latest educational drive on public TV with a program called “Stay Rich Forever and Ever with Ed Slott,” debuting in major cities around the nation.

Unfortunately, while almost ­every financial advisor has ­received at least some basic training in funding IRA accounts in the accumulation phase, very few advisors have been specifically trained to deal with the complexity involved in planning for the distribution phase. According to Ed Slott, less than 1% of advisers in the country know how to get your IRA money out correctly. Slott formed a study group called Ed Slott’s Elite IRA Advisor Group four years ago to train a select group of financial advisors knowledgeable about the distribution phase of retirement plans.

Local financial advisor Gary Cotter, CFP®, one of the first to join that group, is a charter member of Ed Slott’s Master Elite IRA Advisor Group. “In my opinion, he is one of the most knowledgeable financial advisers in the country in the area of IRA distribution planning,” Slott commented about Cotter. Seek out a specialist, he ­advised, because mistakes are costly in this area, and there are few second chances.
For more information visit www.irahelp.com, or call (813) 634-2000 to speak to an IRA advisor trained by Ed Slott.

© Copyright 2008 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing Company, Inc.

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