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Hi Readers!
I'm on vacation!
I'll be back with new blog posts at the end of May.
Friday, May 15, 2009
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A Retirement Planning Forum
Written and hosted by Martin Silfen
Contact
TheTwoLeggedStool@
gmail.com
gmail.com
Sites
- Annuity Digest
- BenefitsLink
- Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
- Center for Retirement Research
- CFA Institute
- Consumer Price Index
- Ed Slott
- Institutional Retirement Income Research Council
- Journal of Financial Planning
- National Institute on Retirement Security
- Number, The
- Social Security Administration
- Stembrook Asset Management
- Treasury Bond Rates
Blog Archive
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2009
(141)
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▼
May
(15)
- On Vacation
- The Social Security Trust Fund
- Magnitude/Likelihood Matrix of Real Returns
- Magnitude of 12-Month Real Gains
- Magnitude of 12-Month Real Losses
- Annuities I’d Like to See
- Three Functions of Retirement Savings
- Timing of Roth Conversion
- Frequency of 12-Month Real Losses
- Frequency of Monthly Real Losses
- State Taxation of Retirement Distributions
- Your Own Retirement Goal
- 3% is Depressingly Small
- Predicting Income Tax Rates
- Taxation of Social Security Benefits
-
▼
May
(15)
Labels
- Asset Location Planning (1)
- Employer Plans (1)
- Estate Planning (4)
- Financial Projections (8)
- Geometric vs. Arithmetic Average (1)
- Investments (35)
- Public Policy (8)
- Retirement Planning (25)
- Retirement Saving Plan (1)
- Retirement Savings Plan (7)
- Retirement Spending Plan (12)
- Roth Savings (23)
- Savings Buckets (58)
- Social Security (3)
Dear Martin,
ReplyDeleteI hope you're enjoying the vacation!
When you're back, I'm wondering whether you might have advice on this dilemma: Today, the New York Times posted an article about how the credit card industry may find ways to make its most responsible users pay more in fees and interest rather than letting them enjoy the "free ride" they have been getting. Here's the link: http://snipurl.com/ibxki
I'm a responsible credit-card user who never spends in deficit. The only reason I use credit over debit is to build my credit score. If Visa starts hitting me with fees just for using their credit card and paying them back, I'm wondering this: would paying a hundred or so dollars a year in fees (just a guess at the amount) be worth it in exchange for maintaining and building my credit score?
Thanks,
Jon
A Teacher in DC
Welcome back Martin,
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you'd take another look at the impending 2010 Roth conversion to allow folks to begin planning. My spouse and I have both Roth and traditional nondeductible IRA accounts. I'm currently holding off on our 2009 nondeductible contributions to the traditional IRA's, figuring that there's no point in accruing possible taxable gains in that account prior to conversion. If the rules remain as they are now, I intend to make 2009 and 2010 contributions in January 2010, then immediately convert them to Roths. Can these conversions go into our current Roths, or will we have to maintain them as separate accounts? Should I keep the traditional IRA account open for similar contributions and conversions in 2011?
Another topic of interest (considering the market) that hasn't been covered is what happens if you show an investment loss rather than gains in a nondeductible IRA at the time of conversion - it looks to me as if it is deductible if they exceed $3000, but I can't tell if that floor applies to each individual filer or to a couple filing jointly. An investment loss also reduces the tax bite of converting deductible IRA's. It would be great to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks,
Paul