1. Grab all the tax-free money you can. If your company matches your 401(k) contributions, sock away at least as much as it takes to get your employer's full contribution. Otherwise, it's like walking away from free money.
2. Expect tax rates to rise. If it makes sense to dump a stock or other long-term investment, sell before the tax bite gets bigger than today's low capital-gains rates.
3. Tax-deferred investments aren't always the best option. A mutual fund with low costs and smart management of its gains should beat a tax-deferred annuity with similar performance but high fees because the annuity turns its profits into ordinary income.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
4. Paying some tax now can save you far more later. The obvious example is converting from a regular IRA to a Roth IRA. You'll pay income taxes now on the amount you convert but nothing after you've retired on the earnings your Roth generates.
For more ways to make more and keep more ...
Growth Stocks
Retirement Savings
-
What Is a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD)?Tax Breaks A QCD can lower your tax bill while meeting your charitable giving goals in retirement. Here’s how.
-
Embracing Generative AI for Financial SuccessGenerative AI has the potential to reshape how we approach learning about and managing our personal finances.
-
Best Banks for High-Net-Worth Clients 2024wealth management These banks welcome customers who keep high balances in deposit and investment accounts, showering them with fee breaks and access to financial-planning services.
-
Stock Market Holidays in 2024 and 2025: NYSE, NASDAQ and Wall Street HolidaysMarkets When are the stock market holidays? Here, we look at which days the NYSE, Nasdaq and bond markets are off in 2024 and 2025.
-
Stock Market Trading Hours: What Time Is the Stock Market Open Today?Markets When does the market open? While the stock market does have regular hours, trading doesn't necessarily stop when the major exchanges close.
-
Bogleheads Stay the CourseBears and market volatility don’t scare these die-hard Vanguard investors.
-
Kiplinger's Tax Map for Middle-Class Families: About Our Methodologystate tax The research behind our judgments.
-
The Current I-Bond Rate Until May Is Mildly Attractive. Here's Why.Investing for Income The current I-bond rate is active until November 2024 and presents an attractive value, if not as attractive as in the recent past.
-
What Are I-Bonds? Inflation Made Them Popular. What Now?savings bonds Inflation has made Series I savings bonds, known as I-bonds, enormously popular with risk-averse investors. So how do they work?
-
This New Sustainable ETF’s Pitch? Give Back Profits.investing Newday’s ETF partners with UNICEF and other groups.
