So I'm fairly new to investing, and I listen to a lot of podcasts about finance and I write down all the questions I come up with as I listen. Below are some of my questions, ranging many different topics, some basic and some not. I appreciate all attempts to answer any questions, even if you can't answer them all.
1. As per
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/articles/Taxes-Whats-New, assuming my taxable income as MFJ stays below $74,900, is it correct to say that all investments in my taxable accounts will grow tax free, the same way as in a Roth IRA?
2. Do capital gains
add to taxable income, or is my capital gains rate 0% as long as my non-capital gains taxable income is under $74,900 for MFJ?
3. If I cross into the 25% tack bracket, do I pay 15% of all my capital gains or only some of it? If so, how is the amount that is and isn't taxed at 15% determined?
4. Why are tax-deferred investments almost always presented as better than a taxable account? Assuming the same tax bracket throughout someone's life time, wouldn't it be better to pay taxes up front and only pay the capital gains rate than the ordinary rate on everything when you retire?
5. Is there any sort of calculator or spreadsheet (that you're aware of) that will simply show the difference between a roth ira and traditional ira? If not, could you show a basic example?
6. If I withdraw principle from a Roth IRA for whatever reason, can I put that amount of money back in the roth ira at any point in time with the reinvesting not counting towards the contribution limit?
7. Is there a best and worst time to buy a mutual fund, stock, or ETF in relation to the x-dividend date or any other date? Could you explain why or why not (ie. tax implications)?
8. If I put money in a SEP IRA today, is this money rollable into a roth ira? If so, what's the earliest I can roll it in? And does the rolled amount count towards the contribution limits? Anything dangerous about doing this?
9. Do you have to pay any taxes when converting any type of account into a Roth IRA? If so, are there any strategies to avoid or limit the taxes?
10. How exactly do mutual funds compound? Is it annually, monthly, daily?
11. Is tax loss harvesting relevant only to taxable accounts, or can it apply to deductible IRAs?
12. Do stocks, ETFS, or mutual funds earn
interest, or do only bonds earn interest? In other words, if you buy a stock or mutual fund and it goes up by 5%, you would say you earned 5% of _______?
13. If I google the ticker AAPL, using the little stock widget that pops up and click on the "5 YEAR" tab, and highlight the whole line graph for 5 years to where it shows 285.46% (as of now), can I divide that number by 5 and say that is the average annual return for past 5 years, or is that not the correct way to do it?
14. Risk tolerance aside, should everyone own some level of bonds? Is there proof to show that you would earn more in the long term by having bonds?
15. Not exactly an investment question, but hopefully someone can answer: Is it true that if I turn my sole proprietorship into an s-corp, that I could play less self employment taxes by paying myself a salary less than the business' net income, giving myself the rest of the net income in a dividend, and thus keep more money after tax? If so, could you explain this in a straightforward way?
Thanks for your help.
pbc561