And on a completely different note

[annathepiper]

Anybody out there have clues about IRAs? I have about five hundred dollars that an IRA I used to have via Attachmate coughed at me, because the people who were managing it shut it down due to it being undernearth some sort of minimum amount. And my and solarbird's accountant advised that I should put this into a new IRA in my own name. But I don't know THING ONE about how to go about doing this. I chatted a bit with a rep at the local Bank of America, who gave me some paperwork on their Traditional IRAs and recommended I do some research about what sorts of funds I want the IRA to be invested into, but I'm absolutely clueless here and don't even know much about what my options are, much less which ones are best.

Can anyone give me the Intro to IRAs set of clues?

Comments

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

You have a very short window of time in which to roll over an IRA and have it keep its tax-free IRA status! So try to get a clue quickly.... ;)

I find the online stuff at Vanguard pretty helpful, and they have low-fee index accounts that are generally easy to deal with. www.vanguard.com as you might have guessed.
Cathy

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

Oh, and you can just park it somewhere now and roll it over into something better later--as long as you put it somewhere with no minimum time or transfer fees or whatever. So you might ask your bank person about that....
Cathy

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about IRA's either, but I'd agree with this posting. Roll it over to preserve it's deferred tax status and move it somewhere else after you know what you want to do about it.

Which reminds me - time to rebalance my 401k.

[firni.livejournal.com]

You need to ask wrog. Make sure you pack a lunch.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. I'll point him at this query after he comes back from putting the tot to bed. He is the Bedtime King!

[wrog]

I've never actually done IRAs.

My understanding is you need to do it by 4/15.

Most brokerages offer IRA accounts of various flavors. The regular ones, you just roll the money into them, sometime after you turn 55, you start taking the money out and it gets taxed as income at that point. With the Roth IRAs, the money you roll over gets taxed as income now but then there's zero capital gains tax later; meaning it can grow arbitrarily and after you turn 55 you take it out and it's yours. On the other hand you have to be sure it's going to grow.

That's really all I know about this.

Right now, probably the thing to do is find a brokerage you like, choose your flavor, set up the account, and roll the money into it. But you don't want to actually buy anything with it just yet since the market is about to tank.

Or, if you're like me and confident that gold and silver are going to go through the roof eventually, you open a Roth IRA and then put everything into Newmont Mining (NEM) and Pan American Silver (PAAS).

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

If it was in a regular IRA, I would keep it as a regular IRA until you do a buttload of research to *decide* whether you want to convert to a Roth IRA or not.
Cathy

[wrog]

point.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Damn that Enron!

[agrimony.livejournal.com]

You could try contacting your local Primerica office for financial planning. When I was looking at ways to manage my money (back when I actually /had/ money), I was directed to a wonderful financial planner via Flitterby. I really liked how Primerica did business. The people were friendly and it was cheap and easy. They do a nice little financial needs analysis that helps direct you with how to invest your money, and Gail (the financial planner I had) helped me set up an IRA to roll over to when AltaVista cut me loose.