Sunday, April 30, 2017

Turning Bullish

"Don't fight the tape." ~ Wall Street Adage

To be this has become a market of winning stocks and losing stocks.   The winners keep winning and the losers keep losing.   It's time to put more money into winners.

Examples of winners:  Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet, Priceline, Tesla.

Examples of losers:   Under Armour, Gilead, Seadrill, Tidewater, J.C. Penney.

For me, it's tough to put money into these winning stocks.  Often, they have already advanced significantly, have high P/Es and seem very expensive.  I prefer to buy stocks on sale, but this seems to be a buy high and sell higher market.    So I'm going to go along for the ride.

I've made a list of stocks to buy as new positions or to increase holdings and will begin acquiring shares this week.

Disclosure:   At the time of posting, we own shares of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet, Priceline, Under Armour, Gilead, Seadrill, Tidewater, and J.C. Penney.

For more on  New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2017 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Paying Zero Federal Income Taxes in Retirement

"People would rather stick a pin in their eye than think about taxes after April 15th."  ~ me

My goal over the next few years is to pay as zero federal income tax.   And it will be 100% legal.

How am I doing it?

Income Source
First, since we are retired, we can manage where income is derived and choose a source that is most tax efficient, dividends and long term capital gains, which has a special federal tax rate of 0% for taxpayers in the 15% tax bracket.

Itemized Deductions
Second, we have itemized deductions that can reduce ordinary income (wages, rents, IRA distributions) by 1/2. I am still not old enough to collect Social Security, but deductions can also reduce the amount included in adjusted gross income (AGI).

Tax Credits
Third, we have two children that each qualify for a $1000 child tax credit.  This enables us to eliminate any remaining income tax after itemized deductions.

These are legitimate strategies for reducing one's taxes.  I also know that tax laws may change and eliminate any or all of the three strategies that we plan to use.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2017 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Saturday, April 08, 2017

A Hard to Make Money Stock Market

This is a frustrating stock market.   The market is pricing in high expectations for Trump's administration and the Republican congress, despite no concrete results being delivered.  The advancing stocks are narrow.  Investors do not seem to have any conviction.

As a result, the market indices are trading sideways in a narrow band.   It's kind of like watching paint dry.  Not very exciting.

In addition, only a few stocks (e.g. Amazon, Facebook, and Apple) are are making significant advances.  The rest are flat or even falling.

The good news is that most of our accounts are near their highs.   The bad news is that these accounts are not achieving new highs.   So our accounts are not growing.

For now, I have no confidence in the market direction, nor any confidence that Trump and congress will meet expectations.   I will wait for a more clear market direction before putting any significant amount of funds back into stocks.

For more on  Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2017 Achievement Catalyst, LLC