As you may or may not know, Resonate has extensive experience working with individuals, couples and families facing dementia and Alzheimer’s.  We have a special compassion which stems from twelve years of personal experience with my own father.  Therefore, we are constantly watching for the latest from thought-leaders in this space.  I hope you fine this helpful.

Your Resonate team welcomes a conversation with you and yours at any time.

Barb Culver

Why memory loss may not be the most worrisome symptom of dementia

Contributing Author

Carolyn McClanahan, MD, CFP®
Financial planner, emergency room physician, thought leader

A lot of attention is now focused on the harmful consequences of memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease for financial decision-making. And for good reason. But it is important to understand that dementia is bigger than Alzheimer’s, and Alzheimer’s is not just about memory loss.

Alzheimer’s is just one kind of dementia. Unfortunately, dementia comes in many forms. There’s vascular dementia, Lewey Body disease, frontal lobe dementia, etc. In fact, there are over 100 types of dementia, and Alzheimer’s accounts for (only) between 60-80% of all dementia cases.

Memory loss is but one symptom of Alzheimer’s. There are numerous consequences of Alzheimer’s, including having difficulty planning or problem-solving, confusing time and place, demonstrating poor judgement, and behaving impulsively. Here is the list of warning signs published by the Alzheimer’s Association. Memory loss is but one of ten symptoms.

Due to a number of increased requests regarding various types of retirement plans, I have created a three part Blog on “RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS MADE EASY!”      This is Part Two of the series.

PART ONE covered traditional and Roth IRA’s. If you missed Part One you can resource it in a previous blog posted on August 18^th, 2016.

I’ll conclude the series with Inherited IRA’s.

***  PART TWO  ***

401(k)s and 403(b)s

Contributions: As long as you’re working, you can contribute to your employer’s plan, even if you’re over 70 1/2.  If your employer offers a Roth option, you can contribute regardless of your income.

RMDs: Accounts with former employers are governed by most of the same RMD rules as traditional IRAs.  This includes Roth 401(k)s and Roth 403(b)s, which are subject to RMDS — but you can get around them by rolling the money over to a Roth IRA.  (Note: Rolling over accounts with former employers into IRAs has all kinds of other benefits, including potentially lower costs and more investment choices.)

However, there are no required distributions from your current employer’s plan if you’re still working — even if you’re older than 70 1/2 — as long as you don’t own 5% or more of the company.  But once you do retire, if you’re 70 1/2 or older you should take your first RMD from that account by April 1 of the next year; you will then have to take another RMD by Dec. 31 of that year.

If you have multiple 401(k)s with former employers, each RMD must be taken from each individual account.  The total value of RMDs from multiple 403(b)s, however, can be taken from just one account; also, money contributed to a 403(b) before 1987 doesn’t have to be distributed until age 75 if those amounts have been accounted for with separate records.