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taterhill

By taterhill
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taterhill Veteran

taterhill

Posted
Posted

after reading through the 401K thread, I have noticed that there is a lot of misinformation and questions regarding financial matters...ask away, as this is what I do for a living..I will answer as well as I can, and if I do not know the answer, I will find it for you...no question is stupid, and if you do not want to put your question on here, feel free to PM me...also, I will not give you stock tips

bills_fan Veteran

bills_fan

Posted
Posted

Tater, thanks for offering up the advice. Again, Roth vs. 401k? I'm a believer that the 401k is better, as it gives your money more time to work for you, and there possibly could be tax code changes to make the distributions even more appealing.

 

Is the Roth better and if so, why?

Alaska Darin Hall of Famer

Alaska Darin

Posted
Posted
What percentage of my income should be put towards lottery tickets? And what kind, scratch off or drawings?

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File that as an entertainment expense. Purely disposable income.

mead107 Hall of Famer

mead107

Posted
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can your head stop shaking ?????????? question is it good to find one stock to invest in ? all my savings in GE go in to GE stock .out side of ge i am 1out of 3 in getting a good stock. asml 9.75 sold 18,36 -- nyrr .75 now .15 get the drift. :lol:

stevestojan Hall of Famer

stevestojan

Posted
Posted

Ok tater, Im always up for free advice.

 

After I put my 6% into my 401(k), I put $xxx in a savings acocunt every week, direct deposit. The rest goes to my checking account.

 

My question is (and talk to me like a retarded three-toed-sloth because I am lost when it comes to CDs and such) I feel like that money in my savings account would be doing just as good in a shoe box under my bed. The interest I am getting is laughable, and I feel like with a good chunk of change, I could be making some extra money. I already have money in the stock market, but my savings isnt money I want to play with. I would like to put it in a LOW risk (but not no risk, thus possibly earning me some money) account.

 

Suggestions?

MikeInRoch Probation

MikeInRoch

Posted
Posted

Disclaimer: I am not a financial professional, and therefore this post is really more in the form of a question for taterhill - am I missing something here?

 

On comparing 401K vs. Roth IRA contributions...

 

Let's make the following assumptions (numbers may not be realistic just to keep the math simple):

 

You have $10,000 (pre-tax) to invest for 20 years, after which you will retire. Call 'a' your current tax rate, 'b' your expected tax rate when you retire, and 'c' the percentage return on your investment.

 

If you put the money in a 401k, it's pre-tax, so you invest a full $10,000. After 20 years, that has grown to $10,000x(1+c)^20, and then you pay taxes on the way out, so the amount you get is $10,000x(1+c)^20x(1-b ).

 

If you put the money in a Roth, it's post-tax, so you invest $10,000x(1-a). After 20 years, that has grown to $10,000x(1-a)x(1+c)^20, and you take it out tax free.

 

Since multiplication is commutative, the only difference in the amount of money that you have at the end is because of the difference between 'a' and 'b'. If 'a' and 'b' are equal, it makes no difference which way you go (assuming there is no employer matching involved, of course). Is this correct? Or is there something I'm not taking into account?

Fezmid All Pro

Fezmid

Posted
Posted
Ok tater, Im always up for free advice.

 

After I put my 6% into my 401(k), I put $xxx in a savings acocunt every week, direct deposit. The rest goes to my checking account.

 

My question is (and talk to me like a retarded three-toed-sloth because I am lost when it comes to CDs and such) I feel like that money in my savings account would be doing just as good in a shoe box under my bed. The interest I am getting is laughable, and I feel like with a good chunk of change, I could be making some extra money. I already have money in the stock market, but my savings isnt money I want to play with. I would like to put it in a LOW risk (but not no risk, thus possibly earning me some money) account.

 

Suggestions?

 

Have you looked that INGDirect.com? 2.2% APR on savings account. Better than a box under your bed, and probably better than what you're getting in your current savings account.

 

iBonds used to be a great deal; you could buy them with a credit card, get cash back from your rewards card, and then earn 3-4% on top of that. Now you can't use a credit card, so it's not quite as nice, but still an option for money that you won't need to touch in a year. There's no state (or is it federal?) tax on iBonds, and in general it's completely tax free if the money is used for education.

 

There's probably better investments out there, but that's what I use.

 

Mead -- stock market is a gamble unless you get a mutual fund.

CW

Mikie2times Veteran

Mikie2times

Posted
Posted
after reading through the 401K thread, I have noticed that there is a lot of misinformation and questions regarding financial matters...ask away, as this is what I do for a living..I will answer as well as I can, and if I do not know the answer, I will find it for you...no question is stupid, and if you do not want to put your question on here, feel free to PM me...also, I will not give you stock tips

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What do you do taterhill?

taterhill Veteran

taterhill

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Tater, thanks for offering up the advice.  Again, Roth vs. 401k?  I'm a believer that the 401k is better, as it gives your money more time to work for you, and there possibly could be tax code changes to make the distributions even more appealing. 

 

Is the Roth better and if so, why?

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imo, you should be doing both....it is tough to know which will be better long term, b/c nobody knows what the future will hold as far as tax laws....the reason I like the Roth IRA is that it provides you a tax fee nest egg for retirement....also it is very flexible for someone looking to retire before 59 1/2, as contributions can be taken out w/o penalty or tax consequence....you cannot go wrong with the 401k, but be careful, as you do not want all of your money tied up until 59 1/2...also keep i mind there is a way to get money out of a 401k or IRA before 59 1/2...it is called a 72(t) distribution...but that is for another conversation

taterhill Veteran

taterhill

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Ok tater, Im always up for free advice.

 

After I put my 6% into my 401(k), I put $xxx in a savings acocunt every week, direct deposit. The rest goes to my checking account.

 

My question is (and talk to me like a retarded three-toed-sloth because I am lost when it comes to CDs and such) I feel like that money in my savings account would be doing just as good in a shoe box under my bed. The interest I am getting is laughable, and I feel like with a good chunk of change, I could be making some extra money. I already have money in the stock market, but my savings isnt money I want to play with. I would like to put it in a LOW risk (but not no risk, thus possibly earning me some money) account.

 

Suggestions?

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yes check out the Orange Account from ING direct, as it appears to be the best rate around....anything else above that, you will be taking some risk, wheter is is market risk with stocks, or interest rate risk with bonds....if you are up for some risk, look for some high dividend paying blue chip stocks

taterhill Veteran

taterhill

Posted
  • Author
Posted
can your head stop shaking ??????????  question is it good to find one stock to invest in ? all my savings in GE go in to GE stock .out side of ge i am 1out of 3 in getting a good stock. asml 9.75 sold 18,36 -- nyrr .75 now .15 get the drift. :lol:

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GE is a great stock, b/c you basically get a mutual fund of companies with GE, but it can never hurt to diversify

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