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asur posted:He's not asking to contribute. He's asking if he can rollover a IRA to a Roth IRA and that no income restrictions.
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Mar 10, 2014 19:07
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Yeah its already been said, but convert != contribute.
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Mar 10, 2014 20:28
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flowinprose posted:There are currently no income restrictions on Roth conversions (either minimum or maximum) as far as I know. Go for it! Thanks! This will save me a ton on tax day. And this: Gold and a Pager posted:I asked a similar question in the tax thread about taking the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to exclude all my income and how that would affect my contributions to a Roth IRA and got this response that could help: will help a lot if I want to drop some money into it during school.
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Mar 10, 2014 22:07
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I have a bunch of money in a money market account which is basically doing nothing at the moment. I'd like to invest outside of a IRA but the market seems to be rather high at this time. Is there any investment you can make on vanguard to get your money working that isn't going to completely evaporate if the market goes south? Some bond funds seem to be doing okayish but I have no idea if they are in any way safe(er) in a downturn. Basically should I be looking at mutual funds that offer good consistent dividends?
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Mar 11, 2014 19:24
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Not that it's impossible, but trying to time the market is generally a fool's errand. Also, if you're talking retirement savings, you're looking at time scales of 20-30 years, and by that point everything's going to have averaged out anyway.
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Mar 11, 2014 19:29
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totalnewbie posted:Not that it's impossible, but trying to time the market is generally a fool's errand. I suppose you are right but it just seems like the market is over priced and I have a nagging sense that every thing is going to go down.
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Mar 11, 2014 19:39
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If you could predict with even 51% accuracy whether the market is going to go up or down tomorrow, you would own all of the money in the world. Time in the market is important, timing the market is impossible.
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Mar 11, 2014 19:45
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I am a Canadian with about USD$6500 in a trading account from when I was a stock picker. I don't want to change it back to CAD but I want to put it into an index fund/etf similar to Mawer Balanced A. Is there a USD equivalent to this fund where I can just put the money to sit? http://www.mawer.com/mutual-funds/fund-profiles/mawer-balanced-fund/
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Mar 11, 2014 20:29
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I like the Vanguard Life Strategy funds. The "Moderate Growth" one is 60% stocks / 40% bonds and is probably the closest to that Mawer one. It is a lot cheaper (0.16% ER instead of 0.96%) but the Canadian weighting is probably a lot lower if that matters to you.
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Mar 11, 2014 20:48
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Where do HSAs fit into the big picture of IRAs and 401(k)s? I think it's a guarantee that you're going to need to pay for medical/healthcare at some point in your life so would it make sense to prioritize 401(k) to employer match > HSA > Roth IRA > 401(k) to max? HSAs seem too good to be true if I'm reading it right (HSA contributions get deducted before payroll taxes and can be spent tax free). Assuming you're under a qualifying health plan of course.
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Mar 11, 2014 22:54
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Yup, I max my HSA out as well. So yes, it's pretty good, but be careful about HSAs as you cant withdraw contributions early, which you can do with Roth. Not that you'd actually want to withdraw contributions.
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Mar 11, 2014 23:39
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ntan1 posted:Yup, I max my HSA out as well. That last sentence is key, right? Is there some kind of list/blog out there that goes over what I could use my HSA debit card to pay for? I just did a quick search and saw this on the Wells Fargo site "Contact lenses (including saline solution and cleaner)". That stuff in the parenthesis is pretty drat awesome if true. I would just check out my contact lens solution separately at the store and pay with the HSA card?
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Mar 11, 2014 23:51
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Boris Galerkin posted:Where do HSAs fit into the big picture of IRAs and 401(k)s? I think it's a guarantee that you're going to need to pay for medical/healthcare at some point in your life so would it make sense to prioritize 401(k) to employer match > HSA > Roth IRA > 401(k) to max? HSAs seem too good to be true if I'm reading it right (HSA contributions get deducted before payroll taxes and can be spent tax free). Assuming you're under a qualifying health plan of course. HSAs are basically a super 401k/trad IRA. You can save up your medical receipts to claim in later years and let the money grow in investments. If there weren't contribution limits, they would be insane, but at $3.3k a year they're only a nice bonus.
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Mar 11, 2014 23:57
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For HSAs, they generally don't have great investment options. Putting in what you may reasonably use for health care is a good idea. But making it your primary retirement account may not be ideal.
