Retirement for pastors

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I know there are many avenues to save for retirement such as IRA’s, Roth IRA’s, and SEP-IRA’s but I have come across a 403(b) for pastors. Anyone familiar with this and can you point me to a good source of information regarding 403(b)’s?

Discussion

A 403(b) is only good if the church is matching your contributions (i.e. free money). Otherwise, the best way to go is a Roth IRA. The contributions are not tax deductible, but the growth and distributions (at retirement) are tax free.

Father of three, husband of one, servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I blog at mattolmstead.com.

I understand that with a 403(b) designed for clergy that you can offset your SS tax and offset the income with your housing allowance during your retirement years. Here is a site I ran across. This is not a non-profit 403b it is a 403b especially for clergy. Check out this site and I would appreciate your feedback.

http://www.clergysupport.com/housing_allowance.html

This is where I first read about this http://www.baptistbulletin.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/janfeb_09_20-… page 3 point 5 says…

I recommend the plan begin as early as possible, with

a minimum annual contribution of $2,400, building

to $6,000 as soon as possible—and even more

if he starts the plan after 40 years of age. A pastor

should not be in IRAs or Roth IRAs. He should be

in a 403(b) pension plan, with the deposits made by

the church. This exempts the amount from self-employment

tax and makes the distributions eligible for

housing allowance upon his retirement, which would

shelter the income from federal and state income

taxes.

Wouldn’t it be wise to have both?

The 403(b) does provide for tax free housing allowance after retirement, but you have to pay taxes on monies used for normal living expenses. If you pay taxes now (which some clergy do not, at least any appreciable amount), it can be helpful to set some aside tax free.

The Roth IRA is taxed up front, but you won’t have to pay taxes on it after retirement, housing included. The advantage of the 403(b) is tax shelter now for housing later.

So I think having both, if you can do it, is wise. However, it seems to me that the Roth should be heavier weighted.

Larry,

You are right….except some of us don’t make enought to be taxed up front anyway….LOL

Roger Carlson, Pastor Berean Baptist Church