tax alpha

What is a Roth conversion, and why should you – or shouldn’t you – do it?

 in Financial wellness  tagged financial literacy / retirement planning / tax alpha / tax planning by

Traditional IRAs and most workplace retirement plans, like 401(k)s, for example, are tax-deferred. That sounds great when you’re adding money to them: no taxes now, deferred growth, wuhoo!  But tax-deferred is NOT tax-avoided. The tax bill always comes due. The world of IRAs is super-complex, as is the world of income-tax brackets. They come together in a perfect storm of complexity. HOWEVER, there are some easier pieces to explain. Without getting into every scenario and […]

Roth Conversion

A great tip about Roth conversions

 in Tax Updates / Thanksgiving Family Money Letter  tagged tax alpha / tax planning by

At the AICPA conference, and then later in a Journal of Financial Planning article, I read a really cool idea. I’m not sure it’ll still be possible after Congress gets done hashing out changes to the tax code, but I’ll note it here and we can circle back in January. Here’s the trick: let’s say you’re thinking of converting between $10,000 and $20,000 of IRA money this year. You don’t know for sure how much […]

Tax Alpha

 in ProsperiTea Planning / Thanksgiving Family Money Letter  tagged ACP / retirement planning / tax alpha / tax planning by (updated 652 days ago)

No investment advisor can honestly tell you that they can use their expertise to make you an additional 10% return on your investments. However, I can honestly say that I can, in many instances, save you 10% of your investment returns through good tax planning to get taxes paid on qualified money at the lowest possible bracket. You don’t want to leave a tip to the IRS! How, you ask? I’ve got a lot of […]

Book Review: “Simple Wealth, Inevitable Wealth” by Nick Murray

 in Book Reviews  tagged book reviews / investing / tax alpha by (updated 763 days ago)

One of the members of my financial planning study group mentioned that he gives all his prospect people a copy of “Simple Wealth, Inevitable Wealth” by Nick Murray. I was intrigued: I like to give the prospects something that pertains to them. It’s a tangible benefit I prefer over marketing things like pens or mugs with my company name on them. I have a bit of a library in my office of books I’ve bought […]