Monday, February 23, 2009

Financial News You Can Use

-On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This new legislation provides a one-time payment of $250 to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries. Over 60 million beneficiaries will receive a one-time payment. Social Security expect all payments to be delivered by late May 2009. To assist Social Security in issuing these payments as quickly as possible, beneficiaries should not contact Social Security unless they do not receive their payment by June 4th.

-A new law may make it easier for some Americans to allow their retirement funds to recoup losses. That’s because mandatory withdrawals from certain retirement accounts have been waived for tax year 2009. Usually, anyone age 70 1/2 or older is required to withdraw funds from their retirement plans each year, even if the money isn’t needed. These plans include 401(k)s, 403(b)s, some 457(b)s as well as IRAs and IRA-based plans such as Simple IRAs and SEPs.
However, The Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 waives the requirement to withdraw funds in 2009. To learn more, visit www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-09-09.pdf.

-For people who want to save, Social Security offers online planning tools such as the Retirement Estimator. The Estimator allows people to try out different retirement scenarios. Just plug in some quick information and you’ll get estimates of your future benefits based on your personal earnings record. Try it out at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator.

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