Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs)

What this video covers

• Why anyone with earned income can contribute to a Traditional individual retirement account (IRA), but deductibility is the piece that income and employer-plan coverage take away
• How Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) phase-out ranges differ for single, married filing jointly, and married filing separately taxpayers, and why married filing separately is the harshest band
• The spousal loophole: when neither spouse has an employer plan, the full Traditional IRA deduction survives at any income level
• Why Roth IRA contributions have hard income ceilings (not just phase-outs), locking high earners out of direct contributions entirely
• The two-part qualified distribution test for Roth IRAs: the 5-year holding period from January 1 of the first contribution year, plus a triggering event at age 59-1/2, death, disability, or first-time home purchase
• What investments are permitted in an IRA (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), certificates of deposit (CDs), and certain precious metals bullion) versus what is always prohibited (life insurance and collectibles including coins, with the precious metals exception)
• Why Traditional IRAs force required minimum distributions (RMDs) at age 73 but Roth IRAs carry no lifetime RMDs