iras

Alan Levine

Reminder: You Can Still Cut Your 2016 Taxes By Making IRA Contributions

Looking for a way to cut your tax bill or boost your refund before you file? Don’t forget that contributions that you make to your retirement accounts between Jan. 1 and April 16 of this year can count toward either your 2016 or 2017 tax return. [More]

My $17 Is Stuck With Sharebuilder Forever Thanks To Stupid Fees

My $17 Is Stuck With Sharebuilder Forever Thanks To Stupid Fees

Chip wanted to take the money in his Sharebuilder account elsewhere. He had rolled over a 401(k), but not a very big one. Whether he didn’t have it long or the one security in it had lost value, he didn’t say, but the balance is only $17. The thing is, he needs to add another $73 in order to move the account anywhere. Sharebuilder’s fees to move your account to another institution are $75 per account (he has multiple accounts) and $15 per security. He asked whether the $75, at least, could be waived in the case of an account with such a tiny balance. They said no. [More]

Test Your Personal Finance Skills With These Quizzes

Test Your Personal Finance Skills With These Quizzes

Kiplinger has two quizzes named “Financial Truth or Bunk?“, and they go through some of the more popular tips you’ve heard about personal finance, including lines like:

  • You can’t lose money investing in bonds.
  • Stay-at-home moms or dads need life insurance, too.
  • Don’t buy a red car — it’ll cost more to insure.
  • Dollar-cost averaging boosts investment returns.
  • The percentage of stock in your portfolio should equal 100 minus your age.
Update: USAA Posts Notice On Website Regarding Technical Issues

Update: USAA Posts Notice On Website Regarding Technical Issues

Last week we raised the ire of plenty of USAA fans by posting a story about a woman’s IRA that went missing for nearly a day. We were as surprised as many of you that she’d received such poor customer service from the first CSR she spoke with, considering USAA’s usually stellar reputation. But the next day someone from USAA contacted Travis and his wife to find out what went wrong. Here’s Travis’ update.

USAA Temporarily Deletes 14k Roth IRA, But Won't Explain Why

USAA Temporarily Deletes 14k Roth IRA, But Won't Explain Why

USAA just pulled a huge mindf#@k on Travis and his wife, and now he wants to talk to someone high enough up the chain to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. His wife “went online yesterday to check on some transactions and discovered her IRA balance was $0. Six hours prior to that, her balance was $14,000.” When she tried to find out what had happened, the first CSR she spoke with told her she had no IRA account, and the second CSR told her to refresh her browser. Yeah, you know how these newfangled browswers are always wiping out retirement accounts.

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Here’s 10 top questions frequently asked about starting a Roth IRA. Don’t have one? Why not? They’re a great no-brainer way to save for retirement. [Yahoo! Finance via Money Crashers]

Saving Tips For Recent Graduates

Saving Tips For Recent Graduates

  • Keep the end goal in mind: “[Money] is most useful when you are old because it makes all the difference whether you wait for a bus in the rain to get to the doctor’s appointment or you ride in a cab.”

  • Google's Roth IRA Questions Answered

    Google's Roth IRA Questions Answered

    Blueprint for Financial Prosperity is doing a neat thing where he looks at his site stats to see what Roth IRA questions people are typing into Google that direct them to his blog, and then he answers them in a post.

    CPA Answers Blog Readers' Tax Questions

    CPA Answers Blog Readers' Tax Questions

    I Will Teach You To Be Rich took over 100 reader tax questions and posted answers to the best ones from from David Bergstein, CPA.