You may have received a 1099-R in your January mail if you did a distribution from an IRA or rolled over a employer plan into your IRA.  Bankrate.com explains this form.

What the 1099-R tells you:
Box 1 of the form shows the total amount of your retirement fund that was distributed. The more important amount to you right now is in box 2a, the taxable amount. For direct rollovers from one qualified plan to another, that amount is generally zero.

Also check box 7, the distribution code. A letter or number should be here, explaining to the IRS exactly why your retirement money was taken out and just what was done with it. Direct rollovers to another qualified plan are coded with the letter "G." This includes transfers to another company's 401(k) plan, a tax-sheltered 403(b) annuity, a government 457(b) plan or an IRA.



Average 401(k) account balances ended the year at $64,200, up 5.7% from the end of the third quarter and up 28% for the year, according to Fidelity, Boston. During the same year, Standard & Poor’s 500 index showed a total return of 26%, Fidelity notes.

Generally, you're allowed to borrow up to 50% of the vested balance of your plan up to $50,000.  Contact your benefits office or HR representative for details on your plan.

Here's some common 401k loan questions courtesy of 401kHelpCenter.com:

How long do I have to pay off my loan if I quit my job?

Typically, if you quit working or change employers, it is not uncommon for plans to require full repayment of a loan within 60 days of termination of employment.

Will a 401k loan appear on my credit report?

Loans from your 401k are not reported to the credit-reporting agencies, but if you are applying for a mortgage, lenders will ask you if you have such loans and they will count the loan as debt.

If I default on my loan, will the default be reported to the credit-reporting agencies?

If you default on a 401k loan, the default will not be reported to the credit-reporting agencies and it will not negatively impact your credit rating.

If I can't afford to keep making the payments on my loan, can I stop them?

Once the loan has been made, your payments will be deducted from your pay each month and you generally can't stop this process.

If I default on my loan, how will I know the amount I must report as income on my federal tax return?

You will receive a 1099 from the plan which will show you the exact amount to report. This amount will also be reported to the IRS.

We found a great article from the Wall Street Journal folks to help us understand the important numbers for bond fund investors: 30-day or SEC yield, distribution rate, and total return.

The best way to get a handle on a bond funds income prospects, most industry experts agree, is to look at a standard gauge called the SEC yield. This measure approximates the total yield that would be received annually for all of the bonds in a funds portfolio for the past 30 days assuming that each bond is held until maturity, and that all dividends are reinvested. It also accounts for fees and expenses. The methodology is spelled out by the Securities and Exchange Commission, hence the name.

Other ways of calculating bond-fund income yields include distribution yield, which is how much income a fund produced in the most recent 30-day period, projected as an annualized figure and divided by a recent fund-share price.

If that sounds complicated, it is. Both of these methods also rely on historical data, which means that only when interest rates are particularly stable are they likely to be a useful guide to what the fund might earn next month.

Of course, income is only part of the return an investor earns from a bond fund. Total return reflects both income and the change in the funds share price.

WSJ.com Deciphering Fund Yields

The pension’s unfunded liability, the difference between assets and anticipated future costs, almost doubled from $22.5 billion in June 2008, according to a report Chief Executive Officer Jack Ehnes will deliver to the board Feb. 5. The fund will ask lawmakers next year for an increase of as much as 14 percent to what the state and school districts already pay toward employee retirement benefits, said the report, which was posted on the fund’s Web site today.

You don’t need to have earned income to be able to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth. But you do need to have earned income to make new IRA contributions.

If you don’t work but your spouse does, he or she can make IRA contributions on your behalf. If you and your spouse are both older than 50, you can each contribute up to $6,000 to an IRA in 2010 (although the total contributions cannot be more than your spouse’s earned income). You both can contribute to a Roth as long as the adjusted gross income on your joint return is less than $177,000 in 2010 (the maximum contribution starts to phase out if you earn more than $167,000).

Courtesy of Kiplingers.com



For the first time, if your annual income exceeds $100,000 you can convert a traditional IRA (as well as a SEP IRA, Simple IRA or 401(k) or 403(b) plan held with a former employer) to a Roth IRA and take advantage of its many benefits. But make no mistake: A Roth conversion doesn't make sense for everyone; you'll have to ponder a few variables. In a recent survey, TDAmeritrade found that nearly half of its clients who are newly eligible to convert remain undecided. The subject is that confusing.

Consider future tax rates. 

However, a lot of people — a stunning 86% in the TDAmeritrade survey — believe it is now likely that their income taxes will go up in retirement, largely because of the huge deficits the nation is running as a result of the recession, financial crisis and war. If a higher tax rate looms, converting to a Roth now may make sense. A Roth has another tax advantage in that withdrawals do not count as income against the taxable level of Social Security benefits, which is not the case with a Traditional IRA.

Time Magazines The Five Big Questions About Retirement Planning

A record 20 million-plus people collected unemployment benefits at some point in 2009, a year that ended with the jobless rate at 10 percent

As the pace of layoffs slows, the number of new applicants visiting unemployment offices has been on the decline in recent months. But limited hiring means the ranks of the long-term unemployed continues to grow, with more than 5.8 million people out of work for more than six months.

For 2009, the Dow Jones industrial average  climbed 18.8 percent, the S&P 500  shot up 23.5 percent and the Nasdaq surged 43.9 percent.