Become a Patron! Last month I wrote about the curious fact that mutual funds designed to be held in retirement accounts, where their distributions are generally untaxed year-to-year, nonetheless hold federal bonds that are exempt from state income taxation. I suggested that it should be possible to optimize your retirement account holdings by replacing those federal bonds … [Read more...] about Three approaches to cutting federal bonds out of untaxed accounts
taxes
Don’t pay for tax benefits you’re not using
Become a Patron! I had a very interesting conversation today that got me thinking about a tax issue I had never given serious thought to before, and which I think is probably totally unknown to most investors, but that affects virtually all of them: the exclusion of US federal interest payments from state income tax liability. Upon just a moment's reflection, I realized that … [Read more...] about Don’t pay for tax benefits you’re not using
Two interesting strategies for avoiding the SECURE Act’s revenue provisions
Become a Patron! One blog I keep an eye on is Michael Kitces's website Nerd's Eye View. The content is rarely very relevant to me personally, but they do a terrific job digging deep into tax planning strategies and IRS rulings, so you can at least learn the outlines of an issue before doing your own research. The latest post, Strategies To Mitigate The (Partial) Death Of The … [Read more...] about Two interesting strategies for avoiding the SECURE Act’s revenue provisions
Wage replacement is an important measurement, whether or not it’s good policy
Become a Patron! I've written before about the FAMILY Act, the leading Democratic initiative in the House and Senate to create a nationwide system of paid family and medical leave like that enjoyed by citizens of virtually every other country in the world. One of the things advocates say when describing the FAMILY Act is that it's based on a "social insurance model." This … [Read more...] about Wage replacement is an important measurement, whether or not it’s good policy
The (weird) optionality of Series EE savings bonds
Become a Patron! There's a cliche at least as old as I am, that while ATM's were expected to reduce the demand for bank tellers, banks actually increased the number of tellers they employed, for the counter-intuitive reason that a bank branch was much easier to administer once simple deposits and withdrawals were handled by machines. Instead of wiping out the retail branch, … [Read more...] about The (weird) optionality of Series EE savings bonds