4-minute Money Ideas

Did You Get an Unpleasant Surprise From Your Stateside Broker? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel   When your stateside broker sent you a surprise letter, did it contain good news? Many Americans in Israel (and non-Americans, too) have received a letter from their U.S. investment firm or bank informing them that they need to close out their account. In some cases, the brokerage firm does not shut down the account, but limits its services because the client no longer lives in the United States.   10-step solution I recently produced a toolkit, which you can download for free, which answers the most common questions about handling American accounts from Israel. One of the most popular sections of the toolkit is called, “10 Steps to Opening a U.S. Brokerage Account.” Get this great resource at www.Profile-Financial.com/Toolkit.   A quick and easy solution Though some investment problems may be insurmountable, don’t worry if you get a letter

How to Grow Your Money Twice as Fast: Save More By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel What’s the best way to save, and how much money should you save?   As a panelist on the “Money Tree Investing Podcast,” I recently answered a question about how to invest monthly savings. Here’s what I advised:   Save more Before discussing specific investment tactics, I suggested doubling the amount of money the listener was saving. My experience as a financial advisor has taught me that many folks don’t save as much as they can. One common rule of thumb is to save 20% of your income. If you reach that level or more, you’re well on your way to building serious wealth.   Choose investments carefully There are two principles that every investor should follow:   Keep in mind your time frame: Long-term investors can be more aggressive than short-term investors because they have time on their side to recover from potential losses. Though past performance is no

If you worked in America before your move to Israel, chances are you have an IRA account. What should you do with this American account if you live an ocean away?   Should you transfer your retirement accounts to Israel? An IRA is an “Individual Retirement Account.” There are several categories of IRA, including traditional, Roth, Simple, and SEP IRAs. The main differences between them relate to when taxes are paid. (Check with your accountant about your own situation since this article does not constitute tax advice.)   Another common type of retirement account in the United States is the 401(k), which is a “defined contribution” plan. Contributions to the account are deducted from your paycheck and you only pay tax on them when you make a withdrawal. Sometimes contributions are matched by employers, which make it an especially sweet way to save. However, when you work in Israel, you normally cannot continue contributing to the plans (unless you are employed by an American company). However, if you had such

Should Your American Assets Stay in the United States?  By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel When making aliya, many olim move their American assets to Israel and convert all their dollars to shekels. However, there is a strong case to be made for leaving your dollars in America. Here’s why: Efficiency U.S. securities markets may still be the most efficient, and individual-investor friendly in the world. You can have a diversified basket of global assets within a “regular” U.S. brokerage account, and do it cost effectively. America has an established market, with steady government regulations and investor protection programs like SIPC, protecting the investor and his assets. Diversification A U.S. brokerage account can host a variety of investment vehicles in American or global companies. Furthermore, you can have checks, debit cards, and other instant access to your funds, even if you are an ocean away. Mutual funds Mutual funds are an eas

Why Gender Bias is a Good Thing in Financial Planning By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel One area where gender bias isn’t discussed enough is in financial planning. Financial planning for women must be different than for men. What do women need to know when planning their financial future? Women work fewer years than men Even though men are more involved with domestic duties than in previous generations, typically women take time off after childbirth more often than men take paternity leave. When children are young, mothers are more likely than fathers to work part-time or to stop working entirely for a few years. Women’s pension savings tend to be smaller than men’s, due to fewer and shorter work years.  Compound this with the difficulty of advancing in careers due to working part-time or non-consistently, and the result is that many women have less money saved than their male colleagues. Women live longer Statistically, women tend to li

Is Risk Management the Best Financial Strategy? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel What is risk management, and how does it affect your investment decisions? Every investment is risky Every investment carries a chance of making a profit – and a risk of sustaining a loss. However, some investments are riskier than others. Generally speaking, the more profitable investments contain the most risk; if an investment can potentially make a high profit, it can also cause just as much of a loss. So if you’re thinking about an investment that could give a high return, ask yourself if you could handle that level of loss if it doesn’t work out. Is it worth taking a chance? If you’re afraid of risk, you may prefer to play it safe by keeping all your money in a savings account in the bank. You won’t make much profit as interest rates are low, but at least you minimize your chances of losing money. Savings accounts, money markets, and CDs offer protect

Estate Planning: What Happens to Your Money After You Die? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel One of the most important issues in estate planning is what happens to your money after you die. How quickly your heirs receive the inheritance depends largely on your estate planning. (If you’re having any difficulties with an inheritance, please email me at doug@profile-financial.com.) 3 things to consider when planning your estate When setting up U.S. IRA and brokerage accounts for clients who live in Israel, I ask them to consider what will happen when they no longer need their money. Here’s where to start: Provide beneficiaries for your retirement accounts. Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), 401(k) plans, and many other retirement and insurance programs can be transferred to heirs via a beneficiary designation, and therefore do not need to be included in a will. When you fill in the new account paperwork, provide details about who shoul

