New Tax-Advantaged Saving Options on the Horizon?
WSJ article "Two Big Tax-Free Savings Plans To Get New Push by White House" reported that the Bush administration is trying to push two saving plans to Congress next year. The two accounts are:
Lifetime Saving Account: Each individual can contribute up to $7,500 per year in after-tax dollars. The money will grow tax-free, and people can withdraw money tax-free at any time for any purpose without penalty.
Retirement Saving Account: Each individual can contribute up to $7,500 per year in after-tax dollars. The money will grow tax-free, but Money cannot be withdrawn until some set age.
Unlike Roth IRA, there is no income caps for each of those accounts, so everyone can contribute up to the full amount (or up to the taxable income for that year).
It is definitely a good deal for me if the proposal can be passed in its current form. My wife and I can contribute up to $30,000 and let it grow tax-free. It's much nicer deal compared with 401(k) (if not for the 50% company match-up). More importantly, money being put in those accounts have enough liquidity (contributions can be withdrawn at any time).
The article correctly predicted 401(k) will be affected. If the new proposal becomes law, 401(k) plan without match-up will be no more tax-efficient as the Lifetime Saving Account, but with much less investment options.
Two days to the end of SOTP enrollment deadline, and I'm more and more leaning toward participation in the program and sale of my eligible stock options. Read
Today's WSJ story "Why Your Home Might Sell for Less" (subscription required) gives a pretty grim outlook of home prices in major metropolitan areas if mortgage rates go up. The quoted forecast done by Fidelity National Financial concludes that the house price for Seattle area ... Read
I wrote a Monte Carlo model to analysis how much money I should save before I can retire at 40 with a peace of mind. More exactly, the model shows me under a number of various macro and micro circumstances, what's the probability the money ... Read
Amazon recently started to provide full text search of more than 120,000 books, or 33 million pages. I tested the service and found it is very useful. It definitely can bring customers to a much larger scope of book selection. Read
