I retired May 1 this year. Have questions on 401k etc
I retired at 53. Currently paying for cobra. Work asked me when I wanted my pension cash out. It's only 36k, I was wondering to avoid the tax penalty. Can I just put it in my vanguard 401k? Does the IRS still lets you contribute to it if you are still in the tax year you retired. For the tax benefit. Or should I put it in my Fidelity IRA. Also, I wanted to put some of it in my HSA account to max it out for the year. I cashed out company stock, so my income will still be at my working income without the federal tax. I will pay the tax on that gain. That's why I chose Cobra since my income entered into the marketplace, which made the rates more expensive. I can cobra for 18 months. I'm thinking about keeping it the full 18 months, then switching to the marketplace but concerned about not having as good as BCBS. My husband is 62, so he can get Medicare in 3 years, but when I say that my friend is arguing with me saying he's withdrawing ss so he can get Medicare. I have a financial advisor but don't really want to hand off the 33k to him because of the fee involved. He's only handling a third of my portfolio and advised me to back door my 401k on our low income years. Hopefully, I am making sense. I just got back from 20 days in Europe and have been extremely busy. Days are flying by. It was so nice to be on vacation and not have to go back to work jet lagged.