A health savings account is a tax-deductible savings plan for individuals covered by a qualified High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). This program allows for tax deductible contributions to a special account that allows you to pay for expenses your insurance plan does not cover with pretax and tax-free dollars.

Eligibility
A high deductible plan for 2021 requires a minimum deductible of $1,400 for individuals and/or $2,800 for a family. These plans must have a maximum out-of-pocket expense of at least $7,000 for an individual and $14,000 for a family.

If you’re covered by a spouse’s workplace policy, Tricare, the Veterans Administration, or Medicare you are not eligible. If you are a dependent on someone else’s tax return or covered by a Flexible spending account or Health reimbursement account, you are not eligible.

How an HSA Works
The beauty of an HSA is you make contributions that are deducted from your taxable income, yet when you spend the money for qualified expenses, the distribution is tax-free as well. Any growth within the HSA account is also tax-free. So, the contributions are deductible like a Traditional IRA, but earnings and distributions are tax-free, like a Roth IRA – you get the best of both worlds!

Contributions
Contributions to an HSA are deductible from your taxable income in the years you contribute, and like a Traditional IRA, you can make contributions until April the 15th or your normal tax filing deadline of the following year. For 2021, the maximum HSA contribution is $3,600 for and individual and $7,200 for a family, with an additional $1,000 per year “catch-up” contribution for those over age 55. It is important to know that for married couples the $1,000 catch-up provision applies to each spouse. If you and your spouse are each over 55 your HSA contribution limit for 2021 would be $9,200.

If you contribute to an HSA plan through your employer, your annual contributions are reduced dollar-for-dollar by any contributions your employer makes on your behalf. For example, if you and your spouse are under age 55 and your employer makes a $1,200 annual contribution on your behalf, you would only be allowed to contribute and deduct from your taxable income $6,000 for 2021 ($7,200 contribution limit minus $1,200 employer contribution).

If you drop out of a high deductible plan before the end of any calendar year, say you become eligible for Medicare, or you change employers and the new coverage does not qualify as a high deductible plan, your contributions for that year are simply pro-rated. Meaning if you participate for three months then changed to a plan that is not eligible for HSA contributions, you would be eligible for a 3/12ths deduction in that calendar year.

On the other hand, if you become eligible for HSA contributions during a calendar year, you can make contributions as if you were covered by a high-deductible plan for the full year. So, if you moved from an employer plan that was not HSA compliant to another employer plan that was HSA eligible in October you would be allowed to contribute as if you were eligible for the entire year. This is known as the last month rule.

The contribution rules for HSA accounts also allow others to contribute to the account on your behalf. For example, if you have a working child who is covered by an HSA compliant insurance policy, you can contribute directly to the account for them. The contribution is considered a gift so you will not receive an income tax deduction, but it may be an important step to helping your child become financially stable.

Qualified HSA Funding Distribution
An important funding technique is the ability to make a trustee to trustee transfer from an IRA into your HSA account. Each taxpayer may only do one qualified transfer in their lifetime and the amount of your HSA contribution will be reduced dollar-for-dollar in the year you make a conversion. This is an outstanding opportunity to convert dollars that are potentially taxable in the future to dollars that can be tax-free. If you are young and make a conversion, the potential for tax free growth can’t be beat. Even if you’re just shy of Medicare eligibility, the income tax savings of this strategy make it worthy of consideration.

An important note for couples is that only one person can own an HSA account. To maximize the Qualified HSA funding distribution benefit, one spouse will open a family HSA for a calendar year and use their qualified funding distribution. In the following year the other spouse will open a separate HSA account and use their own once in a lifetime qualified funding distribution to fund that account. This would allow a couple to convert up to $18,000 from IRAs where distributions are likely to be taxable--into HSA accounts that compound tax-free and provide tax-free future benefits.

Rollovers
You are allowed to rollover funds, via a trustee-to-trustee transfer, from one HSA account to another without triggering a taxable event. This means if you leave an employer’s plan and wish to establish an HSA account through a different provider, you can consolidate your account with the new provider and simplify your finances. Or if you wish you can change HSA account custodians anytime.

Beneficiaries
If you name your spouse as the beneficiary of your HSA account, the account will be treated as the spouse’s HSA upon your death. For other beneficiaries, the fair market value becomes a taxable distribution to the beneficiary.

Household Individuals
Funds from your HSA account can be used for qualified medical expenses for you and your family. The IRS is a bit liberal in their definition of family. Anyone who qualifies as a dependent on your income tax return can have medical expenses paid from your HSA account.  You, your spouse, your children under age 19 or under age 24 if a full-time student, grandchildren, parents, and foster children are all included.

