When is it sensible to liquidate my IRA rather than lose it to a creditor?
Posted on Dec 7, 2015 4:00am PST
If your IRA can be imminently seized and bankruptcy isn’t a good
alternative, your most practical solution may be to terminate your IRA,
and pay the tax and early withdrawal penalty. You can then protect the
proceeds as you’d shelter cash or other liquid investments. Dissolution
is certainly the most economical option for the small IRA which can’t
cost-justify more complex or costly protection. And you might avoid the
early withdrawal penalty if you use the withdrawal or IRA borrowing exception
rules to remove the money from your retirement account.