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Mar 12, 2014 00:06
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nelson posted:For HSAs, they generally don't have great investment options. Putting in what you may reasonably use for health care is a good idea. But making it your primary retirement account may not be ideal. One could say the same thing about 401ks. Assuming you have already maxed your IRA it would take an uber lovely 401k to lose to a taxable fund where you can choose the most efficient investments after to consider the tax benefit. In that same line of thinking it would take a super lovely HSA to lose to a 401k after you consider the double tax benefit. Any plan worth its salt should have a low cost S&P 500 index fund. Even if all you have is bullshit expensive funds + S&P500 then just put everything in S&P500 and your unbalanced HSA a cog in a total, balanced, portfolio (where your international/bonds/other stuff would be in a 401k/IRA).
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Mar 12, 2014 00:29
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My HSA has 0 (zero) index funds available.
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Mar 12, 2014 00:55
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totalnewbie posted:Not that it's impossible, but trying to time the market is generally a fool's errand. Yeah, from a investment strategy point of view there's focusing more on US stocks, developed world stocks and also putting a bigger share in bonds in terms of having a more defensive less volatile portfolio. Of course for any long term portfolio it makes sense to stick to a more growth oriented strategy IMO.
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Mar 12, 2014 01:22
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nelson posted:For HSAs, they generally don't have great investment options. Putting in what you may reasonably use for health care is a good idea. But making it your primary retirement account may not be ideal. nelson posted:My HSA has 0 (zero) index funds available. You are not bound to go with your work's HSA, though you do get a nice little instant return by avoiding medicare and social security taxes if they allow you to invest pre-tax. Go get an Elfcu HSA and invest, commission free, in Vanguard ETFs. No maintenance fees either. At 3.3k a year it's just a nice little bonus.
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Mar 12, 2014 03:57
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baquerd posted:You are not bound to go with your work's HSA, though you do get a nice little instant return by avoiding medicare and social security taxes if they allow you to invest pre-tax. Go get an Elfcu HSA and invest, commission free, in Vanguard ETFs. No maintenance fees either. At 3.3k a year it's just a nice little bonus.
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Mar 12, 2014 04:29
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Torpor posted:I suppose you are right but it just seems like the market is over priced and I have a nagging sense that every thing is going to go down. "The weather will continue to change on and off for a long, long time." Yes at some point the market will go down significantly. At some point it will also go up.
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Mar 12, 2014 12:52
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Boris Galerkin posted:Where do HSAs fit into the big picture of IRAs and 401(k)s? I think it's a guarantee that you're going to need to pay for medical/healthcare at some point in your life so would it make sense to prioritize 401(k) to employer match > HSA > Roth IRA > 401(k) to max? HSAs seem too good to be true if I'm reading it right (HSA contributions get deducted before payroll taxes and can be spent tax free). Assuming you're under a qualifying health plan of course. My personal priority is 401k match->contribute enough to the HSA to meet annual deductible-> max Roth IRA -> max HSA -> max 401k. Currently working on the last step for 2014 
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Mar 12, 2014 12:57
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baquerd posted:You are not bound to go with your work's HSA, though you do get a nice little instant return by avoiding medicare and social security taxes if they allow you to invest pre-tax. Go get an Elfcu HSA and invest, commission free, in Vanguard ETFs. No maintenance fees either. At 3.3k a year it's just a nice little bonus. At ElfCU, do you have to keep a certain amount in the main account (outside of the brokerage) in order to qualify for no maintenance fees on the trading account? That's generally how I have seen these types of accounts, and would love to have an HSA account that can be fully invested, like an IRA account.
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Mar 12, 2014 19:07
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Thanks for talking about HSAs - the tax bennies got me motivated to finally switch to a bona-fide HDHP. I even get to keep my PCP!
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Mar 12, 2014 19:07
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80k posted:At ElfCU, do you have to keep a certain amount in the main account (outside of the brokerage) in order to qualify for no maintenance fees on the trading account? That's generally how I have seen these types of accounts, and would love to have an HSA account that can be fully invested, like an IRA account. No, nothing needs to be kept in the non-brokerage HSA account. You do need like $2k or $2500 or something to qualify for brokerage in the first place, but then you can move that right out of there.
