Tag: Plan

Categories
Day Trading

Profitable ETF Trading Strategies – Developing the Daily Trading Plan

Trading the markets on a daily basis with short term strategies places a premium on efficiently and effectively developing a comprehensive daily trading plan.

Short term trading can be a very rewarding part of an overall trading and investment strategy. Without a sound and comprehensive plan, though, there are just too many ways to go astray for the novice trader.

Each trader should develop their own methods for daily preparation, suited to their style and personality. It can be a challenge though for the novice trader to get started with this daunting but essential task.

Here is a simple way that a trader might go about developing a daily trading plan, proceeding from the top down.

Prepare your notes in 3 sections: market, intermediate, tactical (short term) and go through a set of structured questions like these:

What is the market condition, what is it doing, does it give you a bias for tomorrow?

What is the intermediate condition? Consider using indicators like Williams%R, portfolio exposure, and ADX condition.

Are there any swing trades that have stories going on that carry over from the previous day?

What is the short term condition/ideas of interest? consider: gap statistics, SPY Pivot Points, any carry over positions from yesterday, any patterns fired? These could include patterns like overreaction, channelling, triple screen, 5 days down and washout.

Are there any maximum pain candidates to be aware of? Are there any continuation patterns that I am especially interested in?

Once you answer those questions, you should have anywhere from 5 to 15 tradeable ideas as soon as the market opens.

At the open you should consider the gap, then the 5 min Opening Range, examine the price with respect to the pivot point numbers.

After about 15 minutes into the session, you could look at, in order: indexes, ETF2 positions, and your developed interest list to see where the strength and weaknesses are. This quick scan will suggest more targets.

A simpler alternative is to have a narrowed focus on a stable of reliable targets, and do an abbreviated version of the above scan by considering the market and intermediate conditions but then focus on the state of each of your reliables for trading ideas.

All interest list members should be framed in the usual way, so you have a decision support framework in place before the market opens. You will then know where you can buy upon evidence of tactical momentum fearlessly.

You will also have a playbook of situational trades, just waiting for the market to show you what it is doing.

If you need some guidance on how to develop your daily short term trading plan, these ideas may help to get you started.

Categories
Stocks

The 7-Point Trading Plan Template

One of the first things beginning traders are told to do is to create a trading plan that will spell out a trading strategy and a list of rules to follow in implementing that strategy. The only problem with that advice is that beginning traders don’t really have any trading experience, and thus are lost when attempting to craft a trading plan for their trading.

Another problem with trading plans is that beginners are instructed to treat their plans as gospel and are told not to deviate from them. This prevents traders from adapting their strategies and rules to improve their performance, an essential step in every trader’s learning curve.

Instead of a rigid document to be created early on in your trading career and never to be changed, you should instead view your trading plan as a living and breathing set of guidelines, capable of being modified as you gain trading experience. This article will teach you how to create a trading plan that will guide your trading efforts without stunting your progress.

The 7-Point Trading Plan Template

In creating your trading plan, here are the items you should include:

1. Markets – What markets will you focus on? Be as specific as possible – if you’re trading stocks, what types of stocks will you concentrate on?

2. Timeframe – How long will you hold your positions for? Will you be a day trader focusing on trades lasting a few minutes, or a swing trader holding trades for a few days?

3. Time Period – What times of the day will you trade? You may have outside responsibilities that prevent you from trading an entire trading day. Pick which times of the day best suit your style.

4. Trading Style – How would you characterize your trading style? Perhaps you are a momentum trader focusing on trending stocks? Or maybe you specialize in a particular sector? Again, this can and will change as you gain experience and learn from your results.

5. Risk Management Rules – This is an absolutely essential and often overlooked component of your trading plan. How will you manage your risk, both on a per-trade basis and overall? You should have a “stop trading” point which is a fixed dollar amount that will force you to stop trading if you’re down by that much.

6. Mentor – Who do you follow and learn from as a teacher? Attempting to learn trading all by yourself is not only lonely, but foolish as it ignores the hard-earned wisdom of other traders. You can either repeat the mistakes of other professionals and hope to eventually learn the lessons and techniques that they’ve learned, or you can simply learn from successful traders and bypass those initial frustrations.

