Knowing about money used to be the way I learned a living, in fact. People paid me some of their money in exchange for my advice on what to do with the rest of their money. I worked for a couple of outfits whose names you may recognize - American Express and then MetLife. As such, I was given access to vast amounts of research and analysis to help me do my job effectively. I was pretty good at what I did and I always kept myself educated about the topics that would matter to my clients... or so I thought.
I became eligible for the Quickway 401(k) program beginning on January 1st of this year. The company matches 50% of the first 6% of my income that I choose to defer (100% vested from Day One - nice), so obviously I defer at least 6% to get my 3% pay raise. (10% to be exact, mainly because the math looks nice and neat on payday. Stupid, I know.) I save a good deal more than 10% of my income overall anyway, so whatever. I may not live to be 100, or even 80, but I'm sure as hell going to enjoy whatever years I do get after I'm done working. It won't be cheap. Lord willing, we'll get some kind of tax reform between now and then and my gambit of deferring extra taxes and keeping less in my Roth IRA will look pretty smart in the end. Or maybe the liberal age of grace and enlightenment (and high taxes, natch) is really coming and I would have been better off staying with a 6% deferral now, booking more of my taxes at today's relatively low rates.
I'm getting sidetracked though. Where was I? The Quickway 401(k) - there we go. So I enrolled in the plan and received my info from our provider - John Hancock. I received an e-mail newsletter from them today. It contained all of the typical gibberish telling people to plan ahead and whatnot. One particular bit caught my attention though. The Saver's Credit? What in the hell is that? At least I'm not the only one. Apparently this was part of Ole Dubya's initial round of tax cuts in 2001, aimed at helping folks to save more money for retirement. Then a 2006 pension reform law made the credit permanent and indexed it for inflation. I have had more education regarding financial matters than probably 97% of the population, simply as a matter of licensing requirements and so forth, not through any benevolent quest for knowledge or anything. Yet I literally had no idea that this credit existed.
Alas, a review of the details...
Easing my concerns over any prior professional malpractice, I didn't have any clients who would have qualified either. I had one or two married couples who weren't that far over the $56,500 mark, but they were all over it. Given the fact that I'm not much of a salesman, my clients tended to be people who weren't looking for a bullshit pitch. If someone didn't make much money, my assistance would have been of marginal value. I charged higher than marginal fees, so I wouldn't bother trying to acquire such clients. There are plenty of other people out there who will provide cut-rate service at cut-rate prices. That wasn't my niche.
I do wonder what other aspects of the tax code I may have missed. It is awfully archaic after all, but that's a topic for another day. For now, any of you who fit one of the categories listed in that graphic may want to make sure that you're using IRS Form 8880 to get a little boost on part of your retirement savings. If you're not saving currently, maybe the extra cash will give you some motivation to start. The maximum savings subject to the credit is $2,000 for an individual or $4,000 for a couple. So a married couple with a modest income could get a $2,000 boost (50% of $4,000). It's your money. If you can get a little of it back, then I say good for you.
