My Retirement Blog

My Retirement Blog

  • Long Term Capital Gains & 401(k): Conflict!

    401(k)’s are great but one of the greatest drawbacks is the fact that you will always be taxed at the short term capital gains rate, your marginal tax rate, on investments in a 401(k) and that hurts. With investing, the government wants you to hold onto an investment for the long haul and thus taxes…

  • Grim Social Security & Medicare Outlook

    Yesterday, Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, gave some grim news about Social Security and Medicare. If left unchanged, by 2041, Social Security will only be able to pay out 78% of benefits, unless the government begins paying back what it owes to the fund. In order for the program to be fully funded and…

  • Don’t Buy Company Stock in 401(k)

    Bear Stearns had 85 years of straight profits before last week’s spectacular implosion, when they were sold for $2 a share to JP Morgan Chase (and essentially the Fed). While the price was increased to $10 a share this week, the bottom line is that a lot of shareholders lost a lot of money and…

  • Warren Buffett and Diversification

    Warren Buffett said this about diversification: I have 2 views on diversification. If you are a professional and have confidence, then I would advocate lots of concentration. For everyone else, if it?s not your game, participate in total diversification. The economy will do fine over time. Make sure you don?t buy at the wrong price…

  • Rebalance Portfolio or Wait It Out?

    If you’re like me, you’ve probably taken a look at your retirement assets and wondered if now is the time to re-balance your portfolio given all the blood-letting the stock market has done. I mean the name of the game is to buy low and sell high right? Stock market has gotten pretty low, with…

  • Withdrawing IRA Funds Without Penalty: First Home Purchase

    As we mentioned last Friday, there are two positive ways you can withdraw funds from an IRA without the 10% penalty. The first is for eligible educational expenses, the second, which we will discuss now, is for the purchase of your first home. The government has always been a friend of the prospective homeowner (private…

  • Withdrawing IRA Funds Without Penalty: For Education

    There are two positive ways you can withdraw funds from an IRA without penalty, the first is for the purchase of your first home and the second one, which we will discuss right now, is for qualified education related expenses. The rules regarding penalty-free withdrawals for education are actually quite simple: The student has to…

  • What To Do When Your Retirement Assets Fall 20%

    I had a chat with Dan McGinn of Newsweek yesterday about the perfect storm of retirement, falling home values, and falling stock market, and the weakening economy. One of the thoughts that entered my mind was based on a discussion I had with someone closer to retirement and that person was concerned about their retirement…

  • Stein Explains Away Possibility of Great Depression

    Have you ever wondered if our recession, the one we’re invariably in right now regardless of what the numbers may say, will become something worse – a Great Depression? Since I am not an economic scholar and wasn’t alive during the Great Depression, I’m not qualified to even have an opinion as to whether the…

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