If you’ve been investing for any period of time, you’ve likely run across the term Wash Sale – do you know what it means? And what are the IRS rules regarding Wash Sales? In a nutshell, a wash sale occurs when you sell a security (stock, bond, or mutual fund, for example) at a loss, [...]
Posts from ‘June, 2009’
The “Default” Default Distribution Period
We’ve talked about all kinds of issues surrounding distribution periods, but there’s at least one more facet of distribution periods that we have not addressed just yet. What happens when there is no designated beneficiary for the IRA account? More specifically, what is the longest distribution period that heirs are allowed to stretch an IRA [...]
Reasons #12 & #35 That You Might Need A Financial Advisor
Trying not to be self-serving with this – I am, after all, a financial advisor. The point of this post is to explain that, in spite of all of the negative press that folks in the financial advice-giving business have been receiving of late, there are still very good reasons to have an advisor on [...]
Disclaiming an IRA Inheritance
I know, I know – who would want to disclaim an inheritance, right? Well, it happens a lot more often than you think – partly in order to keep from loading one beneficiary’s estate with too many assets, and partly in order to even things out, make it more equal, for all common beneficiaries. So [...]
Are 72t Payments Also Exempted in 2009?
This is a follow-up to my original post regarding the RMD Holiday for 2009. If you’re taking a Series of Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (SOSEPP), also known as 72t payments, from an IRA or other plan, you are not allowed to “skip” a payment for 2009. The reasoning behind this is that your 72t payments [...]
Is the US a Banana Republic?
In last month’s Atlantic Monthly there was an article by Simon Johnson entitled The Quiet Coup. What I found especially intriguing about this article is the strong case that Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, makes in comparing the US, with our recent economic difficulties, to emerging economies. Johnson should know [...]
IRA RMD Reporting
So we’ve talked about how to determine your Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) from your IRA and when you must take it… how does the IRS know that you’ve done what you’re supposed to? As you might expect, the IRS doesn’t leave such things to chance. Any time you receive a distribution from an IRA, a [...]
And if you've come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed "advisor's advisor".
