Why is the Annual Retirement Contribution Still Maxed at $18.5k?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has this been adjusted in the last 2 years? With fewer pension plans and uncertainty with SS the max should be increased.

Um, it did go up this year. from 18K to 18.5K it goes up every 1-3 years. Are you new to 401k this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It went up $500 this year. It's gone up dramatically since I started contributing. I think the limit was $2500 when I first started working (which was a huge percentage of my income at the time!)

Anyway, your saving is not limited to 401ks. There are other tax advantaged options, and of course you can just save money.

What other tax advataged option other than $5500 in an IRA?

HSA - $7750 annually for a family. We just contribute and invest it.

I also do the over 50 catch up which is $6000. Plus I am able to do a profit share contribution of around $36k but that's not as commonly available.

None of those things are available to most people.

HSAs are available for most all health plans, employers love them. Not sure what you are talking about and EVERYONE can do the catch up when then turn 50.

For a 2 income family, 37K + employer match, plus 11,000 in IRA, plus HSA if you choose is a very large amount to be socking away in retirement. If you are so well off you can manage this, then you surely are putting your money in the market and will be taxed at the long term gains rate when you withdraw.

What more do you need?

What are the tax advantages of investing in an IRA if you max out your 401k? Other than a backdoor Roth, that is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What are the tax advantages of investing in an IRA if you max out your 401k? Other than a backdoor Roth, that is?

Tax deferral. But, of course, you are trading off getting your retirement income taxed at ordinary income rates rather that at potential capital gains or qualified dividend rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What are the tax advantages of investing in an IRA if you max out your 401k? Other than a backdoor Roth, that is?

Tax deferral. But, of course, you are trading off getting your retirement income taxed at ordinary income rates rather that at potential capital gains or qualified dividend rates.

That's most likely income phased out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GOP is in control and they want you eating cat food into your retirement. It will be your fault when you can’t make ends meet.

Actually, many on the left oppose increases because it would almost exclusively benefit the relatively well-off. The poor or even true MC already can't afford to contribute the existing max amount.

This is true. It is mostly the left who oppose this as a "give away to the rich". Apparently anyone who prioritizes saving for their own retirement as much as they can is "rich".

Let's be realistic. Being able to take 100% advantage of tax advantaged space is beyond the means of most Americans. Even Americans who are saving for retirement. Most people (even middle class people) just don't have the income level to do it. As for HSA's, the only way they are a good deal is if you can afford to pay all your medical bills and just leave the HSA money invested. Once again, most people can not afford this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What are the tax advantages of investing in an IRA if you max out your 401k? Other than a backdoor Roth, that is?

Tax deferral. But, of course, you are trading off getting your retirement income taxed at ordinary income rates rather that at potential capital gains or qualified dividend rates.

Peace of mind, Husband and I max out both Roth 401Ks and Backdoor Roth IRAs every year. The more I can funnel into designated retirement accounts the more secure I feel. There is a massive debt bubble obligation the US will need to face at some point, and our UMC income will be the primary target for revenues to pay off this debt. Just hope I can retire before that day comes.

[Anonymous]

Individual retirement arrangements:
Traditional IRAs............................................................................. --- --- --- --- --- 15.1 16.1 17.1 18.2 19.3 85.8
Roth IRAs....................................................................................... --- --- --- --- --- 7.3 8.1 8.9 9.7 10.6 44.6

[Anonymous]

^^ Counted as tax expenditures against the federal budget.

[Anonymous]

It's not much different than why retirees are required to begin taking distributions at age 70.5, in the eyes of Uncle Sam, it's time to start spending your money and not saving it on the backs of taxpayers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Counted as tax expenditures against the federal budget.

https://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&id=4971

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GOP is in control and they want you eating cat food into your retirement. It will be your fault when you can’t make ends meet.

Actually, many on the left oppose increases because it would almost exclusively benefit the relatively well-off. The poor or even true MC already can't afford to contribute the existing max amount.

This is true. It is mostly the left who oppose this as a "give away to the rich". Apparently anyone who prioritizes saving for their own retirement as much as they can is "rich".

Let's be realistic. Being able to take 100% advantage of tax advantaged space is beyond the means of most Americans. Even Americans who are saving for retirement. Most people (even middle class people) just don't have the income level to do it. As for HSA's, the only way they are a good deal is if you can afford to pay all your medical bills and just leave the HSA money invested. Once again, most people can not afford this.

I think HSAs are only available for people that select High Deductible plans, too. Which is stupid to select unless you expect pretty low medical plans.