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Mar 12, 2014 22:33
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I did a (maybe) dumb thing. I opened a Roth IRA yesterday on Sharebuilder and transferred some money into it. However, I didn't realize that there would be a commission for Vanguard funds, so I'd like to just open the IRA at Vanguard instead. Can I just transfer the money back to my bank account and transfer it to Vanguard? Or should I apply for a direct transfer (which seems like it can take a long time)? I haven't actually invested it yet.
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Mar 13, 2014 10:42
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I just inherited an IRA and a Roth IRA. The Roth IRA has less than $300 in it. Is it worth keeping it in the beneficiary Roth IRA account or am I better off just taking the distribution and depositing it in my regular Roth IRA?
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Mar 13, 2014 12:33
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evensevenone posted:I did a (maybe) dumb thing. I opened a Roth IRA yesterday on Sharebuilder and transferred some money into it. However, I didn't realize that there would be a commission for Vanguard funds, so I'd like to just open the IRA at Vanguard instead. See if you can close it within 24 hours or something for no fee. I have a Sharebuilder thing I'm trying to kill, they charge $75 to transfer accounts out which kills me given how little I have there. If you only have cash uninvested you may be able to take the withdrawal and then reinvest - but keep in mind you only have a limited number of days to do this and will have to make very sure that you account for every dollar you pull out or else you pay penalties.
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Mar 13, 2014 13:49
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I think since you're always allowed to withdraw the original investment of a Roth IRA and I haven't earned any interest, I can just withdraw it and reinvest it somewhere else, and since it's all happening in the same investment year there's really no way I could be penalized. They don't charge for a straight withdrawal (just a transfer which is what you need to do to avoid having to deal with rollover rules when moving interest income) so I'm just going to do that.
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Mar 13, 2014 23:02
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evensevenone posted:I think since you're always allowed to withdraw the original investment of a Roth IRA and I haven't earned any interest, I can just withdraw it and reinvest it somewhere else, and since it's all happening in the same investment year there's really no way I could be penalized. Yeah, but you're only allowed to contribute $5,500 in a given year. Whatever you've stocked away will ding that limit---unless you could somehow do a "rollover" or something.... EG, if you put away 3 and withdraw it, now you can only put 2.5 away...I think. IANAFA.
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Mar 13, 2014 23:50
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Shouldn't there be a rollover option on vanguard? Or just call vanguard and ask them for assistance, there may be a way to do it.
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Mar 14, 2014 02:26
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Torpor posted:Shouldn't there be a rollover option on vanguard? I think the direct transfer option (initiated through Vanguard) is the safest but will trigger an account closure at Sharebuilder, which is what he wants to avoid, due to fees.
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Mar 14, 2014 04:00
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Sharebuilder blows. From your post, it doesn't sound like you maxed 2013 yet. So just withdraw and transfer to your bank account and then transfer to vanguard. Make sure to tell vanguard you're depositing for 2013, too.
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Mar 14, 2014 04:40
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I moved a taxable brokerage account from TD Ameritrade to Vanguard. Now I want to convert to Vanguard funds, but Vanguard wants to charge $35 apiece. There are 10 funds, so it's not an insignificant fee to convert them all. Is there any way to get a discount by converting all at once?
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Mar 14, 2014 14:20
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Large Hardon Collider posted:I moved a taxable brokerage account from TD Ameritrade to Vanguard. Now I want to convert to Vanguard funds, but Vanguard wants to charge $35 apiece. There are 10 funds, so it's not an insignificant fee to convert them all. Is there any way to get a discount by converting all at once?
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Mar 14, 2014 14:28
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So I just finally killed my student loans. I'm basically looking for another place to start chucking large sums of money. I've got a relatively new car (owned) and I don't intend to buy a house within at least two years, maybe several more. So I'm thinking I might want to start putting at least some of my money in taxable funds to try to get more than 0.75% or whatever the ever-evaporating rate an Ally savings account happens to be right now. If left to my own devices, I'd just throw it into a taxable index fund. I'm 90% sure that would be the smartest way to go, though that 10% nags at me because that's where all of my retirement money is at. So I guess what I'm asking is twofold: 1) Should I start putting MOST of the money I intend to save into a taxable index fund with the hope that I beat the <1% a savings account would get me? And if so, are total market index funds the best bet? Or should I stick it in boring stuff like CDs or savings accounts given that I MAY want to buy a house within five years? So I guess I don't need it to be fully liquid, but liquid enough that I could start "stealing" from it in 3-5 years if necessary. 2) If so, what funds would be recommended? More index funds? ETFs? I definitely have no intention to do any type of frequent active management... Like I said the reason I'd be slightly uncertain whether to invest in more index funds is because all of my retirement savings is there. I suppose I can use this as an opportunity to get a sanity check on those accounts too. Any comments? Roth IRA: VFIFX (Vanguard Target Retirement 2050): 100% Rollover IRA: VBMFX (Total Bond Market Index): 9.38% VTIAX (Total International Stock Index(Admiral)): 26.23% VTSAX (Total Stock Index (Admiral)): 64.39% Savings/Emergency Fund: 1+ year of living and expenses plus enough to say "Oh poo poo I need to outright buy a new (used) car for no apparent reason." _________ So I'm kind of thinking I should be throwing maybe 20% of the money I plan on saving into that savings account and the other 80% into some kind of taxable fund. Yes or no?