Avoid These Common Mistakes When You Receive an Inheritance By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel A new client recently told me, “My late father left me an inheritance of an IRA (Individual Retirement Account) worth $1.5 million, and I’m the sole beneficiary. What should I do with it? If I bring the money to Israel, I’ll have to sell the stocks and wire the money to my account here. But if I do that, I’ll have to pay tax in the United States and maybe Israel, too.” Unfortunately, many beneficiaries make costly money mistakes. Read about the mistakes you should avoid if one day you receive an inheritance, and then check out our free interactive tool at www.profile-financial.com/interactive. Don’t take money out of the IRA If a beneficiary withdraws the funds from the IRA, he’ll lose a fantastic American tax benefit. People with regular IRAs only pay tax on the money they withdraw. Any money remaining in the account can continue to grow untaxe

A Guide to the Tax Implications of a Legal Settlement By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel This is a two-part article addressing questions that arise when people receive lump sums. For the entire article, go to: www.profile-financial.com/settlement. I recently helped a number of people who are in the midst of receiving a cash settlement from a lawsuit, and had to point out that winning a lawsuit is not “free money.” In addition to having survived personal injury and a long-drawn out legal case, there may be tax implications to a legal settlement. Lost wages or profits If you are unfairly dismissed from employment, you may receive a settlement for lost wages, benefits, severance, back pay, or other income. According to the IRS, this settlement is considered regular income, even though severance pay is often tax free in Israel. This kind of settlement is also subject to the Social Security wage base table and Medicare tax rates for the year i

A Guide to the Tax Implications of a Legal Settlement By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel   This is a two-part article addressing questions that arise when people receive lump sums. For the entire article, go to: www.profile-financial.com/settlement.   I recently helped a number of people who are in the midst of receiving a cash settlement from a lawsuit, and had to point out that winning a lawsuit is not “free money.” In addition to having survived personal injury and a long-drawn out legal case, there may be tax implications to a legal settlement. Lost wages or profits If you are unfairly dismissed from employment, you may receive a settlement for lost wages, benefits, severance, back pay, or other income. According to the IRS, this settlement is considered regular income, even though severance pay is often tax free in Israel. This kind of settlement is also subject to the Social Security wage base table and Medicare tax rates for the ye

Did You Make a Mistake When You Opened Your Bank Account? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel What happened when you opened your first Israeli bank account after making aliya? A new oleh recently told me: “I just tried your online tool [www.profile-financial.com/olim] to find out what I need to know about having a U.S. brokerage account now that I’ve made aliya. But I think I made a mistake when I opened my new Israeli bank account.” He had gone to a local bank and told them that he wanted to bring some money over to Israel. The clerk there answered that as there is now an information exchange agreement between Israel and the United States (true), he needs to sign an IRS form called a W8 (false). The mistake was the form number, not the fact that the details of the Israeli bank account would be available to the IRS.  What forms do I sign? If you open an Israeli bank account, you need to sign a W9 form (not W8), which tells the bank that yo

What You Need to Know About Premium Bonds By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel Premium bonds may be a good investment choice for retirees looking to increase their income. (For solutions to other problems retirees face, download a free copy of The Retirement Planning Book at www.profile-financial.com/rpb.) Consider premium bonds In today’s low interest rate environment, if you park your money in bank deposits or money markets, the interest you receive generally will not be enough to pay your bills. Even leaving a million dollars in Certificates of Deposit (CDs) in a bank will only generate a few thousand dollars a year of spending money. So how can retirees supplement their income without too much risk to their principal? A solution may be to purchase bonds, especially “premium bonds.” Buying a bond means lending money to a country or a company. In return using your money for a set period of time, they pay you interest. Since bonds are not

The Best Way to Invest When You Want to Gift Money By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel Recently, a couple with four children of various ages asked me for advice on how to invest funds that they had just inherited. They didn’t need the inheritance for themselves, and they wanted to pass it along to their children. The couple’s oldest child was married and wanted to buy a house, so getting her share of the funds now made a lot of sense. “What stocks should we invest in for her?” the clients asked. “None,” I said. “Money that you want to use in the short term should be in cash or short-term bank deposits because it needs to be safe. The stock market carries risk.” As the next two children wouldn’t need the money for the next four or five years, they could afford to take some risk and try to grow their gift. A broadly diversified portfolio that included stock and bond funds could increase their odds of growth. Before getting started, though, I

Why Interest Rate Risk is Important By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Conservative investors who buy bonds to avoid high risk might inadvertently be exposing themselves to a potentially devastating risk: interest rate risk. If you are concerned that you may have interest rate risk or other hidden risks in your investments, call my office at 02-624-2788 to discuss your portfolio. Are bonds safe? When you buy a bond, you lock in a specific interest rate that you'll earn until the bond matures. Assuming the issuer of the bond remains solvent, you’ll receive your interest payments (usually every six months), and on the "maturity date" you’ll get the principal value of the bond. That’s what happens in most cases. But… When interest rates rise, people who have locked in a lower yield discover that their bonds decrease in value. For example, let's say you own a $50,000 bond that pays 3%. After you have bought the bond, if rates for similar issues rise, say to 5%, the principal value of your investment drops. It drops, sinc

