On Oct 30, 4:04 am, Thomas Cruise <tcru...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:
- quote -

Your AGI has to be below $100,000, but in 2010 that limitation may be
lifted (possibly a one time thing).

- quote -

Conversion may help anyway depending on your time to withdrawal. Look
at how your state taxes IRA withdrawals to get a better idea of your
best way to handle IRAs.

--
Ron

Ron Peterson <ron[at]shell.core.com> wrote in news:1193689739.564155.174300[at]
22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com:

- quote -

Thanks for the advice.
What are the requirements/qualifications for conversion?
All my contribution to traditional IRA was after tax.
I am not qualified to contribute to Roth IRA, due to income limit.


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BreadWithSpam[at]fractious.net wrote in
news:yobfxztevmh.fsf[at]panix2.panix.com:

- quote -

This is very good advice, and I was contemplating these options.
Thanks for educating me on this.


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On Oct 29, 4:01 am, Thomas Cruise <tcru...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:
- quote -

What are you choosing for investment (e.g. mutual funds, index funds,
stocks, bonds)?

- quote -

If you can afford to, it'a a good idea to make the contributions.

- quote -

You may want to convert your traditional IRA to a Roth now while its
value is down, particularly if you have any after tax contributions to
it.

--
Ron

Thomas Cruise <tcruise[at]yahoo.com> writes:

- quote -

In theory, you can "realize" a loss in an IRA (Roth or
traditional, though only in the case where the traditional
was funded with after-tax money - ie. it is has a "basis").

In practice, I don't know of anyone who has actually done
this, nor is it likely a good idea.

Basically, if you have a loss in the IRA if (a) the IRA
is fully liquidated and distributed and (b) the proceeds
from doing so are less than your basis.

If you have no non-deductible contributions to a traditional
IRA, your basis is zero and there's no chance of deducting
anything.

A Roth's basis is the sum of the contributions to it. You
may realize a loss there - but *should* you? I'd say probably
not.

Losses realized this way are subject to a variety
of restrictions, too - they are not even as useful as
normal capital losses (which may offset capital gains
and even some regular income). IRA losses, if you can
manage to find them (via the rules regarding basis, etc)
get deducted only as part of itemized deductions on
sched. A as "misc. deductions" only to the extent that
they exceed 2% of your AGI -- and you don't even get
that if you're subject to AMT.

In the meantime, having liquidated your IRA, you
are now set back by having to start funding it again, a
little at a time, to save for retirement in the most tax
efficient way. It's very unlikely that taking those
losses now is worth the potential loss of several years
of tax-free or tax-deferred investing you could have
had by just leaving the money where it was.

Unless your situation is quite extraordinary, your best
bit is very likely just to review those IRA portfolios,
make sure the money's invested well and diversified and
be patient.

Google "IRA Loss" and read a few of the hits there, but
don't count on much.

If you're really still going to do this, I'd recommend
consulting an accountant. And consider whether those
losses will exceed how much that accountant will cost, too.

--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting

On Oct 29, 2:01 am, Thomas Cruise <tcru...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:
- quote -


Why have you lost a significant percentage? Is it because of the
choice of funds? Is it because of fees imposed?

In what are your IRA funds invested? Posting this can help
the group help you.

At a minimum, I suggest you commence a study of how "asset
allocation" has historically paid off well /for the long
term./ Were your IRA investments diversified?

How old are you? When do you plan to retire? Does your
employer offer a 401(k) with matching? How much, if any, is
matched?

Lastly, do not stop contributing to your IRAs. The earnings
growth of an investment made early far exceeds that of an
investment made late.

In article <Xns99D7EA77C1892tcruise[at]207.115.17.102> ,
Thomas Cruise <tcruise[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Your best moves appear to be to (1) find some better funds to
invest in so you don't have a loss, (2) contribute more into
the IRA accounts. There is no deduction for a loss within
an IRA account--there are so many benefits that Congress didn't
see the need for that deduction. Finally, if you don't have a
401K option, you may want to look for a new job that does have
a 401K.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

I have both Roth IRA and traditional IRA.
Both have lost significant percentage of contribution/rollover.
I have not made any contribution to either IRA for few years.
I may not make any contribution in 2007 or 2008.

What are the financial moves I can make to make lemonade out of lemon?
I have no specific need to pull out money out of my IRA's, unless doing so
would benefit me somehow?
I would greatly appreciat any genuine advice.