wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:27:04 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:


wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:13:47 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:


wrote in message
m...
On Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:28:29 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

You're speculating about future taxes with no basis for the
speculation.
But you're a speculator.

The debt is 14 trillion, they will either have to raise taxes or
monetize the debt and inflate this money away.




?? Not sure what you're trying to say. We're at historically low tax
rates.
Taxes will likely rise. Not sure what the national debt has to do with
the
strategy I outlined.


I am saying the same thing you just said. Taxes are going to go up. It
would behoove people to lock in their gains at the lower rate but if
many people try to do it, the gains will go away. That is the classic
game of chicken. I just think the cliff is in December so the question
is only, "when do you jump out of the car"?

Firstly, it's not much of a speculation that taxes will likely go up...
as
I
said, several times, and again... they are at historic lows.

Speculation was your word.

Nope. I never used that word. I said it's likely that taxes will rise.

Who wrote the top quote here?

"You're speculating about future taxes with no basis for the
speculation.
But you're a speculator."

There's no way to "lock in your gains" at the lower rate, unless you're
talking about a Roth conversion, and not everyone can do that or should
do
that. There are other strategies, one of which I outlined that can
reduce
tax payout.

I have equities too but even if I simply cashed out my 401k it might
be better than waiting to see what the tax man would do to me down the
road.

Feel free. I doubt you'll be doing that.

I do believe I can roll into a roth tho.

Well, you can. The question is, is it worth it. Are you going to make up
for
the taxes you'll have to pay when you front-load... that's the question.
Usually, that sort of move is best for fairly young people.

I am not sure I am going to mess with my 401k but I will have my
finger on the trigger for a few of my stocks.

Investing in individual stocks is a very risky business. It can be a
full-time job to time things properly.


What else do I have to do? I am retired. It is really not that hard to
track 4 or 5 stocks. These days with the internet you can find out
things used to take days to dig out in seconds.

The "cliff" in December will likely be for those over $250K/year. It's
highly doubtful that a Democrat would vote for a tax increase for lower
and
middle class taxpayers just prior to an election.


I have already said, my real guess is they will just extend the cuts,
unaltered for a year and deal with it next year after the election. It
is in the GOP's interest to do that and there are enough blue dogs to
make it stick.

Yes, it's possible. It's in the GOP's interest to protect their rich
benefactors.


The GOP are not the only ones taking big money contributions. Both
parties are beholden to essentially the same people. The whole idea of
small individual contributors falls apart when you learn about
bundlers.

The GOP aren't the only ones, but they are certainly the most strident when
it comes to protecting those big money interests.