John O. McManus, founding principal of McManus & Associates, recently spoke with CNBC Reporter Mark Koba about whether 2013 is a bad year to retire, with the predicted fiscal cliff and, even if it’s resolved, the larger numbers of workers leaving their jobs for retirement. According to Koba, an estimated 7 million Americans will reach the age of 65 by the start of 2013.
John’s thoughts are found throughout Koba’s article:
As it stands now, the top tax rate on capital gains will jump to 23.8 percent from 15 percent and the top tax rate on dividends nearly triples to 43.4 percent from 15 percent. And any fiscal deal will likely include higher tax rates so seniors had better count on that when they plan for their retirement, said John O. McManus, CEO of McManus & Associates, a trust estates law firm.
“Many seniors may want to postpone retirement in 2013 because they just don’t know what their tax rates will be,” McManus said. “If the markets don’t perform well and tax rates go higher, seniors will have a lot less money to spend. There’s a lot of uncertainty about where this will all end.”
But McManus said even planning for tax increases won’t be easy.
“If someone retires in January but a deal isn’t reached until March, will tax rates be re-retroactive? That’s a big risk for someone thinking about retirement,” said McManus.
And after looking at the thoughts of various experts, Koba gets it right: “While 2013 presents unique problems, analysts say that in the end, planning for retirement never comes at an easy time, fiscal cliff or not.”
A quote from John closes out the piece:
“It’s not to say that 2014 will be a better year to retire,” said McManus. “There are always a lot of things people can’t control, like the markets and global issues. I’m just saying that if you think about retiring in 2013 you need to take care and take caution.”
Read the whole article here.
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