Almost three years ago, when the stock market entered a bear market, I devised a plan for overbalancing, which called for increasing the percentage of my portfolio invested in stocks as the market goes lower. Stock Market Allocation to Stocks -5% 60% -10% 60% -15% 60% -20% 65% -25% 65% -30% 70% -35% 70% -40% […]
Latest Blog Posts
In-Plan Roth Rollover: Practically Useless
A new law passed last year, Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, added a provision to allow participants in 401k or 403b plans to move their money from a traditional 401k or 403b account to a Roth 401k or 403b account within the same plan. This is called an “in-plan Roth rollover.” As a practical […]
Career Advancement Or Side Business?
Reader simplesimon left this comment to my post last week Wages During and After Recession: Regarding how to earn more, check out the I Will Teach You To Be Rich blog by Ramit Sethi. He tries to get people thinking on what their skills are and how to turn that into income. From what I’ve […]
Inherited IRA and Roth Conversion Pro-Rata Rule
An inherited IRA isn’t yours. It isn’t included in the pro-rata calculation unless you are the spouse of the deceased and you make the inherited IRA your own IRA.
Customer Service Hours at Mutual Fund Companies and Discount Brokers
Today is Good Friday. Stock and bond markets are closed. If you have a question about your account, is the mutual fund company or brokerage firm where you have your money open to answer your questions? I’m not talking about automated IVR systems. I’m talking about live human being customer service reps. I polled some […]
Bond Yield and Risks Triangle
There was an article on Washington Post by Robert Pozen and Theresa Hamacher about bonds: A bond backfire after racing to buy long-term Treasuries and sell tax-exempt funds Although I don’t agree with everything they said, especially their error about a TIPS fund in taxable accounts, on balance it’s a good article about the yield […]
Wages During and After Recession
Once upon a time, a now-defunct financial media company had a Twitter contest asking people to put a piece of financial advice into three words. My submission was: Earn, Save, Invest I didn’t win, but I still think that’s basically everything about personal finance. If I’m allowed a fourth word, I would throw in Insure […]
US Treasury Banks With Bank of America
I know many people complain about Bank of America. I saw this stamp on the back of the check I wrote for my 2010 federal income tax. Apparently the IRS took my check and deposited it in US Treasury’s account with Bank of America. It makes Bank of America true to its name.
Free Sales Tax Or Free Financing
I heard on the radio an ad from a mattress store. It says for this weekend only, the store will either pay the sales tax on any mattress purchase or give free financing for 24 months. Suppose the price of the mattress is $1,000 and the sales tax is 8% (to make math easier), if […]
Sell Your RSUs As Soon As They Vest
I heard in a casual conversation that some of my co-workers are holding their RSU shares after the shares are vested. They thought there are some tax advantages in holding the RSU shares. There is no tax advantage whatsoever in holding the RSUs after they vest. RSU stands for Restricted Stock Unit. It’s a form […]