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Mar 15, 2014 04:38
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2-5 year time frame -> cash savings account, money market, CDs. Anything else and you're standing a significant risk of loss. In my opinion 
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Mar 15, 2014 05:21
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My fiancee and I are getting married in July of this year. Her family is somewhat wealthy, although unless one knew them personally, it would be hard to tell as they don't live that ostentatious of a lifestyle. Her grandfather left about $500,000 to her that is currently in a trust but will be 100% hers on her 30th birthday which is in about two years. I've only learned the details of her inheritance this weekend from the family estate lawyer as I didn't feel right asking any more than my fiancee voluntarily told me up to this point so as not to sound greedy. We are doing well financially already and are getting ready to move in together which should help things further as we currently each live alone in a high cost of living area. The trust is managed by her mother's cousin but when my fiancee turns 30, the inheritance will convert from the trust's name to hers and as far as I am aware this is the only change that will happen automatically - we will be in control of the inheritance after that point. Her mother's cousin charges roughly 1% per year of the portfolio's value in fees. I am unclear as to what type of "portfolio churn" and resulting additional fees he incurs now or in the past. After reading a few of the books in the OP, I am heavily subscribed to the index theory of retirement investing and specifically using Vanguard funds due to the low expense ratios which is how I have invested all my retirement funds excluding my 403b where Vanguard funds are not available. I don't believe her mother's cousin is untrustworthy or even a bad broker; however even if I thought he was a good broker I do not believe he or anyone else can beat the combination of indexing + low-expense funds in the long-term. Convincing my fiancee of this reality may be difficult as although I think she trusts me with our personal finances now, our net worth is nowhere near $500k and I work in the medical field not finance. She understands most of what I talk about with her but I think getting her to read William Bernstein is not going to happen. Luckily I have some time to work with but I think it may take another financial adviser echoing my thoughts to get her to see the light. Problem is, not many brokers are going to advocate buy-and-hold VTSAX or the like for 40 years, so I am asking for the help of BFC... tl;dr Looking for advice on how to convince my fiancee of the wisdom of index funds without making her read the 4 Pillars of Investing.
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Mar 17, 2014 03:47
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The Agent posted:tl;dr Looking for advice on how to convince my fiancee of the wisdom of index funds without making her read the 4 Pillars of Investing. It's also important for big sums of money things like a 1% fee really add up over time. In your case it's $5000 per year which works out to $50,000 for 10 years of investing.
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Mar 17, 2014 04:02
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The Agent posted:Convincing my fiancee of this reality
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Mar 17, 2014 04:15
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slap me silly posted:How did the investments perform over the last 15 years, and how would they have performed in a simple index-based portfolio with a similar allocation? This was a thought I had, although I am not sure how to get this information without seeming like a dick (which is more E/N than BFC). I am sure I'll be able to see what the funds are at the time the trust is turned over to her, but I'm not sure how a career financial adviser is going to take to someone who just married into the family questioning his past financial decisions. To be fair, it's easy to look back and hindsight and see what would have performed better and although I would just compare against an index fund, it still might come off poorly if it happens (as I would suspect) that the index fund comes out better. etalian posted:It's also important for big sums of money things like a 1% fee really add up over time. In your case it's $5000 per year which works out to $50,000 for 10 years of investing. I think this might be a better option. I just worry that it is still going to come down to getting her to trust that I can "beat" the active financial adviser through index funds. Thanks for the advice - I guess there could be worse problems to have than worrying about the fees on an inheritance
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Mar 17, 2014 04:30
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