Anastasia Wiese Comments on the SECURE Act and Retirement Planning in Recent GRBJ Article

How does the SECURE Act, passed at year-end 2019, help people better prepare for today’s retirement realities? In a February 2020 Grand Rapids Business Journal article, Anastasia Wiese, JD, CFP® weighed in on how the newly enacted legislation can enhance retirement planning for employers and employees alike.Anastasia comments: “The definition of retirement has evolved and changed as people retire and have better health and live longer, or they can work for longer as well.”To reflect these evolving conditions, she describes how the SECURE Act helps people:

• Save longer: You can now contribute to your traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) beyond age 70½.
• Postpone taxable withdrawals in retirement: You can also now put off taking taxable Required Minimum Distributions from your IRA until you reach age 72 (instead of 70½). This allows more time for your retirement savings to accumulate in a tax-sheltered account.
• Work part-time, and still save for retirement: It’s now easier for long-term part-time employees to become eligible to participate in their employer’s retirement plan.

For additional ways the SECURE Act is changing how Americans save for retirement, you can read the full article here.