Tag: estate planning

NBC News: “Seniors face retirement ‘perfect storm’ in 2013”

November 19, 2012 - Media Clips

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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The New York Times: “With Tax Changes Near, ‘You Can’t Wait to Plan’”

March 8, 2012 - Media Clips

Mickey Meece, contributing writer for the The New York Times, recently interviewed McManus & Associates Founding Principal John O. McManus for an article published in the newspaper’s Retirement Section. The story, titled “With Tax Changes Near, ‘You Can’t Wait to Plan,’” showcases the below advice on managing retirement accounts from McManus:

John O. McManus, a trust and estate lawyer in Manhattan, suggested that some people should consider converting their individual retirement accounts to Roth I.R.A.’s to take advantage of the 2012 tax rate. A Roth I.R.A. is funded with after-tax money. Unlike other retirement accounts, Roths have no minimum distribution requirements after age 70 1/2, the accounts compound free of tax and distributions are tax-free. For those reasons, Mr. McManus said he was recommending Roth conversions to his clients.

To read the full write-up by the Times, click here.

Beyond what was included in Meece’s piece, McManus — a top-AV rated attorney — shared additional helpful estate planning tips related to the topic:

Tax rates will increase significantly in 2013 unless legislative action is taken. Roth I.R.A.’s can compound further without the requirement of mandatory distributions for those who find it “unnecessary” to take distributions. If someone lives to age 90, for example, the Roth IRA could experience significant additional growth, since it is not diminished by the mandatory distributions of a typical IRA. Furthermore, after his or her death, the children, who are then required to take distributions from the Roth IRA, will not pay income tax on those distributions. The result is 40 potential years of income-tax-free distributions to the children while tax rates may be higher than they are today. Finally, for those who have an estate that is subject to state estate tax and federal estate tax today, the act of converting to a Roth IRA today and paying the necessary income tax serves to reduce the future estate tax by reducing the amount of assets subject to tax, while ensuring greater income-tax-free compounding for his or her heirs down the road.

Advisors at McManus & Associates are available to discuss further.