Topic: Retirement Investing Ideas (Read 25696 times)

allancoleman · « **Reply #90 on:** April 27, 2005, 08:39:05 PM »

glad you liked it kilo . reverse mortgages are a very valid tool for retirement planning . they just aren't for everyone .

as you've said , i'd rather sell , take the money - TAX FREE - and go from there , but some older people feel differently about their home they've lived in for years , and years , and years .

kilo869 · « **Reply #91 on:** April 28, 2005, 04:33:34 PM »

Ahh, that's the rub, my wifes' parents turned over their house to us, we put on an in-law apt for them so i don't think that we would use the reverse mortgage if it weren't an emergency

allancoleman · « **Reply #92 on:** April 28, 2005, 10:06:55 PM »

sorry for the delay in my reply kilo , but i go surfing every morning and " surfing comes first " . B) .

because the home is owned by you and your wife , your wife's parents probably " for sure " can not get a reverse mortgage on it , BUT you and your wife could i think . especially if it's your prime residence or you are the mortgage holder .

usually reverse mortgages DO NOT look good on a spread sheet UNLESS you have lots of equity in the home and the numbers look better and better the older you are .

i certainly would stop by your local bank and investigate . probably wouldn't take 15 minutes of your time in front of a loan / mortgage officer to give them the outline of the finanical details of the home and they could give you a detail spreadsheet later for you guys to study .

the nice thing about doing it that way is that :

1) you do not have to do this deal now

2) give ya some stuff to think about later

3) maybe the bank / lender will ' sweeten ' the deal later ? ? .

plus you'd learn about how these things , reverse mortgages , would " specificly " apply to your specific instance .

just an idea

goombay · « **Reply #93 on:** May 10, 2005, 01:56:14 AM »

Howdy Al--Big O here, I will give you one guess as to who is tutoring me on Vangaurd Ginny Maes. He is telling me that it will cost me a short stack and a cold glass of milk. He did bring me the salmon, that he was going to give to you. Other than that, still waiting on the big x retirement to unfold. Clayt says it cold and rainy. But that is par for the course, whenever Clayt drives south.

allancoleman · « **Reply #94 on:** May 10, 2005, 10:33:03 PM »

hi big ' O ' ,

clayt left here last week . it hard to go wrong with any of Vanguard's mutual funds . thanks for giving clayt some cold milk . they were about to run out up here with clayt drinking it all winter . you know it's difficult to keep those cows outdoors up here in the winter for every customer who wants ' cold ' milk .

allancoleman · « **Reply #95 on:** June 15, 2005, 03:42:17 AM »

although it's abit late for this tax season , this is excellent advice :

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/05054/462244.stm[/url]

i personally use roth conversions every year to fill up my chosen tax bracket after taking enough for my living needs .

allancoleman · « **Reply #96 on:** June 25, 2005, 06:37:05 PM »

received via snail mail today a letter from xerox / hewitt about changes to the xerox 401(k) Marketplace Window Funds . xerox is also closing a bunch of funds too .

one thing that caught my eye was the addition of the Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities and the Salomon Brothers Institutional High - Yield Bond mutual funds for those interested in fixed income .

Toner · « **Reply #97 on:** June 29, 2005, 11:06:54 PM »

Getting info before decideing what to do with my 401k and tra money. I had an apointment with a consultant at the Xerox credit union.Got some good info and the cost per year is about the same as leaveing it all in the Xerox 401k , about .06 %.But then I find out they take 2% of your money off the top to let them handle your finances. Im haveing a hard time understanding why I would want to pay that.

allancoleman · « **Reply #98 on:** July 02, 2005, 03:56:28 AM »

Toner ,

excellent observation Toner . but , beyond that , why would you want to pay 0.06% for any mutual fund when you can have a Vanguard index fund for roughly 0.02% every year . ? ? you can get their " admiral " shares in the total stock market index for just 0.01% a year . or only half a percent for five years total . it would cost you less to have that fund for five years than you'd pay for their fund for one year . and you can open an account with admiral class shares with just $100k now . used to be it took $250k to get those type of shares at vanguard .

for a total of half a percent ( 0.01% a year X five years ) , you can have a Vanguard index fund for FIVE ( 5 ) full years . the other fund is going to cost you 3% for the same five years , or SIX times more expensive . NOT to mention the additional 2% off the top to handle YOUR money .

. heck , for that price , i'll handle your money

for ya . if my math is correct , 2% of a million bucks is $20k . even if you only have half a million . it's still $10k . and the difference between half a percent on a million bucks and 3% on the same million bucks for annual expenses for five years is $30k versus $5k . i don't know about you , but i can live for a long time on $30k . however , .......... it's your money .

sorry for the delay in getting back to you , but i was out of town on real estate business . here's a link to get ya started : http://www.vanguard.com[/url]

take the " personal investors " link . let me know if you have any other questions .

this stuff is worth learning Toner . it'll save ya lots of bread in the end . afterall , it's your money you're investing .

