If you read my article over at Seeking Alpha you will notice that several readers suggested I take advantage of various retirement accounts such as the 401k and IRA accounts.  You may remember that it wasn’t long ago I was asking the question, “Should I max my 401k?”  It seems the consensus was that if I could fund these accounts I should due to the favorable tax efficiency.  One reader has developed a nice analysis comparing the benefits of growth in a tax sheltered account versus a taxable one.   This model isn’t perfect (what is?), but it did open my eyes to how powerful forestalling the tax liabilities can be when you are growing your wealth.  So, I decided to open a Roth IRA.

To be fair I was planning to open a Roth IRA before I wrote the article and had the feedback.  It just so happened that my CPA emailed me with the amount I was eligible to fund for 2011: 3,860.  Not the full 5,000, but I will take it.  Right now the money is sitting in cash and eventually I will purchase a stock with the funds.  Many of the companies that I’m looking at are trading at prices that I’m not inclined to pay.  I’ll continue to invest in cash until favorable opportunities present themselves.

So, anyone else funding an IRA for 2011 or 2012?  If so what stocks or funds do you have in the account?

This article originally appeared on Seeking Alpha and you can find it here.  Leave a comment below or check out the conversation that followed at Seeking Alpha.  Some very good advice was shared as well as other investors experiences with dividend investing.  Continue reading →

I originally planned on posting the second part of Monday’s post on the additional benefits of working overseas.  I wanted to include some photos to make it a little more personal, but I’m not at my home computer so the last part of the series will have to wait for a week or two.  Hopefully the improved quality will be worth the delay.   Continue reading →