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11:24

Kim Quillen, T-P - Good morning and welcome to today's online chat with John Gin. John will be taking your questions about investing and year-end tax planning. Feel free to begin posting your questions now. John will begin answering them at 12 noon.

11:58

[Comment From Ryan]
My father just passed away a few weeks ago. his money was in a retirement account, should my mother roll it into an ira, take it out (tax hits), or just leave it where it is?

12:04

John Gin - Ryan, I'm sorry to hear about your dad's passing. Since I don't know your mom's situation, rolling over the retirement into an IRA gives your mom the most flexibility. I would have your mom get some advice to see what options will fit her personal situation the best.

12:04

[Comment From Mike]
I have a small business. I may have a surplus at the end of the. I have already put 2200 into a trad. ira. Should I invest max or is there another way to not pay taxes on my profits? I want to save for retirement , but money is a little tight this year. What should I do?

12:09

John Gin - Mike, I would fully fund your IRA for the year because you will have the money and it will reduce your taxes. We can always find a reason not to invest, but funding your IRA and saving taxes for your retirement is a combination that's hard to beat.

12:09

[Comment From Kelly]
What sorts of year-end tax moves should I be considering? I'm 44, and don't have a lot of debt. In recent years I've had my fair share of investment losses. I don't expect those losses to be as bad this year, but I will likely still have some losses this year. Any suggestions as to tax considerations I should be making?

12:17

John Gin - Kelly, I would start by looking at your overall portfolio and seeing if you are happy with your investments. Most people can stand to tweak their asset allocation a bit and one of the ways to benefit from year-end investment is to make lemonade from lemons. If you have investments that no longer fit in your portfolio and there are unrealized capital losses, sell those investments and use the proceeds to reallocate your portfolio. Taking losses now will allow you to offset any year-end surprise capital gain distributions. The key is to really know and understand your portfolio in regards to your original goals and objectives.

12:17

[Comment From ellis marsalis]
my wife and I are in our seventies. We are on social security and we have some liquid assets, own our home and would like advice on investments and tax information.

12:25

John Gin - Hi, Ellis M. The best advice I can give you is to seek the wisdom of others via the T-P business section, various financial websites like Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc. You may want to use an online financial retirement calculator to see how long your assets will last. The better you develop a sense of the big picture, the better you will comprehensive understand your own financial situation. Good luck. It's a never ending challenge to stay current!

12:25

[Comment From Maxine]
My husband and I are nearing retirement and we have accumulated a nest egg of approximately 1 million dollars. That money is presently invested in short term CD's making very little interest. We would like to invest this money where we could get a decent return percentage but not have a lot of risk. We will need this money to live on for the rest of our lives. Any recommendations on how to invest this cash?

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