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Actively Managed Mutual Funds

Kevin Grant  |  Mar 19, 2025

I have some active managed mutual funds(getting hammered by yearly tax distribution) in one of my brokerage accounts. I would like to know the best tax effective way to sell these funds?

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When You Can’t Take Care of Yourself

Dennis Friedman  |  Mar 19, 2025

I don’t believe I’ve ever enjoyed life more than I do now. What is there not to like about my life? I have my health, financial stability, plenty of free time to do the things I want, and I have a companion to share my journey with. I wish this stage of my life was never-ending.
But at age 73, I know my life could be turned upside down tomorrow. Lately, I’ve been thinking about what Rachel and I should do if we can’t take care of ourselves.

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Yup, most usable, needed tax breaks go to average/middle class Americans.

R Quinn  |  Mar 18, 2025

I recently wrote in a comment on HD that I think the most important, usable, and meaningful tax breaks go to average middle income Americans. Not being a tax expert, I did some digging to find them. 
Perhaps Rick Connor and others know of more I missed.  
Here is what I came up with. 
Child Tax Credit – helps families with qualifying children by reducing their tax liability.
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – the EITC can also provide significant benefits to those within the lower end of the middle-class income range,

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Should all Americans pay federal income tax?

Ben Rodriguez  |  Mar 17, 2025

RDQ’s recent post about seniors paying taxes reminded me that presently only 53% of Americans pay federal income tax.  Many of the remaining 47% are net recipients of money from the treasury.  We all know that everyone working pays payroll taxes, but should everyone pay income tax?
On the Yea side, having all citizens paying income tax would give everyone “skin in the game” when it comes to voting on tax policy and expenditures. 

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And Another Thing….

Marjorie Kondrack  |  Mar 17, 2025

Henry James is one of my favorite authors.  In the late 1880s He wrote a novel, Washington Square,  which was adapted into a play and an award winning movie, “The Heiress”.  Olivia dehavilland starred as Catherine Sloper, a shy, ordinary looking, socially awkward young woman, who stands to inherit a large fortune.
Montgomery Clift, was Morris Townsend, her handsome, charming but ne’er do well suitor—and a wonderful English actor, Ralph Richardson, as Dr. Austin Sloper, Catherine’s father.

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Going Naked

Greg Spears  |  Mar 17, 2025

Every day brings me another insurance offer. In today’s mail, I was invited to insure against identity theft for $34.99 a month.
Last week, I was sent a “final notice” to purchase a home warranty. In the same batch of mail, I was offered a $20,000 whole life insurance policy for $132 a month.
My most faithful correspondent is my water company. Every month it invites me to insure the water pipes under my lawn for about $1,000 a year.

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Care to join me on my yacht cruising the Mediterranean? Do you envy the super wealthy? RDQ

R Quinn  |  Mar 17, 2025

There was a time when I probably did- that was many years ago when sailing around the Mediterranean in my luxury yacht was a fantasy. Once, decades ago, I actually explored the cost of renting such a yacht. Back then it was $200,000 a week, plus tips for the crew and the cost of the food you selected. I was afraid I couldn’t afford the tips- but I could bring eight friends to impress.
These days I don’t envy of the billionaires,

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A Simple Way to Avoid Phone Scams

David Lancaster  |  Mar 17, 2025

I just read about an excellent script to use when one gets a call purporting to be from a financial institution that is, “every time a financial institution calls: “Where are you calling from? Thank you. I’m going to hang up and call back.”
Then go find the institution’s phone number (from a statement, the back of the credit card, or by typing in the URL of the website itself and finding it on the website;

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The Status of Inherited IRAs in 2025

David Lancaster  |  Mar 17, 2025

Here is the link to Christine Benz of Morningstar interviewing Ed Slott, who many consider THE expert in the country on the IRS’s interpretation of IRA laws/rules for 2025.
Ed is a gold mine of information as to how to decide on whether to convert traditional IRAs to Roths, and it’s effect on your beneficiaries.
https://app.mscomm.morningstar.com/e/er?utm_source=eloqua&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningDigest&utm_content=None_62004&utm_id=32087&s=1258972516&lid=91893&elqTrackId=894e84e4e6dd4e4ea71a9bc97420afd2&elq=c1c50cb96d48485491b4d81fbe5a229d&elqaid=62004&elqat=1&elqak=8AF55770D8A5B2AC19A42DE86CB56351215EDD04764F052A1F72EA4FA79B9C459194

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Active ETFs: Get Ready ‘Cause Here They Come

steve abramowitz  |  Mar 16, 2025

“I’m giving you a love that’s true
And gonna make you love me, too
So get ready, get ready
‘Cause here I come.”
adapted from “Get Ready”
The Temptations, 1966
 
The Motown rhythm and blues quartet may well have divined the arrival of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Can’t stop them now, ladies and gentlemen—they’re already here.
Leave it to the frantic asset managers who brought you the load fund and then repackaged it as no load with hidden excessive fees to invent a product to compete with the fabulously successful passive (or index) ETF.

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Like it or not, we all need to pay taxes. Seniors are no exception

R Quinn  |  Mar 16, 2025

As I do my daily social media surfing I am finding a disturbing trend- anti tax sentiment and one group or another thinking they should be exempt from taxes. We Americans are not among the highest taxed countries and despite the rhetoric, the wealthy do pay the great bulk of taxes.
Seniors seem to be the most vocal looking for tax exemption. Many feel they should be exempt from property taxes and of course, paying taxes on Social Security benefits.

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RDQ considers: A lump sum in lieu of a pension, withdrawal strategies, annuities and other mundane decisions – good luck.

R Quinn  |  Mar 15, 2025

I recently viewed an interview by Christine Benz on YouTube with the finance writer for the Washington Post.
The topic was the difficulty transitioning from saving to using money for retirement income, a topic frequently discussed on HD. The writer said she was getting ready to retire and her husband was already retired. She went on about her own thinking regarding the difficulty of transitioning from saving to spending. 
After a few minutes of the discussion about withdrawal strategies,

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Picture This

Adam M. Grossman  |  Mar 15, 2025

IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, before the invention of the printing press, a strategy for remembering information was to build a so-called memory palace. The idea was to associate words with images. Even today, this is how participants in memory competitions can achieve feats like reciting a thousand digits of pi.
Similarly, when it comes to personal finance, I’ve found that certain images can help illustrate important concepts. These are the ones I rely on the most:
1.

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What Worries You?

Jonathan Clements  |  Mar 14, 2025

As you ponder the years ahead, what’s at the top of your list of concerns? Here are 10 possibilities:

A stock market crash
Deteriorating health
Running out of money
Cuts to Social Security
Being alone
Family financial demands
Falling behind inflation
Long-term-care costs
What’ll happen after your death
Being compelled to move

Or does something else top your list of worries? Let’s hear what’s keeping you up night and what you’re doing to address your concerns.

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What Would You Take?

Dennis Friedman  |  Mar 13, 2025

In 2020, the Silverado fire broke out near our city. At the time, I couldn’t imagine that fire would threaten our home because it would have to burn a large part of our town to get to us. Surely, the firefighters would have it under control before there was mass destruction. Then, the Palisades and Eaton fires this year destroyed thousands of structures fueled by low humidity and strong winds. I now realize we might not have been as safe as I thought we were.

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