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Author: Kelsie Joos

2024 Contribution Limits

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

401k, HSA, and IRA contribution limits have increased for 2024, giving you more opportunities to boost your savings! As the halfway point of the year approaches, now is a great time to review your current savings rates and adjust accordingly.

“New contribution limits for 2024 for 401k, HSA, and IRAs:

401k contribution limits have increased from 22,500 to 23,000 for the 2024 tax year. The catch-up contribution for people who are over 50 or turning 50 in 2024 is 7,500. Now the entire plan contribution limit is up from 66,000 to 69,000, so this includes your employee contributions, any match that your employer gives you, as well as any after-tax contributions that you would be making. So if your plan offers a mega backdoor Roth strategy or after-tax contributions or in plan Roth conversions, this is where that would come into play.

Traditional IRA and Roth IRA contributions have increased from 2023 to 2024. Instead of $6,500, you can now get $7,000 into those accounts. If you’re over 50 or turning 50 in 2024, you can get in an additional $11,000. In order to contribute directly to an IRA you need to be under the income limits. For married filing jointly filers, that limit is $240,000 and for single filers it’s $160,000 so once you get to that point, that’s when you want to talk to your advisor about possibly doing a backdoor Roth IRA strategy.

If you’re in a high deductible health plan you have access to contribute to something called a health savings account or an HSA. The contribution limits have increased from 2023 to 2024. If you are are in a family plan, you can now contribute $8,300. If you’re in an individual plan, you can now contribute $4,150. If you’re over 50 or turning 50 this year, you can get an additional $1,000 into that account. Now remember, these are total plan limits so if your employer gives you a match, that would be included in that dollar amount.”

Financial Planning for Vacations

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Planning your dream vacation starts now! Here’s a tip: instead of scrambling to pay for your trips last minute, why not save a little each month?

1️⃣ Estimate your yearly travel expenses.
2️⃣ Break it down into a monthly savings goal.
3️⃣ Automate savings into a high-yield savings account.
4️⃣ Enjoy guilt-free vacations knowing it’s all covered!

Even if you don’t have travel plans yet, we recommend still saving ahead. That way, you can pack your bags stress-free when the opportunity arises.

“One fun conversation we have with a lot of clients is financial planning and helping you plan for vacations for the year. Sometimes people will come to us and just say “I booked the vacation and I’m going to pay for it over the next couple months,” and so what we typically recommend is let’s try to first figure out how much are you going to spend in the year on vacation and then once we know that are we able to back up into a monthly savings amount so that we can just automate savings into a high yield savings account.

So we’re putting $300 into the high yield savings account every month that’s earning us 4% to 5% and then when that vacation comes up later in the year, I can just pull that money out and I know it’s taken care of. Or even backing into if I have a big trip this year I’m traveling internationally, how much do I think that’s going to cost? Looking at lodging, airfare, transportation, food and then maybe even adding an extra 1 to 2 thousand on top of that just to give you peace of mind. And then backing into that monthly savings number and saving money that way. And then also it’s powerful if you don’t have travel planned or trip planned still saving so that when it does come up you know the money’s there and you can go guilt-free.

If you don’t want to save every month for travel maybe it’s just: I know all my other goals have been taken care of through monthly savings and when I get a lump sum, maybe through a bonus or other form of lump sums, you just throw that into a travel bucket and you know the money’s there and that it can be taken care of.”

Tying Equity Compensation to Your Financial Goals

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Receiving company stock as part of your compensation package is a great perk offered by many companies. To maximize this benefit, it’s essential to plan ahead and make the most of your equity compensation by aligning it to your own financial goals.

“One thing I like to help clients think about is tying their equity compensation to their financial goals. We’ve had many clients who will use the proceeds from their stock awards to purchase a new home or to fund their kids education, so it’s really important to have a plan for your equity compensation and to know what you’ll do with the proceeds when you receive them.”

Chat with Commas at No Cost

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Curious about Commas but not sure where to begin? Our 30-minute intro meeting is non-committal and helps us to understand your financial goals and needs, answer your questions, and ensure we’re the perfect match for you and your family. Schedule yours here.

“Are you curious if Commas is a good fit for you? Well, that’s why we have our intro meeting. This 30 minute meeting allows us to figure out what prompted you to reach out, a little bit about your financial situation, what you’re looking for, what your goals are, answer any questions that you might have and ultimately make sure that you feel like Commas is the right fit for you and your family. So, if you’re interested in Commas, click the let’s talk button in the corner of our website and schedule your intro meeting today.”

Should You Put Less than 20% Down on a Home?

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Buying a home doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your retirement goals! With PMI becoming more affordable and various loan options available, you might not need to put 20% down. Talk to a financial advisor to find the best balance for your savings goals.

“When it comes to saving for a home, it can be a very overwhelming and daunting conversation to have and a lot of times you’re thinking, ‘How much do I really need to save for my down payment for a home?’ Typically, you’ve heard save 20% for a down payment on a home. A lot of times, this is directly related to avoiding PMI insurance, which is an additional insurance that banks want to charge you when you don’t have 20% of equity in your home. But, what this can do is actually lead you to maybe giving up some of the retirement goals that you could be saving for as well as your home down payment goals.

Nowadays lenders are now really making sure that borrowers are vetted with making sure that you’ve had two years of consistent income, that you have a good debt to income ratio. Because of this, the PMI insurance has actually really come down and become more affordable than it used to be. So it could be that saving 20% doesn’t necessarily make sense for you and that you could get into a home with maybe 15%, 10%, 5%. There’s actually conventional loans that you only need 3% down. There’s a lot of government loans and programs where you don’t have to have the traditional 20% down payment so it’s really important to have a plan to be talking to a financial advisor in order to see what is the best down payment for you it can really depend on cash flow, long-term savings goals, all these different things.

