Inflation? Deflation? Can Palin help our friend Ben?
This week, Canadian Finance Blog offers Tips To Prevent Running Out Of Money In Retirement. Some advice and a warning to be careful about how you choose your post retirement withdrawal level.
Len Penzo touches on The Fed’s Disgraceful War on Average Americans. QE2 anyone? Will all this money thrown into the system propel the next economic upturn or simply spark inflation? We’ll see.
The Oblivious Investor discussed 401(k) or IRA? What to Do If Your 401(k) Stinks. Some excellent insight, as a 401(k) with poor choices of investments or high expenses within the funds can quickly negate any tax benefits you hope to achieve.
Darren guesting at Money Help For Christians gives 4 Tips to Pay Off Your Debt ASAP. Some basic advice thats worth repeating. Those cards can carry some crazy high rates, pay them off and save a bundle.
Kevin at Out of Your Rut tells us why Your Kid Doesn’t Need a New Car. He actually offers five reasons to rethink your decision if you are going down this path. Good article Kevin, as I tweeted you, J2 will get her mom’s ten year old car when she starts driving.
Last, BSimple at Simple Financial Lifestyle posted Simple Weekend Reading – Retirement Edition, a nice roundup I was proud to be included in. Thanks, B.
Remember to change your clock – spring ahead, fall back!
This sums up the results of this week’s elections, I’d say. Although it seemed the financial markets approved of the results.
Joe
The IRS has announced the 2011 cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items.
401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plans all have limits unchanged at $16,500. The catch-up provision for those 50 and older is also unchanged at $5,500.
The single and head of household phaseout for traditional IRA deductability is unchanged at $56,000-$66,000 and for married filing joint, it goes up slightly to $90,000-$110,000. The IRA deposit itself is still at $5,000 or $6000 for those 50 and over.
The Roth IRA phaseout is $169,000 to 179,000 for married couples filing jointly, up from $167,000 to $177,000 in 2010. For singles and heads of household, the income phase-out range is $107,000 to $122,000, up from $105,000 to $120,000.
Last, the Social Security Wage Base remains at $106,800. If you are fortunate enough to make more than this, income above this amount is not subject to the FICA withholding (but is subject to Medicare withholding which has no limit.
Joe
Subject to revision, the Q3 GDP was up 2.0% as compared to the Q2 growth of 1.7%. The first revision will be published November 23, and a final number in December. While 2% is nothing to write home about, and certainly not the 5% number we saw in Q4 of last year, it’s still positive, and I’ll take slow growth in these uncertain times over a double dip any day.
Joe