April 23, 2014 | FIGuide

Retirement Account Rollover Options

Apr 23 2014

Where can my retirement account go when I retire or change jobs? For the most part, when you retire or otherwise end your employment you may direct transfer or direct rollover your retirement account(s) to a new IRA account established at a qualified custodian. Here are some special situations that come up where you may separate accounts to receive the transfer.

Simple IRA

Small businesses can establish a SIMPLE IRA retirement plan. It’s similar to a 401k with but with much simpler and therefore less costly record-keeping and administrative requirements. In the SIMPLE plan you have your own individual account. …

Is it Really Cheaper to Buy Than Rent?

Apr 23 2014

Recently news stories indicate that in some cities it is much cheaper to buy a home than rent. The reason why that may be is that perhaps a fifth of the population may have needed and still needs to use “Easy Qualifier” mortgages to qualify for a loan. These borrowers can’t play the housing game so they have to rent. Or some potential buyers lost their equity after going into foreclosure and have no down payment money.

Recently lenders started offering Easy Qualifier loans but at junk bond spreads instead of offering loans at the same rate as fully documented …

Tax Time is Over. Maybe.

Apr 23 2014

For most folks tomorrow marks the one week anniversary of filing their 2014 tax return. Not much needs to be done after they’ve filed except for deciding to have more withheld in 2014 for those folks who had to write a check to Uncle Sam or deciding what to do with the refund (hint: put it in an IRA) for those folks who got a refund.

What happens when the return may have been submitted with mistakes or perhaps costly errors? Generally, if the error is minor the IRS will correct errors or accept returns without certain forms or schedules …

Be Careful When Converting

Apr 23 2014

When converting from a 401(k), traditional IRA, 403(b), SIMPLE IRA, SEP or 457(b) to a Roth IRA there are some important tax considerations to keep in mind.

First, converting from a tax deferred plan to a tax free plan it’s not always the best idea. Generally, it’s going to make sense to convert if the tax payer believes that he or she will be in a higher income tax bracket in retirement. For example, John, age 28 has a 401(k) and recently left his employer. He’s currently in the 15% bracket but expects to be in the 28% bracket or …

What Happened to the Gold Standard?

Apr 23 2014

The U.S. dollar was first regulated by the Coinage Act of 1792 and prescribed as 371.25 grains of pure silver. The eagle, worth $10, was 247.5 grains of gold. One cent, worth a hundredth of a dollar, was 24 grains of copper.

The value of the metal contained in the currency kept prices relatively constant before the founding of the Federal Reserve. During those 120 years, prices rose only 3%. In contrast, during the 100 years since the Federal Reserve, prices have risen 2,280%.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to “to coin money” and “regulate the …

Archive - April 23, 2014

Simple IRA