You don’t have to put retirement on the side or the back burner in order to get into your dream home. Having these conversations with a financial advisor could really help you determine the best balance between coming up with a home down payment and saving for your short-term and long-term goals.”

You’ve Got the Job, Now What?

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

From a young age, it’s all about studying hard, getting good grades, and landing a great job. But once you’re in the workforce, there’s not one right answer for how to handle your money. Schedule a meeting with Commas to let us guide through achieving your goals.

“My entire life started with, in school, focus on doing the things you need to do: studying and and getting good grades so that eventually you could get into a good college and get scholarships. And then in college, it’s continue to do the same things in order to get a good job so that you can pursue what you’re interested in but also make some money. Then it it kind of stops and and you’re thrown out into the world and you have a job and and you’re accumulating money but so many people don’t have a next step.

It’s crazy because you’ve spent all of that time leading up to getting this job and and getting a paycheck and then it’s kind of an open world on on what you do with it. Everybody’s experience with money is different and some people are natural savers and some people like to spend more and you can make mistakes to the extremes in either direction but financial security is about helping people find that balance of enjoying what they have next but saving prudently so that you can live the same type of lifestyle later.

It it doesn’t come natural, and there’s all this attention on the front end of studying, getting good grades, and getting a good job but there’s so much less attention on on the back end of that and that’s that’s where we step in.”

Sharing a Vision with Your Partner

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Shared visions lead to shared successes. When you work together with your partner towards a common vision, achieving your dreams becomes quicker and easier.

“I think one of the keys to having a successful financial partnership with your spouse is to have a shared vision. Often times, I’ll work with a couple and each member of the couple might have very different visions for how they want to use their family’s resources. When you have competing objectives you end up going in opposite directions but if you can work together you really see that you can achieve your financial goals faster and achieve the life that you want to live quicker.”

What Do You Need to Know About RSUs?

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

There are a lot of things to understand about Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). Hear from Commas advisor Katelyn on what they are and the 3 key dates associated with RSUs.

“There’s a lot of things to understand and know about restricted stock units or RSUs but here’s some of the highlights. RSUs are awards of company stock, given to attain and to attract key employees. These can be used instead of cash bonuses or alongside of cash bonuses as a way to compensate their employees as part of the entire compensation package. There are three key dates associated with RSUs: the grant date, the vesting period, and the vesting date.

The grant date is the day that your company grants you shares of the RSUs. This doesn’t mean that you necessarily have that company’s stock yet, but they’ve given you your award and told you how many shares to an expect and over what period of time. Then comes into play the vesting period every company is different, but this is the amount of time that must pass before you actually get those shares. This could be a cliff vesting schedule or it could be gradual vesting schedule but it’s going to vary from company to company. The vesting date is when you become an owner of those shares so they’re no longer RSUs, but actual shares of the company and at this time you can sell them or hold them or do whatever you like. There’s a lot more to know and understand about RSUs, especially around the taxation of them so if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to your advisor”

What to Do With Leftover 529 Funds

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

The passing of Secure Act 2.0 in 2024 introduces a huge benefit for 529 account holders. You can now use those funds to make Roth IRA contributions. This means leftover dollars from education savings can now be redirected towards retirement, offering a smart head start for beneficiaries.

“Since the passing of Secure Act 2.0, there is a new law as of 2024 that anybody with a 529 account can actually then use those funds to make Roth IRA contributions. Now there are definitely some complexities and things that are in place that you want to talk to your financial advisor about before enacting this on your own. But big picture what can happen is you’ve been saving into a 529 all these years, you’ve gone through your education and now there’s leftover dollars.

Typically what would happen happen is you can either roll those over to a new beneficiary or keep it for legacy planning or maybe you just take the distribution and a 10% tax penalty on those funds that aren’t used for education expenses. Well now you have the opportunity to make Roth IRA contributions from the 529 funds. As long as the account has been opened for 15 years, you can then make up to the IRS yearly limit of Roth IRA contributions for the beneficiary. This can be a great tool for parents or grandparents or even kids who have leftover funds. You can start funding Roth IRAs for your beneficiaries that aren’t going to be using 529 funds for education and give them a great head start to retirement saving.”

Comparing Job Offers

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Job offers are more than just numbers on a paycheck 💼💰 It’s important to evaluate all the perks and benefits, from equity compensation to work-life balance. Find what matters most to you and let it guide your decision-making process.

“One of the things we help clients a lot with is evaluating new job offers. It’s a lot to take in and it’s more than just the salary being offered. To me, it’s is there potential for bonus? Is there potential for future raises? Are you being offered equity compensation through the company’s stock? What is the life insurance, health insurance, disability? What is the retirement plan and what kind of match am I getting? And then also just other benefits or other small perks like gym memberships or tuition reimbursement and things like that can really add up.

And even more than just looking at the financials of it, it can be what benefits are offered to me? How much PTO am I going to get? What’s the work life balance for me? Am I going to be happy in this new role? Do I have the opportunity to work virtual and be in office and have flexibility there? So I think you can’t really put a financial number to those, but maybe just looking and evaluating what’s important to me, which company is offering that and if I was to put a value on that what would that number be? And then once you’re able to look at all the benefits offered you can kind of categorize what’s important, what’s the total of all that and help you make a decision that way”