Happy Valentine’s Day! Did you know you can still get one tax deduction for 2010. You have until April 18 to make a tax deductible contribution to a traditional IRA or an after tax contribution to a Roth IRA and until October 17 to make a contribution to your qualified plan if you file an extension on your personal taxes. If you have a corporation or partnership and you have the qualified plan through there it is only until September 15. That can be a sweatheart of a deal for your long term finances! Tomorrow I want to talk about Traditional vs Roth IRAs.
Brian’s Financial Musings
Say goodbye to no strings free checking at most of the large banks. You now have to have a minimum balance or a monthly direct deposit of a certain amount or a mortgage or a savings account or something to get free checking. Here is an article in the LA Times a few days ago discussing it:http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/04/business/la-fi-free-checking-20110204I talked to a banker at Union Bank and he told me as far as he knows they had no plans to discontinue free checking but I don’t know what requirements they have to get a free checking account and they aren’t in the article, so I guess go online or call them and see if their free checking has strings or not. The other possibilities are to go to a Credit Union or a regional or local bank. A little work might save you a $5 to $15 dollar a month checking account charge.
Brian’s Tax and Financial Musings
Do you know what the wash rule is? The wash rule is a tax rule that prevents you from claiming a loss on a stock if you purchase the same stock back 30 days before or after you sell it. This can really put a crimp in your investment plans if you want to take a loss on a stock, but figure it is primed for a rebound in a week or so. You want the loss, but don’t want to be out of the stock for 30 days becuase you might have to buy it back at a significant increase in cost.There are a couple of solutions to this problem, none of them perfect, but all worth exploring. If you are wanting to sell a mutual fund in this situation, you can do some additional research and find a fund out there with similar investment makeup and buy that fund instead of the one you just sold. You can also buy back a different stock (say Exxonmobil instead of Conocophilips, or JPMorgan Chase instead of Wells Fargo) if you feel they will behave similarly. If you can’t find a stock that will fit the bill and you have some [...]