From the inbox:
Jeremy, I remember that you aren’t a big fan of 529s. But now that you can move excess 529 funds into a Roth IRA (thanks to Secure Act 2.0) … now, surely, you must LOVE them! Right?
Actually…. no.
2X the Contribution, 1/2 the Work
Earning a little income in your retirement years is becoming increasingly common.
Some choose to work part-time for benefits or socialization or fun, and others accidentally make a little extra while pursuing their hobbies or passions.
With a powerful investment portfolio behind these (early) retirees, this income is often just added to a Roth IRA for further tax-free growth.
Now, what if there was a way to double those Roth contributions without working or earning more? Turns out, there is.
Over the past few weeks I’ve replied to numerous comments and questions, loosely paraphrased as:
“I’ve read that you aren’t a big fan of Roth accounts, but in your post about not paying taxes for 5 years you show how you routinely contribute to Roths. Isn’t that a bit hypocritical?
Maybe.
It’s a totally fair question. Let’s find out.
The end of 2016 marks the completion of 4 full years of choosing leisure over labor.
It’s been a fun ride so far… we’ve seen a large swathe of the world, birthed a baby, and experienced 5 or 6 minutes of fame.
But how effective have these 4 years been in terms of implementing our tax minimization strategies? Are Roth IRA Conversions and Capital Gain Harvesting just fantasies we keep while working, or do they actually produce results in the real world?
Let’s do a financial check-up and see how we are doing.
It is that time of year again. Time to pay the tax man. At least for most people.
For the past two years we have shared our tax returns (2013, 2014), showing investment income of nearly $100,000 and a Federal Income Tax bill of $0.
This year is a little different because we violated Principle #1, Choose Leisure Over Labor, and this little blog accidentally earned a few bucks. Apparently I’m a business owner now. While that opens up all kinds of interesting tax opportunities, which I certainly capitalized on, having earned income changes the game a bit.
So earlier this year I shared how International nomads like us can have earned income over $100,000 while still paying zero Federal Income Tax. Which is pretty cool.
But you are probably thinking, “Yeah, yeah, they earned $100k and paid zero income tax. Again…” *yawn*
I agree, that is sooo 2013. Which is why this year, I had the IRS pay us.
