IRAs and Early Retirement

Dual income families and megabucks 401(k) plans are common socio-economic trends that get today's Boomers thinking about early retirement. If you elect to retire early and roll your 401(k) plan into an IRA, how can you best set up a withdrawal plan? First, it depends on what kind of IRA you have. The rules differ for Roth IRAs. Second, it depends on whether you retire before or after age 59 1/2. For our purposes, we are going to assume retirement occurs before age 59 1/2. What Income is Taxable? The first issue is to be clear on are the rules as to what IRA withdrawals are taxable income. With traditional IRAs, the answer is easy: All income is taxable. However, if you made non-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA, SEP or SIMPLE IRA, distributions are prorat View the rest of this article