7. Learning Process – How will you structure your learning process as a trader? What steps will you take to ensure you’re always getting better? How will you structure your trading journal?

Trading Plan Example

To show you this trading plan template in action, I’m going to fill it out according to my own trading style:

1. I trade the U.S. stock markets, focusing on volatile stocks with sufficient volume. These stocks are typically the focus of news items and are thus “in play.”

2. I am a day trader and hold my positions anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. I’m primarily a scalper and am looking to take advantage of short-term imbalances between supply and demand. I will stay in a trade as long as I can identify a supply/demand imbalance.

3. I trade throughout the trading day, although I focus most of my activity at the open and close of the trading day.

4. While I have multiple styles, I would characterize myself primarily as a momentum trader that relies on tape reading to identify favorable risk/reward situations to enter in the direction of a trend.

5. I’m fanatical about managing my risk, both on a per-trade basis and overall. Every trade I enter has a predefined stop-loss and I have a daily stop-loss to stop trading when I’m having a rough day.

6. I’ve had a variety of mentors throughout my career, and now I talk with a select group of traders at my firm with similar trading styles.

7. I review every single trade I make, always looking for ways in which I can improve. This may be as simple as cutting down my risk when trading certain stocks or altering my execution patterns.

Your trading plan can be as simple as that, just a series of statements answering those 7 questions. You also shouldn’t spend too much time creating your trading plan as it will frequently change throughout your career.

Summary

Your trading plan will crystallize exactly what you’re trying to accomplish, but don’t view it as set in stone. Rather, your plan will grow and change as you gain experience and develop your own trading style.

Your trading plan also doesn’t need to be a complicated document spanning multiple pages. You simply need to define what markets you’re going to trade, how you’re going to trade them (how long you’ll hold positions, what times of day you’re going to trade, and your trading style), how you’re going to manage your risk, and how you’re going to continue developing as a trader. By clarifying and explicitly stating those 7 key points, your trading plan will serve and support you in your trading career.

Categories
Budgeting

You Need A Cake Marketing Plan!

Are you passionate about cake decorating and are ready to take it to the next level? Are you finally up to starting a cake business from home? Starting this business from home will be an amazingly fun adventure but you need to prepare yourself from day one.

Starting a cake business from home is just like any other business, you need a plan. You have your business plan and a crucial part of that includes a marketing plan. You can ask any business owner and they will tell you that marketing is going to be one of the most crucial elements of running your business. You have to reach customers to sell to, without these people; your business is nothing but equipment.

Before you start your cake business, let’s get the marketing aspect under control. A budget is crucial but sometimes frustrating. Most people don’t have thousands of dollars to throw into their new company so budgeting is absolutely necessary. If you have your market strategy in place, stretching your budget will be much simpler.

So, your question is? How can I market for little or no money? Good questions, let’s answer it…

1. Ask local schools, churches, YMCA’s, Boys & Girls Clubs, Recreational Centers and libraries if you can post some flyers. Make these flyers at home for relatively no money. You just need paper and a printer.

2. Take photos of the finished products and place them on these flyers.

3. Offer some free or reduced priced cakes to your friends and family for their events. Ask your neighbors and people you work with or your spouse works with if you can use there event as a stepping stone.

4. Ask for testimonials from your customers, friends or family. Use these testimonials in your flyers or website.

5. Search for local events in your area and ask if you can sponsor or participate in the event. Offer samples or demos of your product for free. You will be surprised at the results you get.

It is very difficult when starting a cake business from home or any business for that matter to spend NO money. You are going to have to invest money in your marketing. Once you get out there and get noticed, the possibilities are endless. Offer cakes for all types of occasions and soon you will notice your calendar is never empty! Just remember, you must have a marketing plan in order to be successful in your new cake business! So, start planning, good luck and have fun!

Categories
Taxes

How Is a Financial Plan Like a Survival Plan?

Imagine you are traveling by plane from Tripoli, on the coast of Libya, west to Cairo, Egypt. Suddenly your airplane crashes in the Sahara Desert. You miraculously survive. You take care of the immediate issues: provisions, shelter, and aid for the wounded. What do you do next?

