Roth Catch Ups and the 60-Day Rollover Rule: EDU #2535

The Retirement and IRA Show

Jim Saulnier, CFP® & Chris Stein, CFP®

Business, Investing

4.3 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2025

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you are not in the mood for Jim and Chris’s delightful banter, you can skip ahead to (5:45).
It should be noted that of all the episodes to start sharing that information, it’s the one in which Jim said “we didn’t even banter!”. But, from now on, right here before the guys’ summaries you can find the timestamp to jump ahead to if you want to get to the meat of the show.

Chris’s Summary
Jim and I continue working through Ed Slott’s advisor quiz. After introducing the mandatory Roth catch up rule last week, we now focus on how W-2 wage definitions determine who’s affected, which plan types are exempt, and how administrative delays impact implementation. We also clarify rules around QCDs from inherited IRAs and debunk common errors made by ChatGPT when interpreting the 60-day rollover rule and plan eligibility.

Jim’s “Pithy” Summary
Chris and I keep going with the Ed Slott quiz, diving deeper into how the mandatory Roth catch up rule will actually work when it takes effect. We go through how wages are defined for this purpose—specifically Box 3 of the W-2, not Box 1—and why that matters for who’s subject to the rule. That single detail creates big carve-outs for groups like self-employed individuals and many state or local government employees who don’t pay into Social Security. We also highlight how a plan’s design matters. If your employer doesn’t offer a Roth option and you’re over the wage limit, you won’t be allowed to make catch up contributions at all. And we explain how the one-year look-back works, including why a job change can give someone a temporary exemption.

ChatGPT joins us again and gets several key questions wrong—like saying the rule applies to SIMPLE IRAs (it doesn’t), or insisting QCDs can’t come from inherited IRAs. Wrong again. If the beneficiary is over 70½, QCDs are allowed, and the IRS has even designated a code on the 1099-R for that exact scenario. Once it thought a little harder, Chat backed off and conceded. Smack talk retracted.

We close with a scenario on the 60-day rollover rule—what happens if a distribution check shows up while you’re out of town for months. Chat claimed the clock starts when it hits your mailbox. But that’s not how it works. According to private letter rulings, the 60-day window starts when you actually receive the check.

The post Roth Catch Ups and the 60-Day Rollover Rule: EDU #2535 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The retirement and IRA show represents the words and views of the show hosts exclusively and should not be construed as investment, legal, or tax advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. All economic and performance information is historical in nature and is not indicative of any future results. Any indices mentioned on the show are unmanaged and cannot be invested indirectly. Diversification and asset allocation strategies do not assure profit or protect against loss.
0:23.9	Never make any investment or financial decisions based on information offered on this show
0:27.0	without first consulting your financial legal or tax advisor.
0:29.8	Financial planning services offered through Jim Solnier and Associates LLC, a registered investment advisor.
0:47.4	This is the retirement and IRA show coming to you from beautiful Northern Colorado.
0:53.0	Join us as certified financial planner Jim Sonier, as well as Colorado State University Finance instructor and certified financial
0:55.4	planner Chris Stein teach you about IRAs, borough in case, annuities, social security, pension
1:01.7	plans, and estate planning in a fun and enjoyable show. Whether you are listening live in Colorado
1:07.6	or streaming from their website or iTunes podcast, Jim and Chris want you to know
1:12.5	that they're available to help you plan for your retirement. Just visit their website at
1:17.1	Jim helps.com. That's Jim H-E-L-P-S dot com and click the Meet the Team button on the homepage.
1:25.0	Now here's Jim and Chris with today's show.
1:36.5	Well, hello everybody and welcome to the Retirement and IRA show EDU edition. On today's show, we're going to continue with the quiz, for lack of a better word, that we were walking
1:42.5	through last week.
1:54.2	A couple times a year, Jim does some training through his membership in a program with the Ed Slot program, Ed Slot, for those of you who don't know.
2:05.1	It's one of the well-recognized experts on IRA rules and taxation and does a lot of training for advisors like ourselves.
2:07.1	And Jim goes to those training sessions.
2:12.7	As part of that, he brings back a quiz that Ed gives to all the members of his group to kind of allow them to test for themselves how well they've absorbed the material.
2:19.5	And for the past several years, Jim's brought the quiz questions, at least part of the quiz
2:23.9	questions, to the show here because they're of some interest.
2:26.9	They're quite educational and kind of fun to go through.
2:29.5	So we had started last week, and actually I was playing against AI.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jim Saulnier, CFP® & Chris Stein, CFP®, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jim Saulnier, CFP® & Chris Stein, CFP® and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.