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Talking stocks, trading, and investing in general

ellsbebc

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I'm no expert, but I've read Roth IRAs are better because they don't count for assets for financial aid qualification. I believe you can pay your kid the $5250/yr and contribute it to their Roth. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

In order to contribute to an IRA, you must have earned income. Believe this must be via 1099 or W-2.

Thanks for the tips. I will have to look into the Roth situation.

Below is a WSJ article from 2012 so some data may be outdated. It addresses the common scenarios of an overfunded or unused 529 plan.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204542404577159311576663798
 
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jbarwick

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I knew of the earned income issue for a standard Roth IRA, just didn't know about an education version which sounds like is not an option. I will still look into it as things seem to change regularly. Tennessee has one of the better rated 529 offerings so I will have to look more into that now that I have some free time after finishing my CPA yesterday.

The positive is that my wife works for the Medical Center which shares its name with a very respected school here in Nashville and they provide a very nice tuition discount if our kids go there assuming she stays there and they get in. I don't see her leaving that job as it is pretty cushy and not stressful.
 

Concordia

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In order to contribute to an IRA, you must have earned income.  Believe this must be via 1099 or W-2.
W-2, or at least, "earned" income. Investment income (1099) won't make it.
 
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GreenFrog

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Concordia

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This only applies to a few, but if you know that you won't have a shot at financial aid (i.e., you're in 1% land), then there's a real case not to use 529s. Apart from the fees and administrative nuisances, 529s soak up your annual tax-free gift amount. If you keep the money yourself and pay it directly to the college, you can effectively drain your estate free of any gift or generation-skipping tax. You'd then still have the option of making an annual gift to the minor's trust. This is less important now that we're effectively subsidizing estates as large as $20mm (for couples), but it is still worth thinking about.
 
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brokencycle

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I'm no expert either. I do have a 529 for my kid, for what that's worth. I believe there are more limitations on contributions to a Roth, so if it's an either/or situation the 529 plan can be good if there are going to be years where you may want to make bigger contributions (your income varies, your or the kid may come into a small inheritance, etc.)

I tend to think most of the "which one is better" articles are somewhere on the continuum from stupid to intellectually dishonest. First off, I don't think there's any reason you can't establish both. And people's circumstances vary widely, so broad generalizations tend to be unreliable. But you don't get clicks for an article that says, "It really depends on your individual circumstances and value trade-offs". You get clicks for articles that say, "OMG THe Eleventy Rules You Must Follow To Make Sure Your Child Will Be Able To Pay For Collage!!!"

I get the concern about college changing, etc. If your child doesn't go to college or gets a fencing scholarship or something, you can withdraw that money for other uses. Yes, you'll have to pay some taxes/penalties on it. In my mind, though, that risk is part of the price I'm willing to pay to have that money stashed away for college. If it turns out that I've over-funded my daughter's future educational expenses and take a bit of a haircut on the resulting refund, I'll be OK with that.

To circle back to my either/or point -- the one piece of general advice is I feel confident giving is that you should establish both. Each type of account can be started with a nominal amount. There's no penalty for contributing less than the maximum. Family circumstances can change, tax laws can change, and the education landscape can change. I'm a big fan of diversifying among strategies. If a Roth seems the better option for your family, you can throw 99% of the available funds that way. But given the opportunity to spread my eggs among several strategic baskets, I'd almost always opt to do so.


Sound advice.
 

GreenFrog

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Oil stocks seem to keep crashing further and further, although I guess that is to be expected. Long term there is probably some very good but very high risk money on the table if you can pick the survivors. CHK is a good example of a company I had high hopes for, but only really had/has only short term liquidity. CORR is a stock/REIT I really like right now.

I'm personally surprised to see VRX going as low as it is, but obviously there is bias there. Putting myself in the shoes of an outside investor I probably would have avoided it without serious research into the potential legal issues. TRN comes to mind as an analog I invested in. I took a beating for a while before making a good profit.
Momentum is a really powerful force which I said to you GreenFrog, my exact words were "Sentiment should scare you, because that can drive the price lower". If you are a long term investor the day price should not matter. If you'd rather day trade the patterns themselves are pretty classic. 


Watch this video -- pretty educational (for me at least).



I hope his rather pessimistic viewpoints don't play out, but if they do, we're looking at a fairly valued stock right now, lmao.

--

in other news, futures are decidedly negative already. Must be the reaction to France? Monday should be interesting.
 
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SkinnyGoomba

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MNKD, huh.... I originally started buying under $3, then got a little worried for a few days and have been steadily buying down, today it popped like 20% and I think I'll sell half and hang onto the rest for around $3.5 with some luck. Tiny part of my plays but this one is jumpy.


I'm a little pissed that a few of my picks like say WMT dropped and have just been moving sideways for a while with no sign of even any recovery. I was hoping I'd bought on an oversell and bought for a quick flip but so far it's going nowhere.


WMT must be a long term play in my opinion. They lowered guidance which is why the stock dropped to begin with, a company like WMT is not going to turn around and say they are raising guidance without something to drive them to do so and that, along with a very good black friday are about the only things I see in the near(ish) term that are boosting their performance.

Look at how long I have been buying oil, these things can go on for a while :D
 

chogall

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WMT must be a long term play in my opinion. They lowered guidance which is why the stock dropped to begin with, a company like WMT is not going to turn around and say they are raising guidance without something to drive them to do so and that, along with a very good black friday are about the only things I see in the near(ish) term that are boosting their performance.

Look at how long I have been buying oil, these things can go on for a while :D


WMT is at the losing end of the gentrification battle. Their customers are the hourly paid but performance based slave workers at AMZN fulfillment centers.

If gentrification continues, there's little hope for WMT to turn around. Those newly minted millionaires and billionaires are probably not and most likely won't be customer of WMT.

And when gentrification reverses, most likely during a period of deleveraging or recession, WMT's customers will also suffer still, alongside with WMT's valuation.

Maybe hedging WMT with AMZN will be a good idea.
 

jbarwick

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If people are gentrifying out of WMT, wouldn't TGT be the next best bet? I understand the AMZN argument but how many people are buying paper towels and TP from AMZN? It's not like you run out of TP and wait a day for it to arrive.
 

GreenFrog

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This is all anecdotal, but I know so many people who just get their pantries and towels and **** delivered to them on a schedule from Amazon.
 
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chogall

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This is all anecdotal, but I know so many people who just get their pantries and towels and **** delivered to them on a schedule from Amazon.

For sure there are people paying premium prices on Amazon for the perceived convenience.

But what are the demographics/income levels of those you know thats buying household supplies on Amazon???
 

GreenFrog

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For sure there are people paying premium prices on Amazon for the perceived convenience.

But what are the demographics/income levels of those you know thats buying household supplies on Amazon???


Busy, older professionals who make above average incomes.

Point taken :satisfied:
 
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lawyerdad

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Busy, older professionals who make above average incomes.

Point taken :satisfied:

Confirmed.
Not sure what "perceived convenience" is. Room for reasonable disagreement of course on how to value that, but ordering a bulk package of tp or paper towels off Amazon, having it show up on my doorstep the next day, and then being set for a month or two is a concrete comvenience for me.
 

SkinnyGoomba

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And WMT is lifted a few % today by good earnings. Afraid a missed the boat on this one....for now.
 

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