My Retirement Blog
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Goal Saving Using Target Retirement Funds
A target retirement (or lifecycle) fund is a mutual fund that changes its asset allocation as time passes. The intent is to mirror what investors do as they are aging, shifting assets from riskier to more conservative investments. The funds were popularized the last few years because they handle all the heavy lifting, such as…
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Don’t Sacrifice Retirement for Children
Now that we’re deep into high school graduation season, with thousands of former high school students readying themselves for both the summer and the next four years of education, you might be wondering how the heck you will be able to pay for their education right? Conventional personal finance advice states that you shouldn’t sacrifice…
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Can A Roth IRA Be Taxed?
One of the greatest concerns many Americans have about Roth IRAs is whether a change in the tax code can end up screwing us. Right now, you are taxed on contributions made into a Roth IRA but you are not taxed when you take distributions. This is different than the Traditional IRA where you get…
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Short Term & Long Term Capital Gains Tax
When it comes to taxes, it makes a big deal how long you’ve held your investments. If you’ve held your investments for over a year before selling, you are taxed at the long term capital gains tax. If you’ve held them for less than a year before selling, you’re taxed at the short term capital…
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Don’t Use Tax Advantaged Investments in 401K, IRA
Given the recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld the tax advantaged status of investments such as municipal bonds, you may be tempted to begin investing in these instruments. If you do, don’t invest in them through a 401K or an IRA (either Roth or Traditional). You want to take full advantage of their tax advantaged…
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Can Children Make Roth IRA Contributions?
If you have children (or if you are a child under the age of 18 and reading personal finance blogs, kudos to you!), you might be thinking about what you could do to help give them a jump start on their retirement savings. Roth IRA contribution rules say nothing about age so anyone of any…
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Downsize for Equity in Retirement Years
If you’re close to retirement and have a lot of equity locked up in your home, consider downsizing as a means of supplementing your savings and reducing your overhead. The cost to maintain a large home in your later years can often be very high with increasing utilities, homeowners insurance, and property taxes so it…
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Should You Invest In A Non-Matching 401K?
My wife works at a relatively small startup-type company that has a 401(k) plan but offers no employer match. One of the things I had researched was whether it was a good idea to put funds towards a 401(k) plan or if other options were better for her and broke it down to several considerations.…
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Rebalance Your Portfolio For Greater Gains
Buy low sell high, that’s the mantra of Wall Street (actually, it’s probably “Buy low very often, sell high very often,” but I digress), and one that you can achieve every single time you rebalance your portfolio. Rebalancing your portfolio is a task that no one likes to do because it’s so mechanical, it’s so…
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