A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a tax-exempt trust or custodial account that you set up with a bank or other US financial institution which allows you to pay or be reimbursed for qualified medical expenses. The HSA must be used in conjunction with a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). The HSA can be established [...]
Posts from ‘December, 2009’
Three Reasons You May Not Want to Convert to a Roth IRA
There’s been a lot (I mean a LOT!) of press surrounding the coming “opening of the floodgates” for Roth IRA conversions. You only have to glance through the headlines lately to see wild cries about the coming tsunami of Roth conversions beginning with 2010. Personally I think that, while there will likely be more conversions [...]
Why Most People Are So Bad At Stock Picking (and what does Howie Mandel have to do with it?)
You know the TV show “Deal or No Deal”, right? If you aren’t familiar with it, here’s a basic rundown of the premise: the contestant is faced with 26 briefcases, each with a dollar amount inside, ranging from one penny up to one million dollars. At the beginning of the show, the contestant chooses one [...]
Options For a Spousal Inherited IRA
In these articles we’ve discussed inherited IRAs and how to handle them – but we have not covered all of the options for a Spousal Inherited IRA separately. There are some differences, specifically more options available, so this is an important topic. It should be noted that the majority of this article applies to inheriting [...]
Coverdell Education Savings Account to Change After 2010
You might want to file this one under the “who cares?” section… Yet another expiring tax provision at the end of tax year 2010 is the expansion of the Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA) that came into effect with EGTRRA 2001. Through 2010 Until the end of 2010, you are eligible to make non-deductible contributions [...]
Trust Me, You’re Gonna Like This – The See-Through Trust as a Beneficiary
One area that often gets short shrift in discussions of IRAs and beneficiary designation is the use of a trust as the beneficiary. Part of the reason behind this may be the perceived complexity of trusts in general; at any rate, it’s not as hard as it sounds, and it can be beneficial, depending upon [...]
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".
