Posted by
Tomás Aquinas on Friday, October 10, 2008 10:45:55 PM
As you may or may not know, when you as an investor reach the age of 70
and one-half, you must begin to sell off your retirement assets...draw
from your 401k's.
This is a bad time to be doing that. If you
are approaching that magic age, or have already reached it, under the
current system you are about to be doubly screwed.
John McCain said today up in LaCrosse, WI: “We
must also protect investors – especially those relying on their
investments for retirement. Current rules mandate that investors must
begin to sell off their IRAs and 401Ks when they reach age 70 and one
half. To spare investors from being forced to sell their stocks at just
the time when the market is hurting the most, those rules should be
suspended.”
To help
investors -- especially those relying on investments for retirement --
John McCain today proposed waiving the requirement that seniors sell
their retirement assets once they reach the age of 70 ½. Sections
401(a)(9)(A) and 401(a)(9)(C) of the U.S. Tax Code require that
Americans must begin taking disbursements from their retirement
accounts either on April 1st of the calendar year following the later
of the calendar year in which the employee attains age 70½ or the
calendar year in which the employee retires.
McCain is
proposing that Congress waive this requirement, which is forcing
seniors to sell at considerable loss, with their funds already in the
tank.