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@Earl, Your professor is correct for most cases, and trust me when I say from my own survey only about half my CFP professors could explain why this is so. The one who could explain it easily was the lady teaching the topic of taxes, as IRA vs Roth is all about taxes. Take my own example, retired in ...

Hands down the extra $12,000 Senior deduction has the most impact on our savings and I'm using it by filling up the LTCG zero bracket with LTCG, that have sky-rocketed since 2022. I keep organized with spreadsheets, one of which is a tax forecaster for each year that tracks my own general categories ...

@Jenna, There are many things going on here and as you say there is no right approach, that works all the time. Tax timing as it relates to your 1040 is where I focus on my strategy. My strategy is not to create taxes on money I am not spending, unless there is some very strategic reason to do so. ...

@Robert, I think your second statement of "won't benefit me much" is more accurate than "not at all." Everyone, except very low income below SD will benefit by the added deduction that was not part of the phase out. This was on top of the already scheduled increase. I believe that extra OBBBA amount ...

@HF, Yes, personally I have moved about 99.9% of everything that generates ordinary income out of my taxable brokerage account. Beyond that I have moved most everything that creates any kind of distribution. If I want to spend something from there it is mostly LTCG and return of the original principal. ...

@HF, Below is a general description of why Vanguard index fund ETFs are essentially identical to their mutual fund counterparts: " Vanguard ETFs are often more tax-efficient than others thanks to a unique structural advantage and a few smart operational practices. Here's how they pull it off: ...

@Rob Adams Not a CPA, but Financial Advisor for 10+ years and you are exactly correct, the maximum Roth contributions cannot exceed her earned income. Let me suggest a better path and something I am doing for my grandchildren. They put their earnings in the traditional 401k which may or may not be ...

I use what could be loosely described as the bucket approach outlined in the November AAII article titled "Five Approaches for Allocating Your Retirement Portfolio" in which three buckes are used. The first bucket (TIRA) generates discretionary income for spending. The second bucket (Roth) is for future ...

First you have to understand everything possible about where the tax on your investments come from and act accordingly very early in your working career. a) Has tax already been paid on the front end of an investment by using after-tax money from your "pocket" to buy them? b) Is tax paid along the way ...