Primerica
- Thread starter Kearstyn Couch
- Start date
- 1,953
Do what is right for the client. Defined by whom? The consideration isn't about doing what's right for the client. How can that be considered if being a captive independent contractor?
When considering client needs in general what can you do that others can't do? There's a separation that many don't consider because they get blinded by the hype.
There's the company/products side and then there's the business side which is basically commissions and contract.
As an independent contractor (Not an employee) how does the business side compare to other opportunities available with current licenses?
Should a 1099 person have extreme loyalty to any company? As a 1099 agents can come and go as they please. The question becomes how and under what terms can they exit. That's the business side. If the agent doesn't know legal will let them know.
Just one more consideration beyond all the hype in general. No matter the company high earners at high levels have left for whatever reason. Nothing personal. At the end of the day it's personal.
- 7,078
This is an off topic question, but it is a place where I could find you mentioning Ed Slott. I couldn't find the thread where you mentioned him and the advisory group.
I was just listening to a Feb-Mar 2020 interview between him and Barber Wealth management.
Does he still tell the members of his Elite Advisory Group that a person over 70 1/2 should not make Traditional IRA Contributions -- "Don't do it, it's a Trap!" saying that as a Universal Statement of Truth?
- 11,503
I'm not in his Elite IRA Group, but this is his most recent article on July 24, 2023:
https://www.investmentnews.com/stop-contributing-to-iras-and-401ks-240215
- 7,078
Thanks for the link.
All I can say is WOW! That article takes such an arrogant tone.
It seems to me that one of the first things a CPA doing front office tax work with a client should do is to learn to listen to the client's SPECIFIC situation and not make generalizations where the tax laws do not specifically require them.
If there are general rules which will apply to many people they should be presented as general rules, appropriate for many situations, but it is arrogant and inappropriate (in my opinion) to say that NOBODY in the US should make Traditional IRA contributions after their RMD date just because SOME people in the US should not do so because it will have an adverse effect on their future income taxes.
He is also not recognizing that sometimes a person's or couple's overall financial situation requires a bit broader view than only current vs future taxability of IRA contributions. Such as maybe having ACA health insurance in a given year rather than a Short Term Medical Plan, or how to fully fund a tax year's HSA contribution.
I am speaking from 3 years of direct personal experience with those issues. In 2020, 2021, and 2022 I made post RMD age Spousal Traditional IRA contributions, and had my wife make Traditional IRA contributions as well. In each of those years we got enough of an ACA premium refund to fund most of the following year's HSA contribution.
- 11,503
And your assumptions are why you are your own best advisor and probably shouldn't ever work with an agent or advisor.
- 7,078
In another Barber wealth management interview I watched today, I watched a CPA guest try to tell Mr Barber exactly that (that each taxpayer has a specific set of circumstances that should be used for their tax planning) about an issue and I then watched him stomp her down and present his own "it should be done this way all the time" statement. I don't know why he even bothered to have her as a guest.
- 7,078
My family and I are blessed by the new IRA contribution tax rules and the flexibility they have provided us for tax planning and preparation, medical insurance coverage and future payment of Medicare Part B premiums.
We have a better future retirement picture today than we would have if those rules were not in place.
Mr. Slott is saying we should not have those things because they do not fit his view of the one proper way tax planning should be handled.
- 11,503
I cannot comment without having done a full fact-find... but I am not in favor of deferring taxes indefinitely considering the effect of the national debt and the direction taxes must eventually go.
If you want to continue to defer to an unknown tax not knowing how much you still owe on your total IRA balance, that's your business.
Ed Slott, CPA is all about helping people see the hidden taxes lurking in their retirement plans... but since you're okay with your situation (or you probably don't have in excess of $500,000 in IRA funds), that's probably why it works out for you. (I say $500,000 because of the math I've done on these strategies and I think that's a good breakpoint for when these strategies can make a meaningful difference... and when they won't.)
If you want to continue to defer to an unknown tax not knowing how much you still owe on your total IRA balance, that's your business.
Ed Slott, CPA is all about helping people see the hidden taxes lurking in their retirement plans... but since you're okay with your situation (or you probably don't have in excess of $500,000 in IRA funds), that's probably why it works out for you. (I say $500,000 because of the math I've done on these strategies and I think that's a good breakpoint for when these strategies can make a meaningful difference... and when they won't.)
- 7,078
(I have never owned $500,000 in my life.)
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