See how to avoid going out of the market when you are rolling over a 401k, especially a large amount. Don’t accidentally time the market.
Converting to Roth and Harvesting Capital Gains Under Obamacare ACA Premium Subsidy
You will pay an extra 10-15% tax if you convert to Roth or realize capital gains while you receive the premium subsidy under the ACA.
Obama Budget Limits Tax Deductions On 401k, Health Insurance, and Muni Bond Interest to 28%
The Obama budget proposal is officially released last week. The proposed tax related changes are further explained in a Green Book. $3 Million Cap On Retirement Accounts First on the proposed $3 million cap on retirement accounts (p. 175 in the Green Book PDF), it’s not exactly $3 million, but actually an amount enough to […]
Traditional and Roth IRA: Recharacterize vs Convert
When it comes to Traditional and Roth IRAs, convert and recharacterize means different things even though they both involve changing something. Make sure you use the right word.
Obama Budget Proposal: Chained CPI and Cap on Retirement Accounts
The news media, Internet discussion boards and Twitter are full of protests about two things in President Obama’s budget proposal, leaked to the press before its official release: chained CPI for Social Security and cap on retirement accounts. First of all, these are only proposals. The President does not make law. The proposals get fed […]
Buying On Dip With 2013 IRA Contribution
It’s a new year. The IRA contribution limit has gone up by $500 to $5,500 ($6,500 if you are 50 or older). Have you made your IRA contribution for 2013 yet? I haven’t. I’m going to continue with my experiment with buying on a dip. Last year I bought Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund […]
Your Traditional IRA is Life Insurance and an Emergency Fund
[This is a guest post from Bogleheads investment forum participant Bob’s not my name.] Roth IRAs are touted as backup emergency funds: you can withdraw your direct contributions at any time for any reason, without penalty (and, of course, without tax, because you already paid it). This is a very nice feature. It allows young […]
How to Build a Time Machine With IRAs – Part 2
[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 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 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) […]