People on DCUM are in a bubble. Assuming everyone and their brother is maxing out their 401k, working their way around tax laws to get money into an IRA, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GOP is in control and they want you eating cat food into your retirement. It will be your fault when you can’t make ends meet.

Actually, many on the left oppose increases because it would almost exclusively benefit the relatively well-off. The poor or even true MC already can't afford to contribute the existing max amount.

This is true. It is mostly the left who oppose this as a "give away to the rich". Apparently anyone who prioritizes saving for their own retirement as much as they can is "rich".

Let's be realistic. Being able to take 100% advantage of tax advantaged space is beyond the means of most Americans. Even Americans who are saving for retirement. Most people (even middle class people) just don't have the income level to do it. As for HSA's, the only way they are a good deal is if you can afford to pay all your medical bills and just leave the HSA money invested. Once again, most people can not afford this.

I think HSAs are only available for people that select High Deductible plans, too. Which is stupid to select unless you expect pretty low medical plans.

People on DCUM are in a bubble. Assuming everyone and their brother is maxing out their 401k, working their way around tax laws to get money into an IRA, etc.

That's not necessarily true. We have a high deductible plan and the lower monthly premiums offsets the higher deductible. So even if you have high medical expenses you end up about even, and if you have lower expenses you end up ahead. In our case the additional tax benefit of the HSA (as a savings vehicle in our case) means the high deductible plan is a better deal on an annual basis. That would be true for most people, but people tend to look at their health care costs as their out of pocket expenses, not the total of the premium plus OOP, plus any tax benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GOP is in control and they want you eating cat food into your retirement. It will be your fault when you can’t make ends meet.

Actually, many on the left oppose increases because it would almost exclusively benefit the relatively well-off. The poor or even true MC already can't afford to contribute the existing max amount.

This is true. It is mostly the left who oppose this as a "give away to the rich". Apparently anyone who prioritizes saving for their own retirement as much as they can is "rich".

Let's be realistic. Being able to take 100% advantage of tax advantaged space is beyond the means of most Americans. Even Americans who are saving for retirement. Most people (even middle class people) just don't have the income level to do it. As for HSA's, the only way they are a good deal is if you can afford to pay all your medical bills and just leave the HSA money invested. Once again, most people can not afford this.

I think HSAs are only available for people that select High Deductible plans, too. Which is stupid to select unless you expect pretty low medical plans.

People on DCUM are in a bubble. Assuming everyone and their brother is maxing out their 401k, working their way around tax laws to get money into an IRA, etc.

Extremely low or extremely high medical costs. But if you are in the middle, it’s not a great deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GOP is in control and they want you eating cat food into your retirement. It will be your fault when you can’t make ends meet.

Actually, many on the left oppose increases because it would almost exclusively benefit the relatively well-off. The poor or even true MC already can't afford to contribute the existing max amount.

This is true. It is mostly the left who oppose this as a "give away to the rich". Apparently anyone who prioritizes saving for their own retirement as much as they can is "rich".

Let's be realistic. Being able to take 100% advantage of tax advantaged space is beyond the means of most Americans. Even Americans who are saving for retirement. Most people (even middle class people) just don't have the income level to do it. As for HSA's, the only way they are a good deal is if you can afford to pay all your medical bills and just leave the HSA money invested. Once again, most people can not afford this.

I think HSAs are only available for people that select High Deductible plans, too. Which is stupid to select unless you expect pretty low medical plans.

People on DCUM are in a bubble. Assuming everyone and their brother is maxing out their 401k, working their way around tax laws to get money into an IRA, etc.

I love our HSA and HDHP. We save $800/mo in premiums alone. Our HDHP for our family is $50/mo. Even when my son needed PT at the beginning of the year, we still would have spent more on a low deductible plan. We've been doing HDHP with an HSA for 3 years now and have never had to touch the HSA and have never spend more money out of pocket than what we would have paid in a higher premium. We now have quite a nice sized HSA account. And until today that account was giving us really good returns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It went up $500 this year. It's gone up dramatically since I started contributing. I think the limit was $2500 when I first started working (which was a huge percentage of my income at the time!)

Anyway, your saving is not limited to 401ks. There are other tax advantaged options, and of course you can just save money.

What other tax advataged option other than $5500 in an IRA?

Why does it have to be tax advantaged? Just save in a regular brokerage account. If you really have to ability to save this much for retirement, you probably don't need MORE tax advantages.

But I like tax advantages. And if policy changes are gutting pensions and social security, why shouldn’t we receive tax incentives to save for our own retirement?