[This is a guest post from Bogleheads investment forum participant Bob’s not my name as a follow-up to his previous post How to Build a Time Machine With IRAs – Part 1.] In Part 1 we discussed how your money can use a deductible traditional IRA to travel forward in time and to a different […]
How to Build a Time Machine With IRAs – Part 1
[This is a guest post from Bogleheads investment forum participant Bob’s not my name.] Wouldn’t it be great to have a Time Machine that would allow your money to travel back and forth in time and from place to place, seeking out the lowest tax rates? Well, you can build one yourself with IRAs. Deductible […]
How to Save $4,000 in Your Graduation Year – Part 2: Insurance
[This is a guest post from Bogleheads investment forum participant Bob’s not my name as a follow-up to his previous post How to Save $4,000 in Your Graduation Year — Part 1: Taxes.] In Part 1, we looked at the weird stew of education credits and deductions the government has cooked up. The government’s meddling […]
How to Save $4,000 in Your Graduation Year — Part 1: Taxes
[This is a guest post from Bogleheads investment forum participant Bob’s not my name.] If you are a college senior or if you graduated this year, pay attention. The year in which you finish college and enter the workforce presents unique tax circumstances. In addition, you may think you are achieving financial independence from your […]
How Much Will the New Health Care Taxes Affect Middle Class Families?
[This is a guest post from Bogleheads investment forum participant Bob’s not my name as a follow-up to his previous post How Much Will the New Health Care Taxes Affect High Earners?] There hasn’t been much discussion of how screwed middle class families with significant medical expenses are going to be by a couple of […]
How Much Will the New Health Care Taxes Affect High Earners?
[This is a guest post from Bogleheads investment forum participant Bob’s not my name.] There’s a lot of talk these days about the new Medicare taxes in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), so you may be wondering how much they will affect you. The short answer is: If your household income (married filing jointly) is […]
ACA 3.8% Medicare Tax and Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
Now that the health care reform law is upheld by the Supreme Court, the 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income for high earners is also here to stay. It will come into effect in 2013. Just to recap, the chart below shows how it works: The tax is on unearned income — interest, dividend, capital […]
Sitting Out the Roth IRA Movement Party
I woke up this morning hearing there’s a Roth IRA Movement going on in the bloggers circle. I don’t have anything prepared, except I want to remind everyone not to forget The Forgotten Deductible IRA. Roth IRA is great if you aren’t eligible for a tax deduction for contributing to a traditional IRA, meaning you […]
Selling Noncovered Shares With Specific Identification At Vanguard
The IRS implemented new rules to help the taxpayers report capital gains and losses from securities sales more accurately. They did it by requiring the brokers and mutual fund companies to report the cost basis for securities bought after a certain date and subsequently sold. For stocks and ETFs, that date is January 1, 2011. […]
How To Recharacterize An IRA with Vanguard, Fidelity, Or Schwab
As I mentioned in my previous post Recharacterize Backdoor Roth, I requested recharacterization of my Roth IRA conversions in 2011 and 2012. Since this is the first time I did this, I’m documenting the process here. Why Recharacterize? Recharacterizing an IRA can mean two things: recharacterizing contributions OR recharacterizing a conversion (from Traditional to Roth) […]
Most TSP Participants Should Switch To the Roth TSP
My friend Austin asked me about the Roth TSP. TSP is Thrift Savings Plan. It’s the equivalent to a 401k plan for federal government employees and members of the military. Until now, TSP only accepts pre-tax contributions, like a Traditional 401k. TSP announced that it will add the Roth feature soon. I heard April 1, […]
Tax Refunds On 1099-G: Taxable Or Not?
Among the various tax forms I have been receiving lately is a 1099-G from my state. It says it’s for the state income tax refund I received last year. I received a state income tax refund last year because I had too much withheld in the previous year. The refund was returning my own money […]