Qualified Expenses
Medically necessary expenses not covered by insurance can be paid from your HSA account without taxation. Even things like drug and alcohol rehab, home modifications for disabilities, acupuncture, dental and vision care, and over the counter drugs prescribed by your doctor, are all allowed expenses.

Although your current insurance premiums cannot be paid from you HSA account, you can use those funds to pay for Long-Term Care insurance and Medicare Part B and Part D premiums.
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For a complete listing of eligible expenses see IRS publication 502.

Look Back Provision
If you have an HSA account open during any tax year and do not have enough money contributed to cover all the allowed reimbursements, you can use future years contributions to pay yourself back. For example; In 2020 you had an HSA balance of $4,000 but in December you had a large unexpected $5,000 medical expense. You would be able to make 2021 contributions and then reimburse yourself for the extra $1,000 expense you incurred in 2020.
 
Prohibited Transactions
Like IRA accounts, there are certain transactions that are prohibited inside your HSA account. You cannot have any self-dealing transactions such as sale leasing or exchange of property between yourself and your HSA account, you cannot charge your HSA account for services you provide, and you cannot use your HSA account as collateral for any loans.  A violation of these rules will trigger a deemed distribution from your HSA account and subject all the funds to taxation in the year the violation occurs. For more information on prohibited transactions see section 4975 of the tax code.
 
For the full IRS guidance on Health Savings Accounts see Publication 969.

The recent income tax revamp has made income tax planning early in the year a must for many self-employed professionals.  The ability to take a 20% deduction of business income, available for single filers with income below $164,900 for 2021 and married filers with income below $329,800, is too good to pass up. Filers with taxable income at these levels will be in the 24% marginal tax bracket, so being able to qualify for the business income deduction is worth thousands, particularly when proper tax planning can prevent many from reaching the next 32% bracket. There are a number of ways to game your reported income, allowing many filers with reportable income well above these limits to qualify for the 20% exclusion.

First, the exclusion counts toward reducing your income below the phaseout thresholds. A married couple with employment income of $175,000 and a like amount received as business income would see their total income of $350,000 reduced by 20% of the business income or $35,000 allowing them to remain within the proscribed income limits.

Contributions made to an Health Savings Accounts will also reduce your taxable income. For 2021 single filers can deduct up to $3,450 and couples up to $6,900.

A real biggie for high earners looking to qualify for the 20% exclusion is retirement plan contributions.  Money contributed to your qualified retirement plans can make a huge difference. For 2021 those under age 50 can contribute $19,500 to a 401k and those 50 and above can contribute up to $26,000. Presumably as a business owner you can also be sure to offer a generous match. Matching contributions are a deductible business expense that benefits you the owner directly yet reduces your reported profits and thus your total income for purposes of qualifying for the 20% deduction. And for very high earners, adding a defined benefit plan to your existing defined contribution plan might be a smart move, depending on the demographics and size of your workforce.

Don’t overlook simple things like using tax free municipal bonds for your savings versus taxable bonds and CDs.

Going beyond the basics, some business owners could benefit from reimagining their business ownership.  Suppose you are a professional who owns your place of business. Setting up a separate company to own the real estate could be a smart move. You lease the building back from the owner at a fair market rate creating business income that is not subject to the target income limits.
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Busy professionals have little time to devote to income tax planning and their CPAs are busy during tax season, but the difference between qualifying for the deduction and not qualifying could hinge on how soon you begin a given strategy. 

Roth IRA accounts have been available since 1997. Unlike a Traditional IRA, Roth IRA contributions are taxed in the year of the contribution but never taxed again if certain requirements are met.

If you are a single filer with gross income of up to $52,525 or joint filers with gross income of up to $105,050 for the 2020 tax year, all of your income is taxed at 12% or less, and we strongly encourage you to make Roth IRA contributions rather than Traditional IRA contributions.

The magic of compounding means, the earlier you start, the greater the tax-free growth within the account. If you are 20 when you start making contributions, you could be looking at four doubles of your original contribution by the time you retire at age 60.  That means a $6,000 contribution this year could grow to $96,000, creating $90,000 of tax-free income for your retirement years.

With today’s historically low income-tax rates, it would be prudent to put as much money as one can into a Roth IRA. Always consult your CPA before making this decision, but one could argue the tax-free growth and withdrawals outweigh the hurt of paying today’s top tax rates.

Contribution and Income Limits
For 2021 eligible individuals can contribute up to $6,000 if they are under age 50 and $7,000 over the age of 50. You can contribute 100% of any eligible income up to these limits.