I like to tell this story as a way to introduce people to the idea of creating a financial plan, but when I ask the question, “What do you do next?” I rarely get an answer. So what should you do next? Figure out where you are. You have to know your location. If Cairo is now north of you, what happens if you start out heading east? You’ll never reach your destination.

When you’re creating a financial plan, you need to answer the same question: Where are you? Where are you right now financially, and where do you want to go? What’s your goal for retirement, and how much money do you need in order to reach it?

Once you’ve figured out where you are, both with the desert survival and financial plans, you have to see if you have anything that can help you get to your destination. If you’re in the Sahara Desert, you should look for some sort of transportation vehicle. If you’re creating a financial plan, you need to consider all your potential sources of non-investment income. Are you going to get a pension? How much Social Security will you receive? Will your family give you any financial gifts? Once you have all the numbers in front of you, add them up.

The next step in creating a financial plan is to figure out your expenses. What will it cost you to live once you are retired? How much for groceries, for utilities, and property taxes? For insurance premiums? For just having fun? Add up all of your expenses (except income taxes). That total will be your expected cost of living.

Now subtract that cost of living number from the total sum of your non-investment income. If you end up with a positive number, you’re golden. Congratulations. You don’t even need any investments; you can live on what you have. On the other hand, if there’s a deficit (if your total is less than zero), you have to make up the difference. You need to create a financial plan that is designed to help you use savings and investment income to reach your retirement goal.

By figuring out where you are, where you want to be, and what resources you have, you should be able to reach your retirement destination-or maybe even cross the Sahara Desert.

Categories
Taxes

NHS Pension – Annual Allowance and Lifetime Allowance, Your Action Plan

You’ve no doubt heard that the pensions Annual Allowance (AA) and Lifetime Allowance (LTA) limits are due to reduce in April 2014, in turn causing a headache or two for some NHS Pension Scheme members as well as those who have accrued pension funds elsewhere.

Annual Allowance

Firstly, it’s worth pointing out that you are able to save as much as you like towards pensions each year, however you only currently receive tax relief on the first £50,000.

From 6 April 2014 this reduces to £40,000. Any excess amount may suffer a tax charge.

The first point to make is that the annual allowance calculation does not involve the amount of contributions paid by either the member or the practice / employer.

It relates to the accrual over the year (pension input period, which for the NHS is 1 April – 31 March) in excess of Consumer Prices Index.

Let’s look at Michael, a Dental Practitioner with a pensionable income of £120,000 in 2013/14, £2.5m of career dynamised earnings (CDE) and a member of the 1995 section of the NHS Pension Scheme:

The accrual for Annual Allowance purposes is:

Pension £38,150 – £35,770 = £2,380 pa

Lump sum £114,450 – £107,310 = £7,140

The pension accrual is multiplied by a factor of 16, and added to the lump sum, to give an Annual Allowance assessment of £45,220.

As we can see, Michael is within this year’s allowance, however if the figures were replicated in 2014/15 he will exceed the new reduced allowance.

As you are now able to request an AA Pensions Savings Statement from the NHS which will inform you whether or not you have exceeded the AA in any of the previous tax years, we have not set out the full calculation above as it is quite complicated.

Frankly, it’s not necessary to know how it is calculated as the NHS now provides the already calculated figures.

Note that for salaried staff or those who contribute to the Officer Scheme, the calculations are based upon service and not Dynamised Earnings.

Whether you’re a practitioner or an officer, if you’ve not received yours yet (the reason why you may have not received one is that your situation, as far as the NHS Pension is concerned, is deemed to be OK) the easiest way to request it is to call NHS Pensions on 01253 774774 (option 3) and ask for the 11/12 as well as the 12/13 statements (they may take up to 12 weeks to be processed).

You can then request them every October when they become available.

If you are currently contributing to other pensions, such as a personal pension, then it will be wise to request these statements as you will need to add the amount you contribute to the personal pension in each pension input period.

If you have exceeded the £50,000 in this or previous years then it’s possible to utilise ‘carry forward’, where you can use any unused allowance in any of the previous 3 years.

The key is that you can find out exactly where you stand so our advice is to request the figures so you can plan accordingly.

Paying The AA Tax

If a member is subject to an Annual Allowance charge they may be able to elect for the NHS Pension Scheme to pay some or all of the charge on their behalf (the alternative is to pay the tax as a lump sum via Self Assessment).

