A few nuggets from today's Ayco retirement seminar in CR1

There was a preparing for retirement seminar in CR1 today.

Early in the presentation there was some information on enrolling for Medicare. If you continue to work for Corning as an employee beyond age 65, you don't need to enroll in Medicare Part A. When you retire "later" you will have a special window of time when you can enroll in Medicare. It was noted that you can enroll in Medicare at age 65 while still working for Corning, however you cannot be enrolled in Medicare and contribute to an HSA at the same time. So if you're an HSA contributor and plan on working past age 65 you should check on this and be careful.

The Corning 401k has an exception when considering withdrawals from your 401k. If you qualify for retirement at age 55, you can make 401k withdrawals without any additional penalty. You still need to pay any taxes. You don't have to wait until age 59-1/2. However, if you move money from the Corning 401k to another qualifying IRA, that exception is unlikely to exist, so the 59-1/2 age requirement would apply to funds moved.

Keith S. came by my office after the seminar. He was disappointed with the content because he believes Ayco should be telling us more about how to work with our 401k. For example, this scenario:

Option 1: Contribute post-tax dollars to your 401k. Years later, those contributions come out of your 401k tax-free, but any gains are taxed.

vs

Option 2: Contribute post-tax dollars to your 401k. At least yearly, move those funds from the 401k to a Roth IRA. Years later, those gains are also tax free. A tax saving strategy.

Obviously there are things to consider when doing these things and you should check with a financial advisor. Maybe that's why Ayco doesn't talk about this - because they provide education, not financial advice.