Tools to help plan for your retirement

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Nov 12, 2006 | by Kiplinger Group

The best all-around retirement account is still the Roth IRA.

A Roth IRA lets you stockpile tax-free savings -- up to $4,000 in 2006 ($5,000 if you're 50 or older) as long as your income doesn't exceed $110,000 if you're single or $160,000 if you're married. And you can withdraw your contributions (but not your earnings) tax- and penalty-free at any time.

-- Best low-cost IRA: Scottrade. With one of the lowest minimum investments around -- $500 -- and no set-up fees or annual maintenance fee, Scottrade (www.scottrade.com) is a great place to open an IRA for yourself or a custodial IRA for your child.

-- Best target-retirement fund: T. Rowe Price. Pick a fund that ends in the year closest to your planned retirement date, and your money is invested in a portfolio that becomes more conservative as you get older. The T. Rowe Price Retirement funds (800-638-5660; www.troweprice.com) are the best of the bunch, with annual expenses of less than 1 percent and a bigger chunk invested in stocks than their competitors.

-- Best place for IRA rollovers: T. Rowe Price. T. Rowe Price's Advisory Planning Services will provide personalized financial advice if you roll over money from a 401(k) or from another IRA, for a one-time fee of $250. The fee is reimbursed if you roll over at least $100,000.

-- Best place to manage your retirement income: Fidelity. Fidelity's Retirement Income Planner is free to anyone by phone (800- 343-3548) or in person, and is available to Fidelity customers online at www.fidelity.com. Once you are retired, open a Fidelity Income Management Account to handle your cash flow. You can consolidate your sources of income, get investment advice and create a regular "paycheck."

-- Best retirement plan if you're self-employed: Solo 401(k). If you have no employees other than a spouse, an individual 401(k) lets you put away more money than other small-business retirement plans. This year you can contribute up to $15,000 as an employee, and your business can kick in another 20 percent of your self-employment income -- or 25 percent of your compensation if your business is incorporated -- for a combined maximum of $44,000. If you are 50 or older, you can sock away up to $49,000. We like the Single(k) plan from Decimal (www.single-k.com), a financial-services provider.

-- Best place to shop for an annuity: ImmediateAnnuities.com. Retirees looking for a lifetime income stream should check out the best deals on immediate annuities at this site, which will show you the top payout.