San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

1. For traditional deductible IRAs :
Look at your past tax returns. If you contributed to a deductible IRA you should have claimed a deduction for them

2. For traditional non-deductible IRA contributions:
You should have filed Form 8606.

3. For ROTH IRA contributions:
There is no form on your tax return. Your financial institution should have the info. A ROTH IRA should be a separate account from your traditional IRA(s).

4. Despite instructions otherwise, I would keep ALL my tax return records, particularly Form 8606 for non-deductible IRAs, because this is the only way I know of to prove that the portion has already been taxed.

haha 50 is too young to be so confused... ask your doctor if you might have Alzheimer's!!! :( I hope not.

Really, you should see a financial planner. Why not seek out the help of Rich and John, the owners of this very website? It's what they do.

http://www.pcasd.com/node

Don't laugh Nostrdamus,

Even if I don't have Alzheimer's now it could be setting in by my mid-60's (runs in the family) and it scares the hell out of me.

Guess I better get this straight and in writing cause if I'm confused nobody else will be able to figure it out either!

My dad might have had Alzheimers so I don't find it a laughing matter, I was just laughing at the (intended?) humor in your post.

BTW the "ghost in the machine" which keeps track of all your contributions uses your SSN... every bank account, every IRA deposit, every tax payment, etc. goes on a record the IRS can look up using your SSN. Who knows whether they keep close watch, but they can if they want to so it's best to keep track.

yes, there was intended humor trying to deal with this frustration.
and I didn't mean to sound like I was coming back at you - sometimes I wonder if this is early onset Alzheimer's or just modern day stress/brain-clutter.
Just ment to take care of the IRA business today and didn't get it done, so I'll do last minute tomorrow

Peace, You mentioned "normally" contributing for 2 years at a time. If you do that ever year, you'll end up contributing twice what you are allowed.

I haven't talked with Rich or his colleagues, but it might be a good idea to sign up for a session with them, after you finish this year's taxes, as someone else suggested. I would if I were in your shoes. It sounds like you need professional help on your tax, and maybe other, financial planning.

I have a family history of Alzheimers too, and forget too much already, so I know how you feel.

Patient renter in OC

Alzheimers affects so many people it's something we should all be worried about. A friend who is a researcher told me once that there have been links found between exposure to metals-- like aluminum-- and Alzheimer's. Since then I never stir a metal pot with a metal utensil, and I eat with wooden chopsticks. Then again, this may just be another small thing out of many which are adding up (plastic?) in the plot to kill us.

patientrenter wrote:

"Peace, You mentioned "normally" contributing for 2 years at a time. If you do that ever year, you'll end up contributing twice what you are allowed."

C'mon, give me a break - I may be confused but I'm not stupid. I don't know how many of you have been depositing to IRA's for 33 years but, used to just find the best place to park the money and then basically forget about it, that has worked rather well over the years. Now with the economy in a shambles, and considering that we're quickly approaching retirement, I need to pay more attention. I agree that I could always use some financial advice.

Very interesting... yesterday at the bank there was no one else opening or depositing to IRA's but me. Asked the account rep about the lack of business and she said that, of course, this is usually the busiest time of the year but there had been very few depositers this year. So here is another way to track the state of the economy - how much IRA money was deposited this year?

Also, every year there are newspaper ads this time of year for banks' IRA accounts, this year I saw none.