Who owns mutual funds? Advice please.

[scrapper2010]

For diversification purposes and tax benefits I am thinking about cashing out some of my PM's and opening up a Roth IRA. It looks like a split of 70/30 stocks to bonds has performed well over the last several decades. My only fear is bad timing with PMs being low and stocks near record highs.
Also does anyone have any recommendations on who to go through to purchase a Roth IRA?
I'm 38 and wife is 35, 2 kids.

[Thogey]

Just know you are going to have to pay income tax, next year, on the money you put into the roth.

[scrapper2010]

Just know you are going to have to pay income tax, next year, on the money you put into the roth.

Thanks I was not aware of that. I was under the impression that contributions to a roth ira were post tax, or already taxed. Looks like I'll need to look into it a little more.

[Thogey]

Well, it is post tax. Your money must be taxed before you put it in a roth.

I'm just sayin, if you liquidate a bunch of metal and buy into a roth, you may have to prove to the IRS that the money has been taxed.

You should consult your accountant

[scrapper2010]

Well, it is post tax. Your money must be taxed before you put it in a roth.

I'm just sayin, if you liquidate a bunch of metal and buy into a roth, you may have to prove to the IRS that the money has been taxed.

You should consult your accountant

Yes I see, that makes sense.

[NHsorter]

What if you put $100 under your mattress each paycheck for a decade or something? That is taxed money. How do you prove to the IRS that it is taxed money? Are they taking this kind of money from people routinely?

I am not a proponent of hoarding cash. I try to keep just enough "operating capital" on hand as necessary and no more.

But this does concern me. From what I seem to gather from my limited research, you are basically guilty until you prove yourself innocent with anything involving cash now. How long has it been like this? And this push to "outlaw cash" is pretty disturbing. Maybe I'm crazy, but it did not seem like it was too long ago that some people would save up cash to make a big purchase. Now it's not saving, it's "hoarding"

Sorry about going off topic, it just seems crazy. In response to your initial question I am of the opinion that metals are somewhat low and stocks are somewhat high, so it feels like a bad time to cash out of metals and invest in stocks. My recent track record sucks though so take that for what it is worth (not much)

[JerrySpringer]

For diversification purposes and tax benefits I am thinking about cashing out some of my PM's and opening up a Roth IRA. It looks like a split of 70/30 stocks to bonds has performed well over the last several decades. My only fear is bad timing with PMs being low and stocks near record highs.
Also does anyone have any recommendations on who to go through to purchase a Roth IRA?
I'm 38 and wife is 35, 2 kids.

As long as you have a job that pays above the table, you can take cash out of your bank account or put cash into your bank account to fund a Roth IRA. As discussed here many times, you start raising red flags with the banks and the fed when you structure bank deposits or take out or withdraw large sums of money. Look into Vanguard for low-cost mutual funds. Check out Bogleheads:

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php

[JerrySpringer]

Just know you are going to have to pay income tax, next year, on the money you put into the roth.

Thanks I was not aware of that. I was under the impression that contributions to a roth ira were post tax, or already taxed. Looks like I'll need to look into it a little more.

It is after-tax money. Review your tax returns from the recent years and determine if you can take advantage of the Saver's Credit for 2015 tax year:

http://www.doughroller.net/taxes/what-i ... form-8880/

[scrapper2010]

For diversification purposes and tax benefits I am thinking about cashing out some of my PM's and opening up a Roth IRA. It looks like a split of 70/30 stocks to bonds has performed well over the last several decades. My only fear is bad timing with PMs being low and stocks near record highs.
Also does anyone have any recommendations on who to go through to purchase a Roth IRA?
I'm 38 and wife is 35, 2 kids.

As long as you have a job that pays above the table, you can take cash out of your bank account or put cash into your bank account to fund a Roth IRA. As discussed here many times, you start raising red flags with the banks and the fed when you structure bank deposits or take out or withdraw large sums of money. Look into Vanguard for low-cost mutual funds. Check out Bogleheads:

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php

Thanks for the advice. I perused the bogleheads forum for a good while. Nice find! It looks just like this forum so I had to keep checking the web address to make sure I was in the right place LOL.

[creshka46]

I have a Roth IRA with Fidelity and am happy to recommend it. It was really easy to set up, you just transfer the money from your bank account. Once it's in there, there are hundreds mutual funds that you can invest in with no fee, but they require a minimum investment (most require $2500), or you can buy stocks or ETF's or bonds directly, but there is a $8 trading fee for each transaction. I believe sites like ETrade are similar.

[tdtwedt]

I like the Vanguard Fund Wellington with 65/35 stocks/bonds. It is the oldest Vanguard fund with a good record. Works well in a tax-advantaged account. You could also do a 50/50 split of Wellington/Wellesley and then rebalance at the highs and lows of the stock market. Good luck !!

[smalltimeopn]

I think your gut telling you that stocks are high right now is correct. There are many people saying that there could be a major correction just around the corner.

On the other hand, PM's are low (or fallen from the highs of several months ago). Ag can be obtained for less than mining costs. Of course Cu pennies and nickels can be obtained at face. IMO a bargain.

With that said, I opened a taxable brokerage account early this year. I knew it was high at the time and it is not a large account. I get quarterly dividends. If there was a market correction, I would try to pull some of it back but I don't know if I would close the account.

I try to read a lot (including this site although I don't post often here) and there are many opinions of what's coming from very smart and sensible people (I don't consider myself one of those - that's why I read). The truth is no one knows for sure how and when things will happen except the One who sits on the throne. He is not worried and if I trust Him, I should not be either.

This is just my opinion and I hope it helps. BTW, I did by a extra box of 12Ga yesterday. I wonder what a handful of shells may trade for?

[messymessy]

I think Vanguard is one of the best places to buy mutual funds, mostly because of their low expense ratios.

[inflationhawk]

Agreed Messy.

Just buy the vanguard 500 index fund. Keep some silver and gold so you have diversification. You'll never have to worry about tops and bottoms in any one asset class if you are diversified. You'll have winners and you'll have losers, but a diversified portfolio always wins as a whole. Don't try and outguess the market and be arrogant like many who only want to hoard metals (or stocks). It's hard to buy and hold bonds right now, but if they are of short duration you can minimize the damage when interest rates do finally go up...and they will, eventually. In the meantime those short term bonds can reduce the damage if other asset classes get hit hard. I know a lot of people that think they should hold dividend bearing stocks in place of their bond allocations, but they'll get hurt in any downdraft of the stock market more so than if they had the bonds. There is a place for every asset class, including gold and silver.

[Numis Pam]

Older post...marked for my future use..