I have a question about the 401K. We are of the age where we must withdraw a certain amount every year. I am wondering if we should withdraw more than the minimum, especially this year, because there is a real possibility that taxes will go up starting next year. Any advice out there? Thank you.
Go to
www.morningstar.com/discuss
to ask these types of questions and read read read.
Prices will go up. Take out some extra and purchase now some of the items you will use anyway. Toilet paper, shampoo, soap, a few pair of pants, a couple pair of shoes ...
“I have a question about the 401K. We are of the age where we must withdraw a certain amount every year. I am wondering if we should withdraw more than the minimum, especially this year, because there is a real possibility that taxes will go up starting next year. Any advice out there? Thank you.”
First, you might want to consider rolling your 401k into an IRA that you can manage. So many 401ks buy funds that support left wing companies like the NY Slimes and other bs.
We have been happy with our Fidelity IRAs. We can buy and sell any ETF, stock and most mutual funds, not the losers picked by most 401k funs.
If you roll your funds over to an IRA, limit your mutual funds to a few good ones. Learn how to buy ETFs instead.
Instead of mutual funds buy ETFS and put a stop loss order on each one after you buy it. Recalculate this if you have gains. We use the IBD’s suggestion of a maximum loss of 10% on a stock or ETF. That came in as a life saver the May after Pelosi and Reid took over congrees. We had close to 20 ETF’s and fortunately had stop loss orders on them. We were on vacation when the market took a big hit. The stop loss order protected the gains we had and minimized our losses.
Also, you can sell your etfs at any time to take advantage of the market or to get out.
My wife and I have been discussing the same issue that you have posted. We have had good gains, and our 2012 mandatory withdrawals haven’t been enough. Of course what happens between now and the end of the year will determine our moves here.
So after the dust settles post election. We may cash out on some of our IRA money markets to buy what we may need and to buy things we want/not needed or vacations while we can.
Learn how to manage your own retirement fund in a self managed IRA.