Note from Jim: I’m on vacation this week – hope you enjoy the following post from my friend and colleague, Roger Wohlner, CFP® who writes at the blog Chicago Financial Planner. Roger operates his Fee-Only financial planning practice out of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Fidelity is one of the largest providers of 401(k) plans and like [...]
Posts under ‘investing’
Using Capital Gains and Losses to Help With a Roth Conversion
Many analyses done with respect to Roth IRA conversions only come out to a positive outcome when the attendant tax on the conversion is paid from non-IRA sources. For many folks this shoots down the entire prospect, as there is no available cash outside of IRAs and other investments to use to pay the tax [...]
Know Thyself
This ancient two-word phrase, attributed to several Greek luminaries ranging from Socrates to Pythagoras, implores the reader toward introspection. This introspection can be especially helpful when considering how we feel about our financial future – particularly when we are at extremes of emotion. The recent stock market activity has given us plenty of opportunities to [...]
Capital Gains and Losses and Your Taxes
If you own taxable investment accounts, real estate, collectibles, or literally any item that can appreciate or depreciate in value, you’ve likely had to deal with capital gains or losses on your tax return. (Actually, only if you’ve sold the item.) But how much do you really know about capital gains and losses? The IRS [...]
Investment Returns: What Should You Expect?
One of the things that I always ask clients (in fact it’s on my initial questionnaire that potential clients fill out) is “What is your expected return from your investments?” It can be pretty insightful to see what people are thinking that they should be able to receive in returns from their investments – I’ve [...]
The Lost Decade and What it Means
By now you’ve likely heard plenty about the “lost decade” in the stock market: On January 3, 2000, the S&P 500 index closed the day at 1,455.22, and on May 28, 2010, the index closed at 1,089.41 – for a negative return on the nearly 10 1/2 years… I’m sure you’ve noticed in your investment [...]
Tax Diversification for Investments
In past articles I have advocated the concept of spreading your tax-treatment out – so that you have money allocated in three major types of accounts: deferred tax (such as IRAs and 401(k) plans), tax-free (Roth IRAs), and capital gains taxable accounts. The reason behind this is that our fine government has this tendency to [...]
Principles of Pollex: Investment Allocation
(In case you are confused by the headline: a principle is a rule, and pollex is an obscure term for thumb. Therefore, we’re talking about Rules of Thumb.) In this installment of the Principles of Pollex, we address a compelling Investment Allocation Rule of Thumb: Invest X% of your money in bonds, and the remainder [...]
Mistakes With NUA
In another article on this site we discussed the concept of Net Unrealized Appreciation, or NUA for short. It’s a complicated affair, fraught with potential mistakes – several of the most important ones are listed below. Mistakes With NUA Moving too quickly – if you roll over your funds from the Qualified Retirement Plan (QRP) [...]
The Great Recession – What We Did Right
The “Great Recession” may have not been officially declared over just yet, but things we’re seeing in the financial world are showing that we’re regaining momentum, or at least solid ground in the markets. We’ve seen the stock market gain more than 60% since the low a year ago, which is remarkable even though we’re [...]
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