NHS Pensions will only pay the Annual Allowance charge from the NHS ension Scheme if it receives a scheme pays election notice on time and if mandatory requirements prescribed by HMRC are met, which are that the member’s:

a) Growth in NHS benefits exceeds the Annual Allowance; and

b) Their Annual Allowance charge liability for the relevant tax year, as a result of (a), has exceeded £2,000

In practice, the individual’s initial tax charge is not converted to a pension deduction until the member actually retires. Instead, the initial tax charge is increased in April each year between age 55 and retirement with interest based on CPI inflation plus 3% a year.

The tax charge itself has a factor applied to it (which depends on various factors), to determine the amount of the pension reduction.

For example, for a 55 years old female, the factor is 20 (ie tax charge / 20) and 3 x this amount for the lump sum reduction.

If you have an annual allowance tax charge from 2011-12, you have until 31st December 2013 to get your election to the NHS Pension scheme for the scheme to pay the charge.

Even if you are undecided whether you intend to use the scheme pays facility, which is available if you have a tax charge in excess of £2,000, it may be worth completing the form just to give yourself time to decide the best course of action.

It’s possible to reduce the amount paid by the scheme to as little as £1, but if you have not got your scheme pays election in by the end of this calendar year, you must pay the tax yourself.

Importantly, should you die before retirement no reduction would be applied to any dependants benefits which then become payable.

Lifetime Allowance

For the LTA, the limit is £1.5m, reducing to £1.25m on 6 April 2014.

So, for example, a dentist or doctor with no pension provision apart from the NHS Pension will exceed the limit if his or her NHS Pension is projected to be more than £54,347 per annum (from 6 April 2014) at the time they draw the pension (£1.25m / 23).

Of course, it’s possible that the allowance may increase at some point in the future by the time you draw the NHS Pension, however seeing as it’s been reduced twice in recent years (from a high of £1.8m) it may be best not to rely on this.

If the limit is exceeded at the time of taking the pension, a tax charge would be payable. For example, a dentist with an NHS pension of £65,217 pa would use up the whole current allowance of £1.5m.

After 6 April 2014, they would be c£250,000 in excess of the new allowance and would suffer a tax charge of £62,500 (if they elected to pay the tax charge via a reduction to their NHS Pension).

This would result in a reduction to the pension received of £3,125 pa (£62,500 / 20).

Note, these figures relate top the 1995 section of the NHS Pension Scheme, not the 2008 section.

Protecting Your Pension

It may be possible to retain the £1.5m limit and there are 2 forms of protection available from HMRC, Fixed Protection 2014 (FP14) and Individual Protection 2014 (IP14).

With the former, the member is not able to contribute to pensions in the future, so serious consideration must be given before such a big decision is made in terms of whether to cease being an active member of the NHS Pension, or your own personal pension scheme (note that all FP14 applications must be received by HMRC prior to 6 April 2014).

IP14 is available for those who will have an accrued pension pot in excess of £1.25m as at 6 April 2014. It allows the individual to ‘lock in’ an LTA of £1.25m – £1.5m (thus meaning that they will effectively have their own allowance) and crucially, continue to fund their pensions.

IP14 will be open to applications from 6 April 2014.

Full details are available on HMRC’s website.

Ket Considerations

As always when dealing with pensions and tax, it’s impossible to predict future legislation or to know what the AA or LTA will be over the next few decades.

In addition, future earnings and dynamising factors are as yet unknown. You also have to factor in the changes to the NHS Pension Scheme in 2015 with one of the changes being that the new normal retirement date will be brought in line with the state pension age (67 / 68).

What we do know is the legislation that applies today and it therefore makes sense to find out whether or not you will be affected and if any action is required on your part.

Action Point

For the AA, call NHS Pensions on 01253 774774 (option 3) and ask for the 11/12 as well as the 12/13 statements (they may take up to 12 weeks to be processed).

Then discuss this with your professional advisers if you need further clarification.

For the LTA, calculate where you stand now. Then decide your best course of action, again with your professional advisers, as there are additional options available to you that have not been covered in this article (such as taking the NHS Pension early to minimise any tax charges).

