Are you a saver? I bet you are. Did you know there’s a tax credit called Saver’s Credit that reduces your federal income tax if you save for retirement in an employer sponsored retirement plan (401k, 403b, etc.) or in an IRA? If you knew, did you ever receive it? I bet you didn’t. I […]
Medicare Doc Fix: An Interview with Austin Frakt
The Medicare "doc fix" is in the news again. I keep hearing if Congress doesn’t act, doctor’s fees for treating Medicare patients will be cut by 27% starting on January 1. This is a complete mystery to me. What’s this evil force that’s trying to cut doctor’s fees? Why can’t Congress make it stop since […]
Tax on Capital Gains While Receiving Social Security Benefits
I wrote about tax-free capital gains when you are in the 15% tax bracket or lower. I created this chart to make it clearer what I’m talking about (click on the chart for a larger size). Your gross income first goes toward the pre-tax deductions from your paychecks (401k, health care insurance premiums, flexible spending […]
Deduct-and-Convert: Save Hundreds in State Income Tax on Roth IRA Contributions
Attention retirement savers in Illinois, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, and seven other states: if you are contributing to a Roth IRA, you may be able to save hundreds of dollars in state income tax if you use an alternative strategy I call deduct-and-convert. Not everyone will qualify but it’s worth checking if […]
Social Security Penalizes Two-Earner Families
A two-earner family with the same income as a one-earner family receives lower Social Security benefits. The difference gets much larger when one spouse dies.
Social Security Benefits Increase More Rapidly For Retirees Than For Those Still Working
Retirees on Social Security will receive a 3.6% increase in their monthly Social Security checks in 2012. For those who aren’t yet eligible for Social Security (myself included), do our future Social Security benefits also increase by 3.6% due to this cost of living adjustment? The short answer is no. All else being equal (no […]
2012 Social Security COLA Increase
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released CPI changes for September 2011. With that, we can calculate the 2012 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase for Social Security recipients. Social Security COLA adjusts with changes in CPI-W. We take the Q3 average CPI-W and compare it with the Q3 average in 2008 because the 2008 number […]
Pre-Tax Spending Accounts Are No Cure for Tax Increases
New York Times Your Money columnist Ron Lieber got into some hot waters with readers after he wrote his column A Tax Plan That Might Not Be So Painful. I guess that’s because he used Dodging the Proposed 2013 Tax Increase as the headline for his blog post. I feel really sorry for him. Ron […]
Taxes Will Go Up Does Not Mean Tax Rates Will Have to Go Up
Ever since I wrote The Case Against Roth 401(k), I have people telling me I’m out of my mind. They say taxes have to be higher in the future because of deficits, baby boomers retiring, higher health care costs, etc., etc. I don’t necessarily disagree that taxes will be higher in the future. After all, […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]