For single filers with Adjusted Gross Income of less than $125,000 ($124,000 for 2020) can make a full Roth IRA contribution. If the adjusted gross income is between $125,000 and $140,000 ($124,000 to $139,000 for 2020)  they can make a partial Roth IRA contribution. For joint filers the threshold is below $198,000 AGI ($196,000 for 2020)and the phaseout is between AGI of $198,000 to $208,000 for 2021 ($196,000 to $206,000 for 2020). For adjusted gross incomes above these amounts, a back-door Roth IRA strategy will be needed.

Back-Door Roth IRA Contributions
Without income limitations for converting assets in a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, many who are disqualified for income resort to the back-door method for funding a Roth IRA.  This works because anyone may open and contribute to a non-deductible Traditional IRA, even if you are covered by a qualified retirement plan.

Once the funds are deposited into the non-deductible Traditional IRA, they can then be converted to a Roth IRA.  This has the same net income-tax effect as contributing directly to a Roth IRA. The IRS recently loosened the back-door conversion rules and allow for immediate conversions, where in the past investors were recommended to wait a few months before converting to satisfy the IRS.

 
The 5 Year Rule
Another reason to open a Roth IRA is the flexibility it can provide to fund emergencies that may arise over your life.

You can always withdraw any Roth IRA contributions you have made without taxes, after all, you paid income tax on the money prior to making the contribution. However, if you haven’t had the Roth IRA open for at least five years, your distribution could still be subject to a 10% tax penalty, similar to the early withdrawal penalty for Traditional IRAs.

The five years for withdrawals begins on January the 1st of the year you open the account, not when you make subsequent contributions. There is also a five-year rule for Roth IRA conversions that start in January of the year you make a conversion; this prevents someone from using a Roth IRA conversion to avoid early distribution penalties from early Traditional IRA withdrawals.
 
The Younger, The Better
Tax-free growth and tax-free distributions are very enticing, especially for young investors. The more time your account grows tax-free, the better. Another point to make is that the more of your nest egg you have in a Roth IRA, the less your Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) will be during retirement. Which inherently leads to you and your financial advisor having more ability to control/minimize income taxes during retirement years.

If you're age 72 or older you probably know you must begin taking distributions from your IRA -- whether you want to or not.  

The IRS life expectancy tables determine your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) based on the previous years ending balance for your IRA and your attained age for the tax year.

The Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) rules provide those subject to RMDs an option that can help them reduce their income tax liability by having certain charitable contributions made directly to a qualified charity. Given the changes to itemized deductions and the standard deduction in the 2017 tax law update, the Qualified Charitable Distribution rules for your IRA account becomes even more important.

If you make charitable contributions throughout the year, it would be wise to consider making those contributions directly from your IRA. Up to $100,000 of charitable distributions from each IRA owner's accounts can be excluded from your taxable income each year.

Say you plan to give $10,000 to your church or another qualified charity and you're receiving taxable distributions from your IRA. If you make the contribution to the charity directly from your IRA, your $10,000 gift will not be reported as income on your income tax return.
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If you instead receive these funds as income from your IRA distribution and then send the same $10,000 to the charity, it is included in your taxable income and could result in higher Medicare premiums and a higher percentage of your Social Security income being taxable. If you don't have itemized deductions that exceed the new $24,000 per couple or $12,000 per individual standard deduction, you could lose all the tax benefits of your generosity.

By having the distributions sent directly to the qualified charity from your IRA, you will exclude the amount from your taxable income, potentially lowering your Medicare premiums, the taxable portion of your social security benefits, and your overall income tax rate at both the federal and state level.
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If you follow this strategy, be sure to let your income tax preparer know. There may be no indicator on the 1099R you receive at the end of the year that shows that part of your distribution is non-taxable, so there is a chance many people using this strategy are over-paying their income taxes each year.

​Budgeting for retirement is based on a projected retirement date.  But when most people start their retirement income planning, they may not be sure exactly when they will want to step away from their job—and as they age, their planning for retirement may change. If you are thinking about accelerating your retirement plans, you are not alone.

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioners work hard to make sure their clients are ready for retirement. When people change their minds about when they want to retire, their retirement income planning does, too. Sudden changes in fortune or lifestyle can prompt people to wonder if they can reach financial freedom sooner than they expected, like coming into a big inheritance, a generous severance package near the end of a career or a big offer to sell your company, or even a health scare or a spouse’s retirement.

If you feel you may be reaching financial freedom sooner than you thought, we are always ready to explore your options for an early retirement. 
 
