Talking stocks, trading, and investing in general

billythekid said:

i just try to put money anywhere i can to avoid taxes-- now or later. Roth 401k. roth ira. health savings account. no 529 yet. this is over 20k a year. i dont worry or " plan" with my savings/checking/brokerage-- just pay expenses and do the best i can with it. i figure if you put away 20k in just those accounts for the next 30, you'll have 2-3 million at 65 in those accounts alone. beyond that, you need to simplify your account, bringing it under one brokerage. vanguards or whatevers fine. I think if we put away 20k or so a year (up it every year) have no debt, pay off a house then downsize, we'll be in pretty good shape.

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Depending on your expected future tax rate, Roth's aren't always the best. If you pay say 10% now in taxes and expect to withdraw in say the 20% bracket then a Roth is a good idea. If you pay that same 10% then will be in say a 5% bracket then the Roth was not a good idea. I know tons of things can change in between now and retirement but just something to think about.



jbarwick said:

Depending on your expected future tax rate, Roth's aren't always the best.  If you pay say 10% now in taxes and expect to withdraw in say the 20% bracket then a Roth is a good idea.  If you pay that same 10% then will be in say a 5% bracket then the Roth was not a good idea.  I know tons of things can change in between now and retirement but just something to think about.

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Your logic makes perfect sense but I always figure if I can afford to pay a tax on my retirement money now, and never again, that's the best route as, like you said, tons of things can change between now and then. One thing I feel is tax rates will only increase from here on in.

I just wish I still had the ability to contribute to such funds.

Piob is right...taxes are at a historical low and probably aren't moving downards.
Paying the taxes now is also a more optimistic view...wouldn't you *like* to be withdrawing in a high tax bracket? If you are planning retirement and making Roth contributions in your 20s....odds are you will manage to scrape enough together to be in a high tax bracket.

Piob--I think you have explained before, but why aren't you making backdoor Roths? Every year, shouldn't you and the Mrs. be dropping 5.5k into a trad IRA before the deadline and then rolling it into a Roth? I can understand not wanting to pay taxes on all of the deposits and gains made in a longstanding traditional IRA, but why keep contributing to the old IRAs when you could do the rollover? I imagine you have enough cash flow to afford making your contribution in a single lump sum and immediately rolling over.

http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Backdoor_Roth_IRA

Proration.

Can you or the wife roll your traditional IRAs into your work sponsored plans? Even if only one of you can do it, it should still be worth it (IRAs are all calculated on an individual basis except for the income limit if filing jointly).

Unless the investment plans in your 401k are terrible (and as the bossman, you should really get on that), this seems like the way to go. You can Roth up all of the new money, and the old money can enjoy the same tax advantages from your 401k which hopefully offers a bunch of cheap vanguard funds unless you guys are doing a disservice to your employees.

Very interesting, didn't realize you could do this. So if you make too much for a pre-tax traditional IRA, you can still fund a traditional IRA and convert to Roth? Because I was never eligible for a pre-tax IRA (except for one year a while ago) and I've never rolled any 401(k)s into IRAs, it might make sense for me to start doing this. Sounds like if you don't have any other IRAs to worry about proration there's really no downside.



guyver00 said:

Nice gain. Unlike you, I don't have the cojones to drop that much on a single stock

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Thanks! I don't have more than 5% in any one stock (and I have like 25 stocks spread across a range of sectors) so that helps me sleep well at night.

Sold my SLW today... picked it up back in January for $20.98

amerikajinda said:

But I did pick up some CTL, PXD and SLW today... who's coming along with me for the ride?

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unloaded it today at $24.66 for a $3.68/share gain.

Also picked up some MGNX (Macrogenics) today at $22.36/share -- target is $30.




Here's a little bit about MGNX if you guys are interested in going along with me for the ride!

http://seekingalpha.com/article/226...-cap-bio-with-a-great-entry-level-opportunity



otc said:

Can you or the wife roll your traditional IRAs into your work sponsored plans? Even if only one of you can do it, it should still be worth it (IRAs are all calculated on an individual basis except for the income limit if filing jointly).

Unless the investment plans in your 401k are terrible (and as the bossman, you should really get on that), this seems like the way to go. You can Roth up all of the new money, and the old money can enjoy the same tax advantages from your 401k which hopefully offers a bunch of cheap vanguard funds unless you guys are doing a disservice to your employees.

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There's a couple of reasons I don't want to do it to mine and Mrs. P's plan is not the best so not doing it with hers.

They need to just get rid of income limits. If I did it then there is still the whole deal about taking out the remaining taxed IRA when I retire. Once again it's prorated so if I have say, a total of 500k in IRAs and for easy math 400k regular then 100k taxable and I take out 10k I would have to claim 20% of that 10k different than the other 80% as the other 80% has not have the principle taxed yet...it's a ******* mess.

I won't get into details but let's just say a well built deferred compensation plan for YT was the answer.

My first two-bagger. Should have bought more back then.

I wish I was paying attention to the market today. My largest position, NGLS jumped nearly 18% today before falling 10% in aftermarket trading. I've held this MLP for so long that my basis is about to go to zero and my annual cash distributions crossed over 10% almost a year ago.



guyver00 said:

My first two-bagger. Should have bought more back then.

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Whoah that is awesome!



amerikajinda said:

Whoah that is awesome!

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Not anymore after today's drop , but I bought some more, seeing it's on a 10% off sale. Plus I also bought some ATK today, might add some more when my next paycheque comes.



guyver00 said:

Not anymore after today's drop , but I bought some more, seeing it's on a 10% off sale. Plus I also bought some ATK today, might add some more when my next paycheque comes.

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Alliant Techsystems seems to be a good buy, and it's always good to pick up more of a strong stock on the dips... keep of the great work!

What are people's thought on TWTR? I bought about $2,000 worth of it a few weeks back when it was below $35. I think there'll be quite a bit of growth looking forward, as more companies are using #ask[insert company name] to get in touch with consumers real time, sort of like with FB.

I don't think I'll buy more, since this is a very speculative bet.

Woo hoo, ACTC has a CEO now.