457 Plan

  

A 457 Plan (again with the great naming) is basically a 401k or 403b that is targeted to U.S. Government workers and a few flavors of independent contractors, such that they can defer taxable earnings. The same withdrawal timing applies with one key diff in the 457, which is that there is no 10-percent penalty for early withdrawal the way there is with the other plans. So... have that mid-life crisis at 43 and just must have that CV red Porsche? Well, have at it. No early withdrawal penalty. And get the big one... you may have to live in it in your retirement years.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is a Coverdell Education S...11 Views

00:00

Finance a la shmoop what is a Coverdell education savings account? Coverdell...[Man using a red umbrella]

00:09

nope not an umbrella for the farmer in the well what is a Dell anyway? uh no

00:14

different Dell remember farmer in the Dell? all right moving on

00:18

Coverdell was the senator who named this type of tax deferred savings account and

00:23

note it's tax deferred not tax free maybe that is you might put two grand a

00:29

year in this account and you don't pay tax on it this year it just gets

00:33

invested and it grows just like a 401k account and an IRA and a Roth more or

00:39

less but then when you withdraw the money you don't pay tax on it if you use [Cash withdrawn from ATM]

00:44

the dough for school that is for like private school fifth grade books and

00:49

uniforms or that no athletic scholarship in the Ivy League tuition at Princeton [Man walking towards college building and football hits his head]

00:54

Or the iPad app suite from shmoop yeah

00:59

you could spend it on us we'd appreciate it thank you if you don't spend the

01:02

money on education well then you get taxed in the normal way as if it's

01:06

ordinary income there are all kinds of restrictions in this plan like there's a [Restrictions appear]

01:10

max of two grand contributed per kid who benefits from it the dough has to be

01:15

distributed fully by the time the kid is thirty or go to others in the family for

01:20

education and if your family makes too much money like you work too hard you're

01:25

too successful well you might have to cover your own Dell yeah so yeah it's a [Man walking along with a Dell laptop]

01:30

great option for some and an excellent way to attend the school of your dreams

01:34

while temporarily staving off the taxes of your nightmares if you're really lost

01:39

or something to spend it on you know think of your friends here at shmoop...

01:41

we're happy to take your dough

Up Next

Finance: What is a 529 Savings Plan?
3 Views

What is a 529 Savings Plan? A 529 Savings plan is a tax savings plan to set aside funds for a designated beneficiary’s college education and high...

Finance: What is a Pension?
31 Views

What is a pension? Pensions are just retirement plans. Employers provide them and pay into funds as an investment for their employees. Once employe...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)