All Forum Posts by: Scott Jensen

@Sterling Hiebert I have no idea why they wouldn’t show the contributions. As @Colleen F. mentioned, it would be best to call TD Ameritrade and ask them how much you contributed for each year. I would then explain to them what happened and have them help you recharacterize your contributions to IRA contributions.

The process for calculating earnings is laid out in IRS Publication 590a under Recharacterizations. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590a#en_US_2019_publink1000230678 If you were making monthly contributions…you should technically do this calculation for each contribution.

There’s no tax and no penalty if you do this before you file your taxes. (other than the tax on earnings)

Good idea. I don't see why this couldn't be converted to a Roth via the Back-Door Contribution. Make sure that you don't have any other IRA money in existence, or it will be a taxable conversion. Make sure you follow the rules. :-) There's no reason to set up a separate Roth to do a backdoor Roth contribution though, you can just convert it to your Roth as usual.

I wouldn’t think you would run into any fees with this. I like Fidelity.

Final Note: This is a super complicated set of transactions so don’t feel bad if it gets messed up. And do not be surprised if you get a letter from the IRS in a year or so. It’s not a huge deal, just make sure you are following the rules and give them the additional information they need or correct anything that needs correcting. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

P.S. This is just a forum post, not tax, legal, or financial advice. You're not my client, and its not my fault if you screw it up, lol.

@Anthony Vargas as @Daniel Anshus mentioned, its good to defer this question to a knowledgeable CPA like @John Woodrich.

Based on my experience, you cannot deduct travel expenses prior to purchasing a property. After you purchase a property you can add the prior travel expenses to the basis of the property and then the expense would be depreciated with the rest of the property. There may be exceptions to this so ask a good CPA.

@Jeffrey Muth Jr For my kids I keep it relatively simple. If they have any earned income I contribute to a Custodial Roth for them, otherwise you can use an UTMA account. For either of these accounts, you have control of the investments until the child reaches the age of majority in their state (18-21 depending on the state). 

I keep it simple and invest with Fidelity since they're really low cost and in my opinion have WAY better customer service than Vanguard. For the kids I have just been using their Fidelity Zero Funds. There's pros and cons though, so do your research.

As my kids get a little bit older I think I will buy an individual stock or two that they are familiar with so they have a more tangible grasp of what they are investing in.

Of course, as @Todd Rasmussen mentioned, if the kid has a small business, investing into their own business can have great returns and be a wonderful learning opportunity.

@Megan Wildhood  XYPN and NAPFA are a good spot to start. I would recommend looking for a fee only CFP. Let me know if you want me to try to find someone local for you. I run a real estate investing study group for financial advisors that has about 30 members across the US.

https://www.xyplanningnetwork....

https://www.napfa.org/find-an-...

@Haritha N.  I would encourage you NOT to find all of those services under one firm. A CPA, financial advisor, and attorney should all be a bit critical of each other's work to add checks and balances. I have a client in Seattle and we have been happy with the work their CPA has done. Let me know if you want their information.

@Caleb Wilson I generally recommend Brad Schaeppi at MN Landlord Law for legal .  minnesotalandlordlaw.com  and @John Woodrich for taxes.

@Eric W. In my opinion, wealth is built through stocks and small business ownership. For BP folks, real estate investing is the small business of choice. 

I would recommend reading Scott Trench's Set for Life, John Bogle's Little Book of Common Sense Investing, and Gary Keller's The Millionaire Real Estate Investor (in that order).  Also, for managing properties, Brandon Turner's Book on Managing Rental Properties is really good.

@Chad Duncan To me it sounds like a cool idea. Are you working with a compliance person on the RIA side?  There is no way to eliminate all conflicts of interest. Make sure you have a good way of disclosing any conflicts and how your pricing structure works.

P.S. Let me know if you're joining XYPN (or if you're already a member). I started a study group for XYPN Advisors that specialize in advising real estate investors.

@Matt Maupin Your math checks out. :-)

@Scott Blackwill 15 years would be about $136,500 per year. 20 years would be about $83,500.

What are the closing costs and interest rate for the existing and new loan?  Doing a refinance to get $14,000 alone doesn't seem worth it to me.  If the rate is considerably lower, the closing costs are reasonable, or you have another project lined up and you really need the $14k it could be worth doing.