The information detailed above is for information purposes only and must not be viewed as advice or recommendations as other criteria will be required for evaluation of individual needs.

Categories
Taxes

What Is a Personal Pension Plan?

Regardless of an individual’s age, appropriate retirement planning or contributions to pension plan is quintessential to ensure a secure living after retirement. As a nation, Ireland people live for a longer period and hence the need for a realistic retirement plan cannot be understated. Apart from this, in 2014, the State Transition Pension was abolished and thereby increased the age for pension to 66. Also, the age for state pension is likely increase to 67 in the year 2021 and by 2028 it would be 68 years. Now, with all these facts in place, there isn’t a better time to begin or review one’s pension.

Personal Pension Plan – Defined

Personal pension plan refers to the individually organised pensions by the employed or self – employed people of Ireland that do not have any pension scheme. In the recent years, the rules governing personal pension plans have changed significantly. Personal pension schemes are not under the purview of the Pensions Authority anymore instead they are subject to tax law and financial services legislation (even for general law on insurance). Tax exemption can be availed for personal pension contributions while the amount of relief availed are based on the age of beneficiary. From 27th March, 2013 the beneficiaries can withdraw a maximum of 30% of the value of Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) done to the occupational pension schemes. This is applicable for 3 years only (till 27th March, 2016). Here are some of the rules pertaining to a Personal Pension Plan in Ireland.

Rules

Personal pension policies and insurance policies are similar in most of the cases in Ireland, with the main difference being the tax relief component. Contributions to pension schemes attract tax relief unlike insurance policies provided the required conditions are met.

Insurance companies invest the premiums paid by its customers in an investment fund. The customer cannot mobilise the funds and invest in other sources until the time of maturity. Even upon reaching the specified age, the policy holder is obliged to utilise the accumulated funds to buy an annuity. But after 1999, the policy holder is no longer obliged to buy an annuity and can mobilise between various funds with a considerable amount of flexibility.

Tax relief for Pension Contribution

For authorised personal pension agreements, an individual is eligible to avail tax relief for pension contributions. The older an individual is, more generous is the tax relief. Below is the amount qualified for tax relief based on the contributor’s age applicable since January 2011.

Age of the beneficiary

% of Amount eligible for availing tax relief

Less than 30 Years

15% of net appropriate earnings

30 – 39 Years

20%

40 – 49 Years

25%

50 – 54 Years

35%

60 and above

40%

For certain professions and occupations that include professional athletes also, the maximum amount is applicable to them as well. A limit of €115,000 on the earnings is taken into consideration. This eliminates the option of buying annuity from the proceeds of the individual’s pension policy, but not compulsory. This is not applicable generally for occupational pensions but for Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) contributed by people in occupational pension schemes.

Categories
Taxes

Know About National Debt Relief Stimulus Plan

The economic downturn encouraged the Obama government to set forth national debt relief stimulus plan that will help the US citizens to come out of their financial debacle and lead a life free of worries. After proposing the stimulus package, the US congress ratified American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Obama’s administration also took note that due to the result of economic slowdown, many of the credit card companies were going ambiguous and as the result many of the citizens were shrinking under the massive credit debts. Demanding a great deal of transparency, the US congress went forth to pass Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, which also became popular as Credit Card Reform Act of 2009. Both these acts formed an integral part to National Loan relief stimulus plan. Under the ARRA, the people will be able to save huge amounts of money so that they will be able to pay their debts. ARRA was also instrumental in making significant changes to the federal income tax withholding tables. This gave the opportunity to the tax payers who are the employees to take home more salary. The work pay tax credit is limited to USD 4,000 for the individuals, whereas the limit for the married couples is set to USD 8,000. The work pay tax credit is also beneficial for the self-employed individuals. It is not meant for the retirees who are not earning.

Get ready to avail the beneficial and pro borrower national debt relief stimulus plan. The plan aims to make the grappling loan borrowers and those who are under any kind of debt to come out of it and lead a life full of confidence and free of worries. The National Loan relief stimulus plan is a good means for those aggressive credit card users who have used their credit cards to make the payments without caring about anything. Likewise, the stimulus plan is also for those debtors who are not able to pay the mortgage home loans regularly. The debt relief plan is a pro consumer plan, and already many have taken the benefits of this smart plan.

