Making money: Dating by credit rating, and more

3 top pieces of financial advice — from business resolutions to new rules for Roths

"Good credit is sexy" -CreditScoreDating.com
(Image credit: ThinkStock/Comstock)

New rules for Roths

Washington's last-minute deal on the fiscal cliff loosened the rules for converting traditional 401(k) accounts into Roth retirement accounts, said Melanie Hicken at CNN Money. For Roth accounts, you pay taxes when you put money in, instead of when you withdraw it. Until now, employees generally had to wait until they were 59 and a half before they could convert traditional retirement accounts to Roth 401(k)s. Now any employee of a company that offers a Roth option — about 46 percent of employers do — can convert all or part of a traditional 401(k) to a Roth. Though that means paying taxes on the reallocated funds, the option makes sense "for people in lower tax brackets who have extra cash on hand, such as young professionals."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Business resolutions for 2013

Most of us end up breaking our New Year's vows to lose weight and get more exercise, said Mike Maddock at Forbes. But I've noticed that "the most accomplished people" in business generally resolve not to do more, but to narrow their focus to important things. "Creating a list of things that you are not going to do allows you to invest more of your treasured time on the few things that matter the most." Cut out the rote practice of reading your emails first thing in the morning, for instance, and instead start out by setting a goal for the day. By the same token, "do yourself a favor and plan your vacations for the next year today."