So, when should YOU retire? Not before you can answer “yes” to the four questions below!

When you think about your road to financial freedom, do you think about your personal health? You should. If you are like most working people, you have a health insurance plan that is covered or partially compensated by your work. Retiring tips don’t often talk about health care because they assume you have reached the age of 65 and are eligible for Medicare plans.

If you retire today, how will you get healthcare for yourself and for your family? Depending on your retirement plans, you may need to pay for your health insurance plan out of pocket for years—and potentially for your spouse and for any children under age 26 currently on your healthcare plan as well. A high-quality healthcare plan that goes beyond catastrophic coverage can be costly, depending on your age or any pre-existing conditions. (Don’t fall for low-cost, Medishare-style junk plans that do not provide adequate coverage!)

Healthcare challenges can strike at any time and turn your financial freedom into a financial disaster. At Oak Street Advisors, our fee-only financial advisors recommend strategies to protect your finances from catastrophic healthcare expenses while concurrently also minimizing taxes and potentially realizing tax-free investment growth if you choose to retire before you are eligible for Medicare.

Not sure how to choose a financial advisor? It’s a big decision! Our guide on how to find a good CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner can help you ask the right questions and select someone able to help you reach your personal financial goals and find financial freedom.
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Have you started to wonder if your current financial advisor is right for you?

Most financial advisors receive a significant portion of their pay in commissions. When they recommend that you purchase shares of stock or mutual funds from a broker, they receive a portion of the proceeds of that sale in return. They can also make money through mark-ups of bonds, CDs, or new stock issues through a broker. And because advisors paid in by commission make the most money when you purchase financial products, they may be tempted to recommend buying things you do not really need. And their interest in your financial wellbeing may not extend beyond that sale. Many financial advisors do not assist with 529 savings plans, employer benefits packages, healthcare options, or estate planning, all critical components of a good financial plan.

If you have started to wonder if your current financial advisor is truly looking out for your best interests, it is time to look for a fee-only financial advisor.

​Fee-only is a better way to get smart financial advice you can trust. Fee-only financial advisors never make money from commissions or mark-ups. We are only paid by you to give advice that we believe will work best for you. You will never need to second-guess our motives, suggestions, or strategies. You will always know that your financial future is our highest priority.
 
Fee-only financial advisors must meet a very strict professional fiduciary standard. Fee-only financial advisors must become Registered Investment Advisors and meet the highest fiduciary standard, while other financial advisors are held to a lower suitability standard.
 
To be sure you are working with the best and that your financial advisor has only your best interests at heart, choose a fee-only Certified Financial Planner™ Practitioner (CFP®).

​Word of mouth can be a great way to find a financial advisor. Asking your friends, relatives, and coworkers if they have a financial advisor they trust and would recommend can be a great place to start. Online research can also help you find and look into your options.
 
Whenever you are given or find a name, take a moment to look them up on the broker check tools maintained by the Security and Exchange Commission or FINRA. And don’t stop with the broker name! Make sure you also plug in their firm’s name. If the firm has multiple infractions that may be an indication of poor corporate culture.

​Finding a financial planner lets you start the exciting and rewarding process of creating a financial plan calibrated just for you and your personal financial goals. Abstract ideas become an action plan. You have specific instructions and ways to mark your progress. You know how to ask for help and when to ask for changes or adjustments. And you can finally see the big picture—not only where you are today, but where you want to go.

A donor advised fund (DAF) is a relatively new tool that helps both taxpayers and charities reduce taxes now while providing planned donation strategies to continue in the future. Much like a deductible IRA, assets contributed to these donor accounts produce tax savings based on specific IRS guidelines.
 
For taxpayers who itemize deductions every dollar donated to a donor advised fund reduces the donor’s taxable income dollar-for-dollar in the year of the gift. For high earners this is one of the few strategies to reduce taxable income outside employer retirement plans and benefit packages. Once in the account, the gifted assets grow tax-free until the donor decides to distribute the funds to the qualified charities they desire.
 
There’s great advantage in the flexibility a donor advised fund offers. Donors make contributions now to reduce taxes now, those donations then grow via investments tax-free and those appreciated assets are then distributed at some time in the future to a qualified charity. This is a good deal for everyone involved, except Uncle Sam. 
 
For those in the highest tax bracket, every $1,000 donated to your donor advised fund results in a Federal and SC state tax savings of ~$440.  Donating $100,000 would save that same taxpayer $44,000 in Federal & state income taxes; you can also use a DAF to avoid taxation on appreciated assets with low cost basis altogether.

