Articles by Oakleigh Wealth
Asset Location, Location, Location…
Say you want to plant a vegetable garden, and you’ve already picked out the right mix of plants that are suited to your particular climate. The next step is to figure out where to put them in the garden given considerations like soil quality, shading, and which plants do well together. Just like certain vegetables do best in certain spots in the garden, different investments grow best in certain accounts. The goal of asset location is to maximize the after-tax value of your wealth after you’ve selected the right mix of investments for your time horizon and risk tolerance, (a process known as asset allocation).
The Backdoor Roth (and the Risks Involved)
Roth IRA accounts are one of the most tax efficient retirement savings vehicles. But if your income is over the phase-out limits, you will not be able to contribute directly to your Roth IRA. Enter the so-called “backdoor Roth,” a loophole which allows you to add to your Roth IRA when your income is otherwise over the limit. BUT… it doesn’t come without risk.
Retirement Savings Waterfall
With so many different types of savings and investment accounts available, it can be hard to know where to put the money you’re diligently saving. This savings waterfall will help you capture various tax incentives, which when compounded over many years, can add up to make a significant difference. The basic idea is that you fill up each bucket before going to the next, and if the bucket doesn’t apply to you, move on to the next.
Invest or pay off debt?
No one likes the feeling of being indebted, whether it’s actual debt (student loans, mortgages, credit card…), or more generally in the sense of feeling an obligation to return some favor. And as this opening observation demonstrates, the decision of whether to pay down debt is often as much one of emotion as it is cold financial math. Therefore, answering the question of whether I should pay down my mortgage early or try to invest the savings in the market requires looking at both the math and the emotion of debt.