Retirement is a world of confusion, especially if you don’t know what the words people use to describe it mean. Especially in the world of finance and savings, there’s a whole lot of words germane to just retirement. You may have heard some of these words, or if you’ve spoken to a financial advisor to develop your retirement plan. But if you are like the majority of most americans, you probably don’t understand a good number of the words used in reference to retirement and subsequent financial planning. In this informative blog post, the retirement experts at Benistar will take you through the most common retirement terms. There are seventeen terms that are most commonly used to talk about financial retirement themes. They include:401 (k), required minimum distribution, annuities, rollover IRA, bank loan funds, Roth 401 (k), defined benefits pension, Roth IRA, defined contribution plan, Individual retirement account, life cycle fund and SIMPLE IRA.
As you can see IRA is a big theme. So what is an IRA? Well, an IRA is an individual retirement account, an investing tool used by individual people to earn and keep track of retirement savings. Traditional and Roth IRAs are created by individual taxpayers. Traditional IRAs stand out as they are tax deductible, in most cases. Traditional IRAs are a great option in preparing for retirement, if you qualify for them. The other form of individual taxpayer IRA is a Roth IRA, which is not tax deductible. However, eligible distributions of this type of IRA are tax-free. A Rollover IRA is a transfer of money from a retirement account into an IRA.
There quite a few other terms you may have heard in the introduction. One is 401 (k), a retirement behemoth. A 401 (k) is, in layman’s terms, the option for an employee to take compensation in cash or to have it deferred to to a 401 (k) account, an account used in anticipation of retirement. A Roth 401 (k) is a 401 (k) in which you pay taxes initially. A required minimum distribution is the minimum amount of money that must be withdrawn from an account each year, especially in terms of retirement-related accounts, such as an IRA. Bank loan funds are mutual funds that buy loans created by banks and other various financial institutions. A Defined Benefits Plan is something you may encounter in the workplace- it is when the sponsor gives employees a lump sum upon retirement, instead of a deferred income stream.
Furthermore, an annuity is a lump sum of cash that is deferred to be distributed via a monthly stream of monetary income for a set period of time. Defined contribution plans are those in which a certain amount of money is set aside every year by the company, in anticipation of the retirement of the employees. Lastly, a Lifecycle Fund is a mutual fund in which the money in an account is systematically adjusted to be proportional to the lifespan of the fund itself. If you still think you may need a little help in preparing for retirement, look no further than the experts at Benistar. They can make sure you’re adequately prepared for retirement and will help you save a buck in the process.