​To really compound the tax savings inherent with a DAF, we recommend donating appreciated stock positions from your taxable accounts. You avoid capital gains taxes, get full value of the gifted equities in the form of the tax deduction and the assets grow tax-free until distributed to a qualified charity. Be sure you only contribute shares that you have held for at least twelve months. For any shares held less than twelve months you can only deduct your cost basis.

​Some taxpayers may consider bundling annual contributions to their Donor Advised Fund into a single year to avoid wasted donation dollars that the newer and higher standard deductions produce.
 
For example, if you plan to give $50,000 a year for the next 10 years, and you know you have a big real estate sale, sales or performance based bonus, or generally know your taxable income will be irregularly elevated in a single tax year, you may want to bundle those annual amounts into a single, large donation that year. In this scenario, you’d donate $500,000 immediately but only distribute $50,000 each year out of the DAF while the remaining principle donations continue to grow tax-free via your investments; This strategy allows a taxpayer to continue their plan of gifting $50,000 annually while realizing a tax savings of ~$220,000 in the year of the windfall.

*The rollover strategies discussed also apply to 403b, 457b, 401a and other employer sponsored qualified retirement plans

​For many high wage earners, making contributions up to annual Roth IRA limits (6k/$7k over 50; 2020) via the backdoor Roth IRA strategy is an appealing way to generate income tax free growth and income for future years. The backdoor Roth strategy entails making a non-deductible IRA contribution and immediately converting that contribution to a Roth IRA account. If you have no other rollover tax deferred IRA accounts when you execute this strategy, then you have simply moved money from a taxable account into a tax-free account.

When executing the backdoor Roth strategy, if you have any tax-deferred Rollover or Traditional IRA Assets, i.e. you haven’t paid income taxes on them yet, the Roth conversion will result in at least some of those funds being taxed in the year of the conversion.

For example, let’s say you have a Traditional IRA or Rollover IRA worth $60,000 and make a non-deductible contribution of $6,000 to this IRA in accordance with your backdoor Roth IRA strategy. When you convert the same $6,000 from your Traditional or Rollover IRA to Roth IRA assets, you’ll actually be taxed on ~91% of the conversion, which creates extra taxable income of $5,460 for the tax year.

This overlooked tax trap results from IRS rules which mandate, for tax calculations, your tax-deferred contributions and gains and non-deductible contributions from all IRA accounts (Rollover, Traditional & Roth) are combined into a theoretical IRA pot. From this theoretical pot, the IRS requires you to calculate the ratio of tax-deferred dollars to non-deductible dollars; the percentage of tax-deferred dollars in your theoretical account is the percentage of your Roth IRA conversion that will be taxed. 

In this example your non-deductible $6,000 contribution to your Traditional IRA or Rollover IRA is divided by the total account value of $66,000—just roughly 9% is not subject to income taxes at the time of conversion.

The aggregation rules are one of the few reasons you should carefully think about not rolling over an old 401k or other employer plan. If the funds remain in a 401k, 401a, 403b, 457b etc. they are not subject to the aggregation rules.
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While there’s no avoiding taxation of previously deducted personal Traditional IRA contribution assets during a backdoor Roth IRA strategy execution or other Roth conversion, there are sometimes opportunities to clean up existing Rollover IRA accounts to avoid this unpleasant tax consequence.

​Though they’re nearly identical, there is a subtle, but significant, difference. You can roll over a 401k to a Traditional IRA or Rollover IRA. If you choose to roll funds into a Rollover IRA, rather than a Traditional IRA, you maintain the ability to roll those funds into another current or future 401k plan, if the plan documents allow.

There are 401k plans that allow IRA roll-in contributions, but they must come from a Rollover IRA, not a Traditional IRA. If your company has such a plan, you can roll your existing Rollover IRA account into your 401k plan which eliminates the tax-deferred IRA portion of your aggregate portfolio, allowing a high earner to execute the backdoor strategy completely tax-free. Without this keen planning taxes would be paid at high income brackets on the conversion, which is counterproductive to high earner’s overall tax strategy.

If you commingle “regular” Traditional IRA funds and Rollover IRA funds you lose the ability to roll-in former Rollover IRA assets. It’s important to keep the Rollover IRA and Traditional IRA accounts separate. Consider opening a stand-alone Traditional IRA for annual personal IRA contributions and a separate Rollover IRA for rollover assets.

As always, things are rarely as simple as they seem. You should work with a competent Financial Planner to determine the best advice on your personal tax planning strategy.
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Questions about tax minimization strategies regarding your 401k rollover or rollover IRA? Click here to setup a no cost discussion with us today!

