As you get ready for St Patrick’s Day you might be looking at your tax liability and wondering how next year your tax situation could be better. Tax Loss Harvesting within your investments could be beneficial for you if you hold mutual funds of stocks outside of a retirement plan. Tax Loss Harvesting involves selling your losers before the end of a tax year and replacing them. That way, you can harvest, or realize the losses on your taxes for the year.
Many brokerages offer year end reports for those that want to harvest their losses for tax reporting . Some have even gone so far as to offer automatic tax loss harvesting, selling your losers for you. While others are advising that making adjustments for tax purposes could run counter to your overall objectives and should be avoided if it detracts from what you set out to do with your portfolio.
You can preserve the long term goals of your portfolio by selling a losing asset prior to the end of the year and then repurchasing the same asset 30 days later. The 30 days is required to avoid having a wash sale. Consider the cost you need to pay to sell and repurchase compared to the tax advantage you might have. There’s more benefit if you are in a higher tax bracket and you have ordinary income to off-set.
Many IRA account holders who want to increase their retirement funds in a risk free way look into certificate of deposits. Certificate of deposits are one of the best investments for conservative investors. CDs are considered as money in the bank and there is no way that you will lose your investments as long as you wait for the maturity date. Most CDs are insured by FDIC and CDIC so no matter what happens to the financial institution, you can still get your money back. But despite the fact that CDs are safe, you must still be careful in choosing your CD investments. Here are some of the things that you need to consider in choosing your CDs.
The first thing that you need to consider in choosing your CDs is the rate. The IRA CD rates usually depend on the amount that you deposit and the maturity date. The bigger your deposit the higher your CD rate is. If you want to get the best IRA rates, you should consider investing in jumbo CDs. Jumbo CDs usually have the highest interest rates but you should also have to make a large deposit. Usually large companies invest in jumbo CD to make their funds grow without the risk of losing their money. Jumbo CDs usually require a $1 million deposit or more. However, some financial institutions require lower deposits.
Aside from IRA CD rates, you should also ay particular attention to the term of your CDs. Take note that once you have deposited your money, you have to wait for the term to expire before you cash out your funds. If you take out your funds before the term expires, you will be charged with hefty penalties and other fees that may apply. To avoid early withdrawals, it is important to tuck away enough money in the bank for emergency purposes.
Lastly, you should make sure that the financial institution where you plan to purchase your CDs is insured. Some financial institutions are not insured and even though they provide higher IRA CD rates, it is not worth the risk. The best IRA rates do not only offer high returns but are also safe.
Welcome to the November 8, 2011 edition of Tax Carnival Ecstasy. We have a great article from FastSwings.com in this issue about President Obama’s recent mortgage program that will help home owners refinance at the new lower rates. Hope you enjoy all the articles, bookmark, share, tweet, like on Facebook and come back soon.
Kristine Ann presents roth ira taxes posted at Roth IRA Rules and Guidelines, saying, “As a financial planner I’m always telling clients they need to diversify. Taxes are a lot like investments when it comes to the need to diversify. Tax laws change just like the stock market does, so depending on one tax strategy is similar to investing in just one stock”
Online Dividends presents $125 Chase Cash Bonus Deal – Exp 11/26/2011 posted at Blogging Banks, saying, “New clients of Chase can get a $125 cash bonus when they open a Chase checking account by November 26, 2011.”
Adriana Roux presents Sexy Power Ranger Costume Causes Lawsuit posted at Bankruptcy Attorney NJ RSS Feed, saying, ““Did you want to be the pink Power Ranger growing up?” This is the question that is used to market the sexy pink action hero costume found on MyPartyShirt.com. Besides the low-cut bottom and revealing top, the costume closely resembles that of Saban Capital Group’s original pink ranger, but the skimpy-ness of the Halloween costume is not what’s causing the controversy.”
retirement
Bruce Givner presents Blog l Estate And Tax Planning l Asset Protection posted at Law Offices of Givner & Kaye, saying, “Daily insights on estate planning, tax planning, asset protection planning and other matters regarding the representation of high net worth individuals and their closely held corporations.”
Martha Stewart presents Retirement Around the World: 25 Fascinating Facts posted at onlinemba.com, saying, “Retirement as we know it is a relatively new phenomenon, brought on by a combination of longer life spans, changing attitudes about work, government social programs, and the rise of a middle class.”
taxes
Sandra Campbell presents The Advantages of Small Business Credit Cards | Small Business Credit Cards | Best Credit Cards for Small Business posted at Small Business Credit Cards, saying, “Starting a new business can be a very exciting and stressful time for an entrepreneur, and you are probably faced with difficult decisions for your business daily.”
tips
SteveR presents Will Obama’s New Lifeline Catch Any Fish? posted at FastSwings, saying, “President Obama announced changes in the HARP program today, aimed at allowing more homeowners to refinance their homes. But will it work?”
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of tax carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Share |
Technorati tags: tax carnival ecstasy, blog carnival.