Free Retirement Plan

Just looking for some advice/tips on how to save money on my tax bill. Thanks in advance

It would help if we knew your personal circumstances. Are you employed or self employed, higher rate or basic rate taxpayer, age? married? investments?

After leaving employment, how do you collect your retirement savings plan or 401K? how long does it take to collect it?

You have a few choices to make. 1. You could leave your 401k at your previous employer but you can no longer contribute and they may start charging you, I would advise against this option. 2. You may be able to rollover your 401k into your new employer plan but that depends on the new companies policy. 3. You could take the cash, and depending on your age may have an early withdrawal penalty before 59 1/2 and be liable for taxes if you are over 59 1/2 or under. Unless it is a ROTH 401k. 4. The best option is to rollover your 401k into an IRA at your bank or through a broker you may have other investments with. In an IRA you have more options on what investments you can own. I would advise getting in contact with a investment advisor before you do anything.

I’ve been told by an advisor at the Hallifax that the reason my investment ISA went down in value is because I paid my full allocation in one lump sum. By paying the same amount in regular small amounts, I could have spread the stockmarket-related risk to the point of virtually guaranteeing 10-20% profit. This is assuming I understood the nice lady correctly! Does that sound right? If so, What’s the optimum amount to pay in? Would paying in weekly be more profitable than monthly?

if the market goes down, then yes your risk is reduce because you are averaging in, that is being able to buy more share with the same amount of allotted money.

however if the market keeps going up you’re buying less but still making money on the way up.

this type of investing is usually on a 3 to 5 year time-horizon and you should not invest money you need right now to live off and pay bills etc

there is no optimum, the market are always changing, they are the sum of everyone fear and greed…so the market is irrational and cannot be approached in a rational manner even thought many people think they know what they are doing.

i would suggest you put in a equal amount every month…most institution track the market on a weekly and/or month timeframe

I’m looking for a credit counselor who can sit down with me and look at my financial situation and help me come up with a plan to manage my debt. I need help getting out of debt but can’t seem to find any legitimate places to go to get help near Sherman Oaks, CA.
I am past due (90 days) on all of my bills except rent, cell, and car. I’ve estimated my debt is about 7k.

First don’t pay someone money to do something you can do yourself with a little time. What kind of debt are we talking and are the accounts still current?

this is in reply to additional info.

Since your already 90 days past due you could contact the creditor and ask them how to settle the account the worst they could say is no they want the full amount. Or you could wait until you receive a letter from a collection agency they are more apt to let you settle it for much less than what’s due and you could always negotiate with them to delete it from your credit profile once it’s paid. Or you can have them update your file to read pays as agreed.

I do have a sample letter you could send them once they contact you if you want it just email me.

Are these all small amounts to each creditor or do you just owe a few people?

I am in the financial services business, and have been doing this on my own full-time for 1 year, but have done internships and other work experience in this industry since 2002. My wife’s father has a very successful financial planning practice that he is wanting to slowly sell to me. He currently has about 800 families that he works with along with a large amount of 401(k) and health insurance that he manages. He wants to only work with his top 50 clients which would leave a lot of clients that I could service and work with. In other words an immediate client base plus I will get 20% of whatever business he produces to insure that I stick around. This would double my income next year and more than double it in coming years. I am good at what I do, but having an established clientele base would be huge for my career. My concerns are living close to family and having potential problems down the road with him and having a falling out. Any advice?

All reservations can be solved in a contractual agreement. That is what they are for.

Predict all possible problems in the future and write up a contract that will protect you both in case they happen.

Once you have signed the declaration for the budgeting loan how long does it take to go into your bank account? I was told once they have received the declaration they send your paymen out to your bank account but how long does that take?

normally about 5 to 10 working days, sometimes its less depends how busy they are. they normally send a letter confirming date of intended payment as well.
hope that helps