​Paying for college can feel like a monumental task for any family, no matter how financially comfortable they may be. Although tuition inflation in higher education has slowed in recent years, the price of a four-year college degree is still very high.
 
State governments have developed a special type of savings plan designed to help families save for this significant financial expense: the 529 college savings plan. In South Carolina, the plan is called the Future Scholar program, and it includes tax benefits designed to ease the burden of college tuition and encourage regular contributions.

Any U.S. citizen can open a 529 savings account for a child regardless of their income level or their relationship to that child. There can even be multiple accounts for the same child as long as all combined contributions across these accounts do not exceed $520,000 in South Carolina.  The maximum aggregate contribution limits vary by state.
 
Most 529 plans allow participants to deduct part or all of their contributions on their income taxes and contributions to the SC Future Scholar Program are tax-deductible on the state level.
 
And like any savings account, the money in a 529 account grows over time through additional contributions and interest earned. Unlike other savings accounts, however, the interest earned and the withdrawals you make are also tax-free.

Money can be withdrawn from a 529 college savings plan for tuition and fees, room and board, books, computers and other supplies required to attend any eligible institution offering post-high school education: two and four-year colleges, graduate and professional programs, and even certain vocation/technical schools. 

• State Income Tax Benefits
  The first benefit listed is by far the best. For South Carolina residents, contributions to the SC Future Scholar Program can be deducted on their state income tax return. With most South Carolina income taxed at 5% or 7%, you could potentially save $50 to $70 per thousand dollars of taxable state income. (If you itemize your federal income taxes, your net savings will be smaller as itemization results in smaller federal deductions for state income tax payments.)
  
  The state income tax deduction is a valuable. Even if you decide not to use the SC Future Scholar plan as your child’s college savings account, you can still use it as a pass-through account while your student attends college just to claim this significant tax benefit. This deduction may be taken in any taxable year for contributions made during that year and up to April 15th of the succeeding year.
  
  There is no requirement that the funds stay in the plan for set amount of time. If your student attends college in the fall, you can open an SC Future Scholars Plan, contribute your share of your child’s tuition to the plan, and then immediately direct those funds to the college or university. In a few simple steps you can give your family a 5% to 7% discount on tuition, fees, and expenses. On a $20,000 annual tuition bill, that translates into up to $1,400 in savings each year.

• Tax-Free Growth
  Your contributions to the SC Future Scholar Program grow tax-free. The distributions used to pay expenses related to education are tax-free also.
  
  
• Estate Planning
  A 529 plan can still be a smart way to shift assets out of an estate for tax purposes. Using the gifting allowance, currently $15,000 per person per year, a couple could move up to $150,000 out of their estate through the 529 Plan’s five-year contribution allowance. (If a contributor dies before the five-year period passes, some funds would be returned to the decedent's estate.)
  
  Although 529 Plan contributions are counted as a gift at the time they are made, the funds can still be reclaimed by the account owner at any time. This flexibility can help older adults with Medicaid planning.

 

• Low Impact on Need-based Financial Aid
  Because the assets in the SC Future Scholar Program are not held in the student’s name, they are considered only as family contribution assets, not student assets. This can make a big difference in financial aid award packages as colleges expect students to use up to 20% of their assets to pay for college but expect families to use only 5.64% of their “unprotected” assets.
  
  
• Portability
  If you open a SC Future Scholars Plan for a child, that child does not need to attend school in South Carolina to access the funds without penalty. No matter which state’s 529 plan you choose, the funds can be used to pay for college expenses at any college or university. Unlike prepaid tuition plans, a 529 plan has no in-state requirement.

The SC Future Scholar Program is managed by a group called Columbia/Threadneedle, created by the merger of Columbia Management Investment Distributors of the US and Threadneedle Investments of the UK. Columbia Management is owned by Ameriprise, a national broker/dealer and financial service firm.


There are two ways to invest in the Future Scholar program. If you are a South Carolina resident, you can open and fund your accounts online directly with Columbia/Threadneedle or you can invest through the broker or your choice. See the sections on fees and expenses to understand the differences between these two approaches.

• INVEST DIRECTLY
  If you are a South Carolina resident you can participate in the Future Scholar program directly online, without the need for a broker/dealer intermediary. This option offers lower expenses and fees. You can view the direct investment funds and expenses here.
   
  Want to setup a SC Future Scholar plan yourself? You can click here to learn more and open an account.