Discuss with the debt consolidation agency about the Consumer Debt Relief plan, so that you are better informed about it; and should be able to use the plan for your benefits. Read through the terms and conditions before opting for the plan.

Categories
Taxes

Do You Owe the IRS Back Taxes? Settle Your Taxes With an IRS Debt Settlement Plan

When you Owe the IRS, it’s easy to Pay Back IRS Taxes if you are aware of all of your options. You can get your economic affairs back on track with an IRS Debt-Settlement plan. Though they may not be common knowledge, these tax debt relief programs are available to everyone and are provided by the IRS. Below are just a few IRS Debt Settlement programs that can help you Pay Back IRS Taxes when you Owe the IRS Money.

Non-Disclosure Installment Agreement: This particular option to pay Back IRS Taxes applies only to debts under $25,000, and you must agree to pay the full amount that you Owe the IRS. Under this plan, your time period to Pay Back IRS Taxes is set up over a maximum of 5 years but cannot extend further than the collections statute expiration. For example, if you Owe the IRS and there is only 1 month left under the statute of limitations, your time period to Pay Back IRS Taxes can be no longer than 1 month. Interest and penalties continue to accrue during your repayment period with this IRS Debt Settlement plan. You can, however, pay above your installment amount and have that extra payment amount applied directly to the principal on your Back IRS Taxes rather than to the interest.

Another benefit of this IRS Debt Settlement Plan is that all assets, income, and expenses (including spending habits) are protected and remain private. Without the need for financial disclosure, there is reduced paperwork, and your case to Pay Back IRS Taxes can be completed within as little as two weeks.

Partial Pay Installment Agreement: This IRS Debt Settlement plan can apply to any size debt possible that you could Owe the IRS, unlike the Non-Disclosure Agreement. It does, however, require financial disclosure, and your monthly payment to Pay Back IRS Taxes is based on this disclosure. The three types of plans to this IRS Debt Settlement agreement are:

Affordable Payment Plan: This is aimed at those who Owe the IRS and want an “affordable” monthly payment. Keep in mind that there may be a huge difference between what the IRS deems “affordable” and what you deem “affordable.”

Affordable Settlement Plan: If you owe Back IRS Taxes but do not qualify for an Offer in Compromise (discussed in detail in the following section), but still want to settle for less than what you Owe the IRS, this IRS Debt Settlement plan may be for you.

Asset Protection Plan: This plan is for individuals that owe Back IRS Taxes and are primarily concerned about the IRS seizing certain assets, such as a house, automobile, retirement funds, etc.

Offer in Compromise: An Offer in Compromise is not an easy option to qualify for when you have Back IRS Taxes. However, if you do qualify when you Owe the IRS money, it can potentially reduce your tax debt by tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. If the IRS accepts your offer, you must pay the amount agreed upon within 30 to 90 days of that acceptance and remain 100% compliant for 5 years. This particular IRS Debt Settlement plan requires full financial disclosure of your assets, income, and expenses. The IRS compares your settlement offer to their calculations of what you are actually able to pay, based on the financial information you disclosed. This takes into account all assets and equity, even if you’re not able to access it. For this reason, unless you are absolutely broke with no chance of being able to pay what you Owe the IRS, you will not qualify for this IRS Debt Settlement Plan.

If you Owe the IRS, it’s important that you are fully informed of your IRS Debt Settlement options to pay Back IRS Taxes. Keep in mind that these are just a few of the payment options that are available to you. Know your rights, be aware of your options, and get out of IRS tax-debt now.

Categories
Taxes

Stock Donation – Smart Solution for Your Charity Plan and Tax Reduction

If you’re planning for donation to some charity, than you should go for stock donation as it will not only help a cause you want to support but also benefit you to reduce tax. Most of charity organizations accept stock donations. And it’s your sole decision to consider best out of them so that the donation you’re making is really helping a cause.

With the changing times the charity organizations which are also known by the name of non-profit organizations have also changed. The kind of change that they have brought in themselves is that they have started accepting the stock donations. Thus it can be a very philanthropic and a generous act if you choose to donate the stocks possessed by you to some deserving charity organization. This also makes the cash donations kind of obsolete and less smart solution when you think of doing a kind favor to people who are investing their energy and time for some good cause or purpose. The smartness of this act can be derived out from the fact that there is much worthy tax benefits when you donate to an organization with your stocks in holding.

