I am on the record as skeptical of the value of paying a roboadvisor to execute capital-loss harvesting, but capital-gain and capital-loss harvesting is a subject that excites financial independence bloggers (e.g. here, here, and here), so I don't want to brush off the subject completely. For those unfamiliar, capital-loss harvesting allows you to offset … [Read more...] about Five ways to capitalize asset price movements
taxes
What’s the advantage of tax-advantaged accounts?
On Sunday I wrote about what I consider a fairly important oversight in the world of financial independence enthusiasts: a glaring disregard for just how minimal the taxes they spend so much time avoiding really are. Capital gains harvesting, for example, is the practice of realizing long term capital gains as often as possible in order to pay minimal taxes … [Read more...] about What’s the advantage of tax-advantaged accounts?
Sources of taxable income in retirement
Finance hacking enthusiasts spend a vast amount of time minimizing the taxes they pay and shielding income and assets from taxation in the future. These techniques range from the commonsensical (max out IRA contributions each year) to the unhinged (name your favorite front-door/back-door/side-door/trap-door IRA strategy). How deep you decide to go into … [Read more...] about Sources of taxable income in retirement
Why “narrowly focused” middle-class tax cuts overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy
Since the White House finally got around to announcing the outlines of their tax reform plan today, I want to briefly address an issue that's generally ignored in discussions of income tax rates and brackets. Marginal tax rates mean you pay taxes at lots of different rates You often hear as shorthand that "the wealthy pay a 40% income tax." … [Read more...] about Why “narrowly focused” middle-class tax cuts overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy
Why should retirement savings be financed out of current income?
If there are two axioms that financial graybeards treat as indisputable, they are: Americans don't save enough money for retirement; and the government needs to do more to encourage retirement savings. With respect to the first axiom, we're treated to serious-looking charts about the "retirement savings gap" and told how few people are taking advantage of … [Read more...] about Why should retirement savings be financed out of current income?