Guide to Roth IRA, 401k and 403b Retirement Accounts

Free online guide

For many of us, Roth accounts offer advantages over traditional IRA and 401k accounts. They can be more flexible and more tax-efficient, permitting you to create and preserve more retirement wealth. This free online guide offers help in understanding how to choose the type of account that's best for you, and explains special rules that apply to Roth accounts: contributions, conversions, recharacterizations and distributions. A topical index of the pages in this guide appears below.

Need a book? For a complete, plain language explanation of Roth accounts, see our bestselling book Go Roth!

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Feature Articles

• Isolating 401k Basis for a Conversion
  If you have after-tax dollars in your 401k account, you might wonder if there's a way to isolate those dollars so they can be converted to a Roth IRA, tax-free. Simply moving the after-tax dollars to a Roth won't work, but there's a strategy that may do the trick.
• Recharacterization Blues
  You can use a recharacterization to undo a conversion, but the results aren't always what you might expect.

What Hath Roth Wrought

• Roth to the Rescue
• Roth IRA 101

To Roth or Not to Roth

• Roth IRA Rules of Thumb
• Roth Accounts Are Bigger
• Advantages of Conversion

Getting Money In

Contributions

• How to Start a Roth IRA
• Basic Rules for Regular Contributions to a Roth IRA
• Qualifying Income for IRA Contributions
• Spousal Roth IRA
• Roth IRA Phase-Out Rules
• Modified Adjusted Gross Income
• Retirement Savings Contributions Credit
• Regular Contribution to a Conversion Roth IRA
• Roth IRA for Minors
• Roth IRA for College Savings
• Excess Contributions to Roth IRAs

Conversions

• Conversion Preliminaries
• Conversion Eligibility
• Partial Conversion
• Conversion Consequences
• How Much Conversion Tax?
• Source of Funds for Tax on Conversion
• Periodic Payments and Conversions
• Post-Retirement Roth Conversion
• Regulation Spikes Annuity Abuse

Recharacterizations

• Recharacterization Overview
• Recharacterization Rules
• Roth IRA Reconversion to Save Taxes
• Extended Deadline for Recharacterizations
• Recharacterization Blues

Managing Your Account

Go Roth!, our book on this topic, contains extensive guidance on investing and other aspects of managing a retirement account, but these portions of the book are not reflected in this online guide at this time.

• Real Estate in Your IRA

Taking Money Out

• Distribution Overview
• Tax-Free Distributions from Roth IRAs
• First-Time Homebuyer
• Taxable Distributions from Roth IRAs
• Distributions After a Roth IRA Conversion
• Inherited Roth IRA

Roth 401k and 403b

Understanding the Roth 401k/403b

• Roth 401k/403b Overview
• Roth 401k/403b Compared with Traditional Account
• Roth 401k/403b Compared with Roth IRA
• A Roth Account Means More Wealth
• Contributing to a Roth 401k/403b Account

Rules for Roth 401k/403b

• Who's Eligible for the Roth 401k/403b?
• Rollovers from Roth 401k or 403b Accounts
• 401k Contributions Over the  Limit
• Distributions from Roth 401k/403b Accounts
• Five-Year Requirement for Roth 401k/403b

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