.

allancoleman · « **Reply #99 on:** July 23, 2005, 12:34:54 AM »

latest information on ROTH 401(k)'s :

http://www.benefitnews.com/pfv.cfm?id=7708[/url]

as we get closer to the 2006 beginning start date of this program , we'll see more data on the details . remember , not much else beats TAXFREE .

still hope there's some way in the new rules / regulations that i can rollover / transfer my " aftertax " account into a ROTH 401(K) easily and leave it in my xerox 401(k) .

kilo869 · « **Reply #100 on:** July 28, 2005, 05:12:44 PM »

Hi Allen,
back from vacation on cape cod, sorry, no surf on nantucket sound. i was interested on the article on roth ira's. i'm going part time so i can keep my income (gross) at $12k next year. now i'm wondering about putting that all into roth 401k and drawing down on my retirement stash.

allancoleman · « **Reply #101 on:** July 29, 2005, 03:01:17 AM »

hi kilo ,

sorry about being late getting back to ya . i was out of town working on real estate for possible sale later .

your idea to work part time and use the income to be able to qualify and fund a ROTH sounds excellent . the deadline for " contributory " ROTH IRA's is april 15th of each tax year . because you are over 50 , you can contribute $3,500 for 2004 ( before april 15th - THIS year ) and $4,500 for next year , 2005 , after april of this year .

so kilo , you could sock away $8k for yourself AND your wife in taxfree ROTHs this year if you want . a total of $16k going forward isn't a bad chunk of change to start with .

the deadline for ROTH conversions is december 31st of each calendar year . and there are NO limits on those . you can convert as much as you feel like paying taxes on in your chosen tax bracket . i converted $115k last year and will probably convert $110k later this year .

kilo869 · « **Reply #102 on:** August 01, 2005, 05:31:01 PM »

hi allen,
thanks for the response, now;
how do you initiate a conversion and,
does the conversion count as taxable income? (putting you into a higher tax bracket)

allancoleman · « **Reply #103 on:** August 01, 2005, 06:21:56 PM »

hi kilo ,

you " initiate " a ROTH converstion by contacting your IRA custodian and telling them you want to convert from your taxable IRA account to a ROTH taxfree account . you will have to set up a ROTH account before you can move money from your IRA account into your ROTH account . you just tell them how much you want to convert .

and yes , the total / whole of your " conversion " is added to that year's income and you will receive a 1099 to that effect . your custodian will " code " the 1099 showing the ROTH conversion so there isn't a penality if you are less than 59 1/2 and so that it counts a straight income . the conversion counts as a normal , regular distribution from your IRA . only difference is you are transfering money from one account to another and NOT to your personal account where you can spend it or write checks against it . once your conversion is in your ROTH account , it comes under the IRS ROTH rules and regulations . IRS publication 590 is your guideline for those .

in my own specific instance , when i transitioned from employment to retirement , i transferred my xerox " transitional account " into a Schwab IRA Rollover account . the rest of my xerox 401(k) is still with xerox . every year i have gone down to my local schwab office and filled out paperwork with them for that current year's conversion . last fall of 2004 , i converted $115k and later this fall , 2005 , i intend to probably convert about $110k . i have sold some personal real estate earlier this year and because of that extra income due to capital gains AND to hold my total income level , COUNTING THIS YEAR'S ROTH CONVERSION , to the 25% tax bracket , i'll convert alittle less this year than i did last year .

your own IRA custodian can further explain their own process to ya . you can handle it with a simple phone call or on line i'm sure . your new ROTH custodian wants your business and will make it a pain free process . you can have several different IRA & ROTH accounts with different custodians if you desire . i have a ROTH account with Fidelity and Schwab . and may have to set up an additional ROTH account with Vanguard if i can't get their " admiral " class shares in the Vanguard GNMA mutual fund through my Schwab brokerage account .

p.s. don't forget to pay extra on your estimated " quarterlies " with the IRS for the extra additional taxes you'll owe on the conversion amount . otherwise there could be a penality next spring when you file income taxes .

allancoleman · « **Reply #104 on:** August 02, 2005, 08:20:25 PM »

thoughts regarding financial advisors :

http://www.suite101.com/print_message.cfm/...g/23373/1116239[/url]

these thoughts aren't necessarily shared by myself , xertech.org , Normxxx , or suite101 . keep in mind whose money you're investing . and that you only have one lump sum to p... off and lose . cause there ain't no going back to the well ( xerox ) and getting another pot of money .

Author Topic: Retirement Investing Ideas (Read 25696 times)

goombay