I don’t know if you’ve ever heard it before, but there have been studies done with the intent to help folks realize the benefit of remaining invested in the market… with the outcome being if you missed the ten best days of the market’s returns over a particular period of time, your overall results are significantly diminished. I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of these studies, so I decided to undertake a similar study of my own, using a few different circumstances in order to hopefully reflect what might happen in real life. The Study I used S&P 500 data to represent the stock market, and for the sake of better understanding and applicability to the present, I have limited the data used to the time period of January 1990 to present. In order to better represent what most folks would do in real life, I used monthly results, […]
October, 2010:
The Legislation Page
If you haven’t done so recently, you should check out the Legislation page on this blog. I’ve recently updated the summaries listed here, plus this is where you’ll find the coming tax law changes that you should be aware of. You can check back here regularly to find out about major legislation affecting your financial future, including healthcare, retirement plans, jobs, and taxes. As always, if you have questions about any of the information listed, just let me know!
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New Opportunities to “Roth”
Recently one of the tenets of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 came into effect, providing you with additional opportunities to set aside funds in a Roth account – not a Roth IRA, but rather a “designated Roth account”, often referred to as a Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b). Designated Roth accounts are also often referred to as DRACs – just to keep the acronym train rolling. The way the new law works is that, if you have a 401(k) or 403(b) (the traditional kind), you can roll over or convert some of your funds to a DRAC while the account is still active – as long as your plan is set up to allow in-plan distributions of this variety. The eligible rollover distribution (ERD) must be made: after September 27, 2010; from a non-designated Roth account in the same plan, meaning your traditional 401(k) or 403(b); because of […]
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Expanded Adoption Credit Available for Tax Year 2010
The Affordable Care Act raises the maximum adoption credit to $13,170 per child, up from $12,150 in 2009. It also makes the credit refundable, meaning that eligible taxpayers can get it even if they owe no tax for that year. In general, the credit is based upon the reasonable and necessary expenses related to a legal adoption, including adoption fees, court costs, attorney’s fees and travel expenses. Income limits and other special rules apply. In addition to filling our Form 8839, Qualified Adoption Expenses, eligible taxpayers must include with their 2010 tax returns one or more adoption-related documents, detailed in the guidance from the IRS. The documentation requirements, designed to ensure that taxpayers properly claim the credit, mean that taxpayers claiming the credit will have to file paper tax returns. Normally, it takes six to eight weeks to get a refund claimed on a complete and accurate paper return where […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on 
A Medicare Owner’s Manual, is updated with 2020 facts and figures. This manual is available on 
Social Security for the Suddenly Single can be found on Amazon at 
Sterling’s first book, Lose Weight Save Money, can be 
An IRA Owner’s Manual, 2nd Edition is available for purchase on Amazon. Click the link to choose the 
Jim’s book – A Social Security Owner’s Manual, is now available on Amazon. Click this link for the 
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”.