Do you have someone do your taxes? If do, are they a CPA? Ask them, and if they don’t do that, ask for a referral. Finding a good fee-based advisor may just be a lesson in networking.
Got it, and thanks to you and @Mighty_Mouse.
Problem is that 99.9% of people aren’t willing pay $1000 for a couple hours of time. So this isn’t a viable practice. Because if you’re charging by the hour and only billing two hours a year per client, you have to spend 75% of your time finding clients, and 15% on prep and follow-up. So you need to bill $500/hour to make a living at it.
That’s fair, but I’d happily pay $1500/yr for a portfolio review and chat. That’s still far less than 1%
What city are you in?
Just outside Boston
This is true for investments made after Jan 1st, 2011. Prior to this, brokerages did not need to track your basis. I had proceeds from the sale of 1/2 of a share last year (a fractional share due to a three for two split). My 1099-B reported a basis of $0. I acquired the stock in 2007. Luckily I do have the paper documents so I can calculate the basis of $1.60 per share, or 80 cents for the half share. That’s 80 cents that won’t be taxed at 15%. Saving me 12 cents on my taxes this year, but eventually about $1,200 when I sell everything.
I’ve got a ways to go until retirement, but it seems to be it would always be beneficial to convert as much as you can from your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, up to the limit of your current tax bracket.
Let’s say you made $70k in distributions and social security in your 1st year of retirement. For a married couple, you can go up to $89,450 and still pay the same 12% marginal income tax. Your best move then is to withdraw $19,450 and convert that to a Roth. Take the 12% out of the withdrawal amount, so there’s no concern about affording the tax hit, then deposit the remaining $17k into your Roth IRA.
When you eventually withdraw that $17k plus earnings, you could be in a higher tax bracket and it won’t matter, it will be tax free. If you didn’t convert it, then the full $19,450 would gain interest in your account. But if you push yourself into a higher bracket by drawing more of your funds later, there’s less concern because its all tax free, the principal and your interest earnings.
Only the income above the $89,450 figure is subject to the higher tax bracket. You won’t subject all of your income to the higher tax rate by exceeding the $89k amount.