Key Points

• The best way to grow wealth is to never pay any taxes.
• The simplest way to accomplish this is to take advantage of tax-advantaged investment accounts.
• The most common such accounts offered by the U.S. Government are the individual retirement accounts or IRAs.
• There are two flavors. The Traditional IRA is funded with pre-tax contributions, but earnings are taxed at an individual’s marginal tax rate at retirement.
• The Roth IRA is funded with post-tax contributions, and the earnings are not taxed at all at retirement.    Continue reading → Don’t Miss Out, You’ll Regret It (Part 5)

Key Points

• By minimizing the impact of taxes, and buy-and-hold investor can outpace other investment styles.
• Over the investment lifetime of an individual, this can more than double one’s upside potential. Continue reading → Don’t Miss Out, You’ll Regret It (Part 4)

Don’t Miss Out, You’ll Regret It (Part 3)

Key Points

• By holding a profitable investment for over a year before selling, an investor has the opportunity to significantly reduce the amount of taxes that he or she will have to pay.
• By holding an investment indefinitely, an investor can hold off on paying taxes indefinitely.
• By deferring the payment of taxes, capital can grow exponentially faster than otherwise.

There’s a reason why buy and hold investors tend to do well over the long-term. And it’s not so much to do with picking the right assets to invest in; but rather, it has to do with how stocks are taxed, in general. Knowing the finer details of how taxes work can save you big time. Here’s how.

Continue reading → Why Buy-And-Hold Can Save You BIG.

Key Points

• Solid financial plannings means taking care of any tax advantage you can.
• However, it’s important to understand that most tax breaks have deadlines, meaning: you snooze, you lose.
• The HSA could potentially be the best plan you never heard about.
• This program allows you to potentially invest with pre-tax savings, and spend without taxes as well.

Continue reading → Don’t Miss Out, You’ll Regret It (Part 2)

Key Points

• Tax planning is not just about figuring out how much to pay the government, it’s also about ensuring that your investment plan is tax efficient based upon your short-term and long-term goals.
• Investments typically generate income from three different sources: interest, dividends, and capital gains; and each source is taxed differently.
• These differences should be taken into consideration when forming an investment plan, as federal taxes can range from 0% to upwards of 37%. Continue reading → Don’t Miss Out, You’ll Regret It (Part 1)