Do We Really Need to Convert to a Roth IRA?

So you’ve created a Roth IRA because: “My accountant suggested I convert to a Roth IRA.” I get it. Sure it could make sense long-term if the growth of the portfolio is good, and if the law remains the same. That’s too many ifs for me. To feel more comfortable I’d prefer you didn’t have to deal with the issue all together as I pointed out here:

Chris [Edwards] is Cato Institute’s Director of Tax Policy Studies and editor of DownsizingGovernment.org. If you’re looking for a way to help advance the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace, you’ve found it in the Cato Institute.

Cato’s ideas are supported by facts and numbers (shocking, right?) and they’re located in the belly of the beast of Washington D.C., where good ideas normally die from complication.

You and I know retirement accounts are too complicated. Thanks to rules made by out of touch politicians, too much time is used thinking about rules rather than investments.

Take the Roth IRA for example. Every time I talk about the rules with investors I feel like I’m going to hit a trip wire. As if saving money weren’t hard enough.

Chris and my favorite “tell it the way it was” author Amity Shlaes (The Forgotten Man, Coolidge) explain in the Wall Street Journal that a retirement savings idea we could use is already working in Canada. It’s called the Tax-Free Savings account. Here it would be called The Universal Savings account and implementation wouldn’t need a revamping of the tax system.

“Congress can simply expand eligibility and lift limits on the Roth IRA format,” write Edwards and Schlaes. This is not rocket science. But Washington has made it seem like it is. Thanks to freedom fighters like Amity Shlaes, Chris Edwards and others found at Cato, you and I will never be forgotten.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.