Rolling over a 401(k) account after starting a new job — at age 73

Dear Liz: My wife, who turned 73 this year, worked for a company until Aug. 31. She started a new job with another company the following day. She plans to roll the 401(k) from the previous company into the 401(k) of the new company. Would she need to withdraw her required minimum distribution from the old 401(k), even though the money would be in the 401(k) of her current employer?

Answer: The answer to this question gets a little tricky, says Mark Luscombe, principal analyst for Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting.

If she had changed jobs last year, the year before she turned 73, she could have rolled her old 401(k) account into her new employer’s plan and postponed the need to take a required minimum distribution as long as she continued to work for the new employer.

However, since she turned 73 this year and is no longer working for her old employer, she must take an RMD from the old 401(k) plan. RMDs can’t be rolled over from one 401(k) to another, so she’s required to take her RMD from the old account before moving the rest of the money to the new plan, Luscombe says.

RMDs typically must be taken by Dec. 31. A first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the year following the year someone turns 73. People who delay, though, wind up having to take a second RMD the same year. If your wife wanted to delay her RMD, she would have to take both withdrawals before she could rollover to the new plan.

To avoid that, your wife would need to take her first RMD from the old plan before Dec. 31 and then roll over the rest. She would not be required to make additional withdrawals as long as she keeps working for the new company, Luscombe says.

If she didn’t take the RMD before rolling over her account, she would be considered to have made an “excess contribution” to the new 401(k), which could be subject to penalties, Luscombe says. She could avoid the penalties by withdrawing the RMD amount, along with any earnings or losses associated with the excess contribution, by Oct. 15 of the year after the rollover, Luscombe says. A tax pro can help with those calculations.

Dear Liz: A while back, you responded to a letter writer that Social Security’s estimates of the amount a person will receive assumes the person will continue working until they apply for benefits. I thought the amount a person receives was based on the average of the highest 30 years’ of earnings over a person’s entire career. Can you please clarify?

Answer: Social Security retirement benefits are based on your 35 highest-earning years. To estimate your future benefit, the agency assumes you will continue working for a similar wage to the one you’re making now, and that you will do so until you apply. The agency compares these projected earnings years with those you’ve already had, and picks the top 35 years to determine your estimate.

Life may not follow this script, of course, so the estimates aren’t guarantees of future benefits. If you spend much time out of the workforce or earn much more or much less than you do now, your actual checks could be quite different from the estimates.

Still, the estimates can give you a starting point for figuring out how much additional income you may need in retirement, which in turn will help you determine how much to save from your current earnings. As you get closer to retirement age, you’ll get a better idea of how much you’re likely to get. You’ll also see how delaying the start of benefits can enhance the amount you get over your remaining lifetime. Once you have a claiming strategy, you can plan your retirement income strategy around that amount.

Liz Weston, Certified Financial Planner®, is a personal finance columnist. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the “Contact” form at asklizweston.com.