Roth Conversions Take Off

Roth Conversions Take Off

Richard Rubin and Margaret Collins at Bloomberg News recently reported that conversions from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs increased more than nine times in 2010, according to the Internal Revenue Service.  Taxpayers converted $64.8 billion in 2010, as compared to $6.8 billion in 2009. This was the first year that Roth conversions were greater than…
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Is Gold Still a Good Investment?

Whenever an asset class experiences a large price swing, whether up or down, people naturally try to understand what the causes have been and whether or not the asset class is currently worth buying or the reverse.  Indeed, since the beginning of 2013 we’ve seen the price of gold drop by 25%.  Gold is now…
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Is a Roth 401(k) Right for You?

Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and Roth IRAs have been around for some time now.   For those of you unfamiliar with the difference, a Roth is the inverse of a traditional IRA.  That is, contributions made to a traditional IRA are tax deductible when made, but taxed when withdrawn, typically beginning at age 71.  With…
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‘Tis the Season for Giving

For some, the end-of-year holidays engender thoughts of helping those less fortunate. For others, it’s a time to develop strategies to save on taxes. Charitable giving allows you to achieve both goals. However, what if you would like to help but don’t yet know to which charities you would like to contribute? One of the…
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Are You an Accredited Investor?

This is a follow up to my blog several weeks ago about crowd funding.  The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is additionally considering modifying the definition of an accredited investor as part of a proposal to amend the rule that permits the sale of private-placement securities.  Lawmakers want the SEC to expand the definition so…
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Will Boomers Sink Equities During Retirement?

There’s been lots of speculation that Baby Boomers – the wealthiest generation in American history, not to mention one of the largest – have the potential to seriously impact equity returns as they use up their savings during their retirement years.  A newly released Vanguard research paper offers a number of reasons why investors have…
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