AboutDavid M Iannopollo Expertise I am a professional financial advisor who can assist you with answers on mutual funds, annuities, IRA's, rollovers, qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, retirement planning, educational planning, life, disability and LTC insurances.
Experience I have over 20 years experience in the business and financial world.
Question i have just retired at 62 and am collecting social security.i had to retire early
because of my husband's disability, but we had lost all our assets due to his
chronic illness.
i have a chance to make more than the max allowable by SS per year, (but not
enough to be able to forgo SS completley) and want to continue with the
non-profit for whom i now work. can i receive compensation directly to an
IRA or other sheltered investment that that would bypass my max allowable
income per year? that would allow me to continue to accumulate some
retirement security income for the future while i still need the security of the
SS at this time to support myself and my husband. when my husband dies i
will lose his income and be left with almost nothing, unless i can begin to
accumulate some sheltered income.
Answer Hi Marylou,
I'm sorry to hear of your husband's illness. If I am understanding you correctly, you are wondering if you can defer some of your income to lower it for SS purposes. If your employer offers a 403b (similar to a 401k for non profits) or you can have them take salary deductions which will lower your income. You can also open an IRA which will accomplish the same thing as traditional IRA contributions are tax deductible.
The 2009 contribution limits for a 403b are $16,500 plus an additional $5,500 because you are over 50 for a total of $22,000. The contribution limits for a traditional IRA is $6000 for those over 50. You would also be eligible to open a "spousal" IRA for your husband which would give you a total of $12,000.
If your employer offers a 403b but does not offer any matching contributions, you would most likely be better off opening an IRA on your own. You would have more control and less restrictions over the account and would be able to invest wherever you wanted.
I would recommend that you not invest in anything too risky at this stage of your life. Since you may need to use some of this money in the near future, a sudden drop in value could be very harmful.
I highly recommend that you seek the advice of a good professional to develop the appropriate strategy.
If you need more help from me, do not hesitate to ask. You can email me at the address below if you like.
