[Lisa]

I make 93k a year and my wife 125k ish. We both have maxed iras and 401ks this year to help reduce taxable income. I’m just this month going to meet with a financial planner this month who said I should meet with a cpa to help figure this out. He said it’s hard to find a good cpa in my area (Lansing MI). Any thoughts?

NOTE: I didn’t realize I could just transfer it out of EJ into my vanguard acct. getting away from EJ was my main concern and I thought I needed to cash it out to do so. Thanks for all the responses!

[Elizabeth]

I’m doing the same thing now, except the money is already transferred to my brokerage.

Definitely recommend moving the money from EJ to your preferred brokerage.

Like others said, you have a 10 year draw down. I’m trying to time my withdrawals in low earning years so that the taxable amount isn’t as high.

[Anthony]

Following since I’m in the Lansing area and have struggled to find a good personal accountant in the area too.

[Frank]

This ain’t that hard. But you don’t want to cash it out all in one year, because you get taxed on the distributions annually (as ordinary income). You have 10 years to do it.

No CPA is needed unless you are foolish enough to cash it out all in one year. But you are not that foolish. Right?

Get away from EJ, though.

Don’t miss: I have 40k I want to put into a rollover IRA. Can I pull that back out penalty free if it want to say, buy another duplex?

[Eric]

Best way to minimize tax impact is to spread out withdrawals over multiple years, but that’s in opposition to your goal of withdrawing it fast. No free lunch, unless someone has a better strategy.

[Stev]

“Cash out as soon as I can without significant tax implications”

80k cashed out in one motion will almost double your yearly wage. And be almost 40% added to both your yearly wages.

There will most likely be a higher tax outcome.

Best guess $9k – 14k in taxes?

Why not keep the IRA and take distributions yearly?

Do let us know what you decide to do after meeting with your professionals.

[Tamara]

You might be able to roll it into a universal life insurance policy. I have a person who is phenomenal that could help and I believe she is licensed where you are. Feel free to PM me if you want.

Explore these too: I am 26 and I have a Roth IRA I max out every year that is S&P 500

[Eric]

You have ten years to draw down the account. Assuming it’s a traditional IRA, not Roth, the tax implication is hard to avoid if you want to get it out soon and you’re in the 22% tax bracket (back of the napkin math on the figures you mentioned). It will bump you into the 24% bracket. What do you consider “significant tax implications”?

[Sean]

You can roll it over to someone like fidelity so you’re at least not paying all the fees. But as far as tax efficient ways to withdrawal, cpa/cfp can help you with that the best. But in general pulling a little each year is best, unless you plan to be in a really low tax bracket at some point in the next few years.

[Samantha]

Just a suggestion: keep the amount withdrawn equal to or below your standard deduction for that tax year. This is what I’m going to do when withdrawing money out of my taxable accounts.

[Author]

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