That is the largest pension paid out last year to any city government retiree, and second in Monroe County only to the retired regional director of the state Department of Transportation, an analysis of state and local pension records shows.
This firefighter’s 40-plus years in the Fire Department would, itself, have insured a substantial pension. but he was able to maximize the benefit through a system critics say is built to be exploited and has been by governments and workers alike.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is seeking payroll and other data from …

Congratulations. You just bought Bear Stearns. You, me and all taxpayers.
Their Bear Stearns, your money

Q: My traditional IRA has been funded with both pretax and post-tax monies. I understand the taxable basis of any conversion is based on the ratio of the original contributions (plus earnings). if I convert a fraction of my IRA, do I need to keep exacting records on the ratio and which specific stock/mutual funds I converted? Does that ratio apply to all remaining stock/mutual funds when I compute my taxable basis when I hit 70½? how do I compute my taxable basis if some stock/mutual funds end with a …

* there is still time for a 2009 IRA. if you didn’t make contributions to an IRA in 2009, you can still set up and contribute to an IRA for 2009. The deadline for doing so is April 15, 2009. an IRA is a great way to save for your retirement, while you cut your current tax bill.
* if your 2009 IRA wasn’t fully funded by Dec. 31, 2009, and you make any IRA contributions prior to April 15, 2010, designate to the bank or trustee that these 2010 contributions …

Cyclical changes in the stock market, economy and bank and government-base investments could be pretty damaging. Diversifying retirement portfolio by the means of IRA real estate investing will allow you to deal successfully with the problems mentioned above. through income production and capital gains you could generate better than market rate returns, while real estate investments hold the potential to protect against the loss of principal.
When real estate investments are leveraged, both income and capital gains can flow back to IRA tax-deferred or tax-free if the IRA is a Roth …

Congratulations. You just bought Bear Stearns. You, me and all taxpayers.
Their Bear Stearns, your money

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Grant Thornton LLP has released last-minute strategies that could help tax payers to avoid common filing season hassles and possibly uncover savings that may have been overlooked. the firm cautions tax payers that even though the filing deadline is upon us, there’s no need to panic.
“You can’t go back and change what happened last year, but believe it or not, there are still things you can do now to affect your 2009 tax return,” said Grant Thornton tax partner Mel Schwarz. “There are also several tax law changes that …

BOSTON — If the high number of phone calls to mutual-fund firms and the comments posted to articles on the subject are any sign, savers are showing a lot of interest in converting their traditional IRAs into Roth IRAs, but they should be wary about acting on that desire too hastily because some expensive traps are waiting for the ill-informed.
“Roth conversions can trigger unintended tax traps and financial problems that are not being addressed in the mounds of 2010 Roth conversion information that currently dominates the media,” Ed Slott wrote …

TAX TIP no. 16
January is not your mail carrier’s favorite time of the year.
U.S. Postal Service delivery bags are overloaded right now with statements from employers, banks, stockbrokers and other institutions and agencies that were involved in taxpayers’ financial lives last year. Each of these groups has, by law, until Jan. 31 (or the next business day when that date falls on a holiday or, as it does in 2010, a weekend) to get their annual tax statements in the mail to taxpayers.
The one bit of relief for postal workers …

You can move wealth from a company pension plan, a 401(k) or traditional Individual Retirement Account into a traditional IRA without owing any taxes in what’s known as a “rollover.” This is a plain vanilla, rollover–not the conversion of a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA you’ve heard so much about. (In a conversion, you take money out of a traditional IRA, pay taxes on it, and then deposit it in a Roth, where it grows tax free.) yet a surprising number of taxpayers make mistakes when doing a simple …