What You Need to Know About Financial News By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel Should financial news and media reports affect the way you make your investment decisions? Recently, a client said: “I just read about _________ (fill in Israeli company name) in The Jerusalem Post, and I’d like to buy 1000 shares.” I hear comments like this fairly often. Since I help people who live in Israel with their U.S.-based IRA and brokerage accounts, I am able to help them trade stocks. However, before putting in an order, I recommend that they ask a few questions before considering buying an investment. How accurate is the news? The media frequently misrepresents information. News reports are only as accurate as the journalist’s orientation. Therefore, it may be reasonable to assume you are not getting the complete story.   Is the information fresh? Once “hot” news reaches the general media outlets, it probably isn’t hot any longer. It might be warm at

How to Increase Your Retirement Cash Flow By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel When you retire, your cash flow changes. Since most pensions won’t replace 100% of your pre-retirement income, you need other ways to increase your monthly cash flow. A bank may not meet your needs If you put your money in a regular savings account in the bank, you have little risk of losing your principal. But, you also will receive relatively low interest, as banks normally pay the lowest yields in the world of fixed income. This prevents you from “growing” your money. Whatever money you have may lose value due to inflation. If you have the tolerance to take on some level of risk, consider adding bonds to your portfolio. (Watch a 12-minute video on bonds at www.profile-financial.com/bonds.) Bond coupons are usually higher than bank rates A bond is a loan that you make to a country or company. You lend them money, they pay you interest on a set schedule, and at

What to Do When You Inherit an IRA? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel If you inherit an IRA (Individual Retirement Account), you may be tempted to simply withdraw the funds and put them into your own name. But if you do, you would possibly be making a big mistake. Instead, you should transfer the money into a “beneficiary IRA” account. Money in an IRA is tax deferred in America, meaning that any interest, dividends, and capital gains inside the account are not subject to U.S. taxation. Once you withdraw the money, or move it overseas, you’ll probably owe money to the IRS. So by asking the brokerage firm to set up a beneficiary IRA for you, and moving the assets directly from the deceased’s IRA account into a beneficiary IRA in your name, you can continue to benefit from the tax-deferred status. Can I open a beneficiary IRA from Israel? Many Americans living outside the United States find that brokerage firms are not willing to set up an

Do You Need to Worry About a Market Crash? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel No one knows if or when there will be another market crash. Anyone who could accurately predict the ups and downs of the market on a consistent basis would make an absolute fortune. Even if the market’s exact moves can’t be predicted, you can be sure that the market will take a hit sometime in the future. In fact, if you’re planning to hold investments for the next few decades, get ready for many crashes, of varying degrees. That’s the way the market works. Successful investors, by and large, are those who are well prepared to ride out volatility. Smooth out the ride Naturally, you don’t want your account to nosedive. So what should you do?  If you are the kind of person who would sell out in the event of a huge collapse in the stock market, maybe it is better if you don’t get in at all. On the other hand, if you have the tolerance to take on some level of risk,

What Really Happened in the 2008 Market Meltdown: A book review and analysis of Ben Bernanke’s book, The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath Douglas Goldstein, CFP® As a financial advisor who worked with clients throughout the 2008 market meltdown, I was particularly interested in understanding the Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank’s perspective of that period. Ben Bernanke’s book The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath is an exceptionally well-written autobiography that explains the background of the banking crisis, the crisis itself, and its aftermath. The perspective that Bernanke shares, however, does more than put another page in the history textbook of the world economy; it raises a number of fundamental questions about how the mess began, why many innocent bystanders were injured, and whether we have made appropriate structural changes to avoid such catastrophes in the future. Who’s in Charge? By learning about the inner workings of the Fed’s decision-making system,

How Non-Americans Can Benefit from American Brokerage Accounts By Douglas Goldstein, CFP®, helping people in Israel with their U.S. IRA and investment accounts This past week, my office phone rang several times with non-Americans inquiring about opening American brokerage accounts. Given the hassles of dealing in some of the more popular offshore jurisdictions, and given the many benefits of keeping investments in the United States, these people were happy to see how they could easily invest through a U.S. brokerage firm. Why non-Americans have American investment accounts There are two parts to having a brokerage account: the specific investments and the “custodian” of the funds.  The specific investments include what stocks and shares you own, or which mutual funds or bank deposits you choose. The “custodian” of the assets is normally a major bank or brokerage firm that is responsible for safeguarding the securities, executing the trades, printing the statements, arranging for checkbooks and credit/debit