The one who is willing to make such Stock Donation may know this fact that apart from the stock write-off which is calculated on the total amount of donation involved the donor very intelligently avoids any chance of being obliged for any unrealized gain that happens on the shares. All these effective and logical reasons clearly explain that why donating the stocks is a very bright option for the donors who are selective with their every move. This move is also quite an efficient one. Just one thing that you need to consider well before actually donating the stocks is to find a charity or a non-profit organization that is favored by your set of ideas.

The charities can come in various categories that vary from political, children welfare, educational charities and so on. A good way to search the good ones is through internet or some reliable source which has a prior experience of Donating Stock. As soon as you are quite clear about the organization and you believe that your money will definitely serve some good cause, you may contact the organization and confirm from them whether or not they welcome the stock donations. Another thing that you need to confirm before donating stocks is that you must possess the stocks for at least more than a year or so.

Categories
Wealth Building

IRA Retirement Plan Investing & Stretch IRAs

How would you like to discover little known IRA retirement plan investing tools that practically pay for themselves and yet do not need to worry about Roth IRA contribution limits? You don't have to go off shore to get tax free retirement income. You don't have to worry about tax free distributions and you don't have to hide your money. It's all perfectly legal right here in the United States, and your assets never leave the United States. The principle is guaranteed, you will never lose your money in the stock market, real estate market, commodity market, or any other market. There is a minimum return on your contribution, and if you die, your family will get a death benefit.

Solutions for your Jumbo IRA and Estate Tax Problems

I want to talk to you about another matter – that is, traditional IRAs. How do you get a million dollar IRA? Well, let's assume for a minute if you were an executive of a major company, and you were just laid off, and you have a million dollars or more in your qualified pension plan, like a 401k, a retirement plan, etc. If you have a million dollars or more, it is what we refer to as a Jumbo IRA. If you also have an estate tax problem, there is a double tax. I'll talk about that in a minute.

If you ask your accountant, your lawyer, your financial planner and ask, "Hey Joe, what's the best way that I can minimize my taxes on my traditional IRA? It's gotten up there and I don't need the money yet. 't need to go out there and start taking the money out. I'm over the age of 59 ½, I don't need the money, I have other sources of income, so I'm going to let it grow and leave it there. " He's going to come back to you and say, "Stretch IRA, stretch IRA!" What does that mean? In simple terms, it means instead of making distributions to you, the owner of the IRA, the beneficiary of the IRA is your children and your grandchildren; you're going to name a beneficiary who is younger than you.

It can be your children, your grandchildren so the required distribution is going to be over their lives. Obviously, they are going to be able to have a greater life than you because the assumption is that you have so many years left on your life, your children have more years on their life (after you), and your grand children have an additional amount of time left on their life (after your children).

So you'll stretch the payments and the assumption is that stretching the distributions from the IRA, the individual is going to be in a lower tax bracket. And that's going to work out fine; but if you are having an estate tax problem when you die, we look at what assets you own. The fair market value is what is included in your estate, not what you paid for it. On the date of death, what do you own at its fair market value?

401K Rollover to Traditional or Roth IRA with Estate Tax Problem: Internal Revenue Code Section 691c (Income Respect of a Decedent)

If you have an estate tax problem, and you have a traditional $ 1- $ 3 million dollar IRA, it's going to be double taxed, I can guarantee you that. It's a guarantee from me to you that you're going to be double taxed. On the date of death, the trigger that is going to guarantee your double taxation is, number one, Internal Revenue section 691c. Look it up, that is called income in respect of a decedent, IRD. It is a very important code; this is what triggers the income tax. Essentially, here's what it says: When you took your 401k rollover to IRA, you rolled your 401k, pension or other pension money into a traditional IRA.

You rolled into it because you wanted to avoid the immediate taxation. But the bottom line is this: you have a million dollar IRA, and you have an estate tax problem which triggers the event of section 691c, income in respect to a decedent or IRD. What this section states is you saved money, we didn't tax you and we now want to tax you; hence, there is a forced distribution at 70 ½ years old.