• PURCHASE THROUGH A BROKER
  SC Future Scholar plans are recommended and sold by registered representatives, or brokers—and this can make pricing and expenses higher and much harder to understand. The Future Scholar program offers funds with A, E, and Z share classes. Additionally, there are more mutual funds to select from and many of those choices are actively managed mutual funds. 

 

1. Pricing Alternative A is an upfront charge of 3% or 3.75% depending on portfolio selected up to $399,999 then 0% (Grandfathered A Structure has more breakpoints within the same range, but no charge for amounts above $400,000).
   
2. Pricing Alternative E has underlying fund expenses plus 0.50% (except for legacy Capital Prevention portfolio which is 0.15%).
   
3. Pricing Alternative Z has underlying fund expenses plus 0.16% plus wrap account charge from broker/dealer.
   
   ​Comparing and contrasting these choices is bit of a slog even for experts, so we’ve aggregated the fund expenses by share class based on a current (10-2019) program description. You can find the broker directed investment funds and expenses here. 

​The younger your beneficiary, the greater the value of lower fees and better fund selections. South Carolina residents can get the biggest bang for their buck by opening and contributing to the SC Future Scholar Program to capture state income tax savings. As their child approaches college age, they can execute a custodian-to-custodian transfer to a better 529 plan, such as the gold rated Utah Educational Savings Plan. Because a custodian-to-custodian transfer is not taxable, you can have your cake and eat it, too.

 
The age-based portfolios are divided into Aggressive, Moderate, and Conservative tracks. Different asset allocation portfolios can be used at different ages to create a glide path toward your child’s college entrance date.
If you purchase share through a broker, there are some small differences in the allocation portfolios because they offer some actively managed fund choices not available to direct buyers.

Ready to take advantage of significant state income tax savings while creating future educational opportunities for a child? Talk to Oak Street Financial Advisors about the best way to set up and calibrate your SC Future Scholars Program 529 Plan today.

Our fee only financial advisors often recommend executing a backdoor Roth IRA contribution strategy for high earning clients who max out their tax-deferred and/or after-tax employer sponsored plans and are seeking additional tax favorable approaches to save and grow assets.

These clients often accumulate large levels of tax-deferred dollars in their 401k, 403b, or other employer sponsored plan(s). These tax-deferred contributions help save tax dollars in high brackets now and withdrawals in retirement can be structured for tax savings in the future as well.
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On the other end, if we can add in Roth IRA assets to our clients’ portfolios which can be withdrawn in retirement tax-free, we add another tool in the tax-planning belt.

​For most wage earners, if you contribute to a Traditional IRA you receive a dollar-for-dollar tax deduction. Here’s an overly simplified look at the tax reduction provided by the combined maximum family deductible Traditional IRA contributions of $12,000 for a married couple in 2020:

​Unfortunately, if you earn over a certain level of income and/or have access to an employer sponsored retirement plan (401k, 403b, 457b, etc., whether you use it or not) you lose the deductibility of your Traditional IRA contributions.

**IMPORTANT: Even if you can’t deduct IRA contributions, you can still make them.**

New clients are often surprised when we tell them they’ve been missing out on these tax favorable IRA contributions. Many investors assume they can’t make IRA contributions because they make too much money or already participate and max out an employer 401k or 403b plan. In each case, you can make IRA contributions, you just can’t deduct them.

Unlike Traditional IRAs, when you make contributions to a Roth IRA you pay the taxes now-- or have already paid taxes on the contributions via payroll and will simply not receive a tax deduction for the contribution. The magic of a Roth IRA is that once the assets are in the account and the account has been open for 5 years—all withdrawals of principal AND earnings are tax-free. And tax-free > tax-deferred.

But high earners are not allowed to make direct Roth IRA contributions, because Roth IRAs have their own income level eligibility qualifications:

So-- if you’re single making more than $139,000 AGI or married and earn over $206,000 AGI you can’t make direct Roth IRA contributions AND you don’t get Traditional IRA contributions deducted.

However, if you have little or no Traditional IRA assets to start with, we recommend executing a backdoor Roth contribution strategy. High earners can make non tax-deductible contributions to their Traditional IRAs, receiving no tax deduction for the contributions. Then they can immediately convert that contribution to their tax-free Roth IRA.

Why would you want your investments growing tax-deferred when they could be growing tax-free? Not simple to do, but a no brainer…slam dunk.

A key factor that must not be overlooked is the amount of previously tax-deferred Traditional IRA assets a high earner has while executing this strategy. It’s important because Roth conversions are taxed at the ratio of tax-deferred assets to after-tax, or non tax-deferred assets.

