Tag: IRA

Dude, Where's My IRA?

Posted on by George Yacik

George Yacik - INO.com Contributor - Fed & Interest Rates


The experts still tell us we should allocate our retirement portfolio to 60% stocks, 40% bonds, give or take, depending on your age.

But how does a sensible investor do that in this era of zero percent interest rates? Do bonds really have a place in your portfolio anymore? It's a reasonable question to ask.

If you put 40% of your money in safe (i.e. U.S. Treasury) bonds that are unlikely to default, it's essentially dead money, unless you're okay with earning less than 2% a year over the next 10 years.

If you want to earn more than that, you'll have to go way out on the risk curve. And if you're going to do that, you're probably better off putting your money in blue-chip equities or ETFs that pay high dividends. They're arguably safer than junk bonds, and the dividends will cushion your portfolio if stock prices go down.

But then there goes your diversification. You'll have 100% of your portfolio in equities. What happens when the stock market finally corrects? Will your bond portfolio save you? Continue reading "Dude, Where's My IRA?" →

Doing the Roth Arithmetic

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By Terry Coxon, Casey Research

It's clear to me, even though it may not be clear to you, that unless there is something very unusual about your situation, if you have a traditional IRA, you should pay the tax now and convert it to a Roth IRA. Not just maybe, but definitely. Not just for a small advantage but for a big one. If you don't convert today, you'll ultimately surrender much more to the tax collector. You'll be throwing money away. And you'll keep throwing it away. It's a result neither of us wants.

Your IRA is an object in motion, with money going in and out of it and investments turning over inside of it. It lives not just on your brokerage statement but across the years of your calendar as well. That's why the Roth conversion question can seem so tangled. Because of the time dimension, deciding whether to convert isn't as simple as deciding whether to replace one stock with another. But there is, as I'll try to show, a way to look at the question that cuts through the complexity.

Comparisons

With a traditional IRA, you are allowed to contribute $5,000 per year of employment income (or $6,000 if you are 51 or older), and, if your income isn't too high, you receive a tax deduction for the contribution. Earnings inside the IRA accumulate and compound free of current tax. Later, when you withdraw the money, it comes to you as taxable income (except to the extent of any contributions that weren't tax deductible when made, which come out tax free).

With a Roth IRA, if your income isn't too high, you may contribute up to the same $5,000 or $6,000 per year, but none of it is tax deductible. Just as with a traditional IRA, earnings inside the Roth accumulate and compound free of current tax. When the money comes out, assuming you are at least 59.5 years old and the IRA is at least five years old, the money goes tax free straight to your pocket.

Whether traditional or Roth, any IRA's power to make you richer comes from tax-deferred compounding. Consider a simple example that compares an ordinary, taxable savings account with a traditional IRA. Assume, for the sake of simplicity, that: Continue reading "Doing the Roth Arithmetic" →

Is The Government Rolling the Dice on Your Financial Future?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

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Best,
The MarketClub Team