February 13, 2014. Retirement planning is in the purview of estate planning, so it seems natural to touch upon the latest creature to emerge from the executive branch. The recently proposed MyRA is an off-kilter simulacrum of the traditional Roth IRA. It bears a resemblance in that it grabs post-tax dollars, places them in a vehicle where they grow tax free for their life, and then releases them back to the contributor tax-free. The stark difference, however, is that the investment is backed by the government (read taxpayer). The hope is that this provides some certainty, though in practice similar government investments have underwhelmed with a less than 2% rate of return this past year. Noble intentions certainly accompany the program, with the hope being that Americans who do not have access to employer sponsored retirement accounts will have streamlined and easy access to the MyRA. At this point in time, initial reactions to the product have been mixed.
For more information about estate and retirement planning and where to start, visit the Goosmann Trust Law Counsel website, email info@goosmannlaw.com, or call 712-226-4000.