For example, let’s say you’re a married high earner and want to start this backdoor Roth IRA strategy. You make the max Traditional IRA contributions of $12,000 ($6,000 each) for you and your spouse for 2020 and plan to immediately convert that to your Roth IRA to facilitate the lifetime tax-free growth mentioned above.

At the same time, you already had $12,000 (again $6,000 each) of tax-deferred contributions from previous years where you qualified for the deduction. Or you could have rolled over tax-deferred assets from an old 401k into your Traditional IRA. Either way, half the assets in the Traditional IRAs were tax-deferred in prior years, and half are non-deductible from 2020’s contribution.

If you convert the $12,000 of non-deferred contributions you made in 2020, it wouldn’t be a tax-free conversion— it would be taxed according to the Roth IRA pro-rata rule. This states you have to use the tax-deferred to non-tax-deferred ratio for taxing of the conversion assets. In this case the ratio is 50:50 ($12k tax-deferred to $12k tax-free), so half, or $6,000 of the $12,000 Roth IRA conversion would be taxed at your normal income tax rates for 2020.

This is important-- because if you’re a high earner, you may want to avoid paying 32%+ Federal taxes this year on that $6,000 taxable portion of the Roth IRA conversion. It may be better to wait until retirement when you’ll likely be in a lower tax bracket, especially if you do some of the tax planning we mention in this article.

The Roth IRA pro-rata rule should give pause to rolling over tax-deferred dollars from 401ks or 403bs into a Traditional/Rollover IRA when a backdoor Roth IRA strategy is recommended. The more assets added to your personal Traditional/Rollover IRA, the higher the taxable percentage of Roth IRA conversions. For these reasons, our financial advisors may recommend clients keep tax-deferred dollars in an old employer plan-- even if those plans have slightly elevated fees or lack diversified, cost-efficient investment offerings. We believe the tax-free savings of Roth IRA assets for a young high earner provide unmatched advantages in terms of investment returns and future tax planning strategies. Getting assets in a high earner’s Roth IRA early while avoiding unnecessary taxes at their currently high tax brackets provides great value to our clients.
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On the other hand, some clients prefer to fill up their brackets with Roth conversions to eventually get rid of all Traditional IRA tax-deferred assets, never having to worry about Roth conversion taxes again. Regardless—your taxable income level and tax bracket management must be thoroughly analyzed to make the right decision. 

For example, let’s say a couple retires at age 60, with 5 years before Medicare eligibility. Our fee only advisors use taxable investment accounts and tax-free Roth IRA assets to strategically qualify millionaires for Premium Tax Credits under the Affordable Care Act that can offset some of the cost of healthcare insurance.  Monthly private marketplace insurance premiums at age 60 are likely to be $1,000 per person—meaning if you and your spouse plan to retire at age 60, every year until age 65 you’ll fork over $24,000 alone on healthcare insurance premiums before you step foot in a doctor’s office. That can put a damper on early retirement plans.

Our fiduciary advisors can situationally use taxable and Roth IRA assets to qualify even our most wealthy clients for Premium Tax Credits, which cover a portion or all of a family’s health insurance expenses. In the above example, that’s a potential savings of up to $120,000 in premiums from retirement at age 60 to Medicare eligibility at age 65—and a glaring reason everyone should invest in a financial plan.
 
*Added Note:
Recently, we’ve heard several current and prospective clients mention they’re going to beat high healthcare insurance costs during pre-Medicare retirement years with some sort of too-good-to-be-true Medi-Share plan. Please reconsider. These plans are not actually health insurance and leave your family’s wealth and health in jeopardy. One un-insured serious hospitalization could put your entire financial future needlessly at risk.

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​We also use taxable and tax-free assets to manage tax brackets via favorable capital gains rates, and in some cases, help our clients pay 0% on capital gains through complex tax planning strategies. For those high earners today, as tax laws are, as is, we’d be able to structure their taxable income so they can optimize favorable capital gains rates while ensuring their assets at 12% Federally. That’s a Federal tax savings of $22,000+ for every $100,000 in their IRA. Not a bad deal for someone being taxed at 24% or 34%+ today and may even pay the 3.8% Medicare investment income surcharge. 

Tax-free income can help manage tax brackets/income in retirement and can lead to enormous tax savings if planned correctly. If you max out your employer retirement plans and are looking for even more tax diversification of your assets, a backdoor Roth IRA strategy is a good choice. There are many factors to analyze to ensure you realize the tax savings  these strategies provide.

​If you could use help determining the most appropriate course of action to take with your excess savings give us a call and get started with a financial plan today.