1. Can I use my credit card to pay my mortgage or student loan?
This question comes up for those savvy credit card users who want to accumulate as much reward points as possible. It's not possible to directly pay your mortgage or student loan with your credit card, but there are some online companies out there who offer such services. The service is not cheap and usually entails a high percentage charge. ACap generally discourages consumers to use debt to pay debt, especially if you use a revolving unsecured debt like a credit card to pay an amortizing secured debt like a mortgage. If you choose to pursue this route, you MUST be very diligent with your credit card debt and make sure to pay off your entire balance every month.
June 2014 ACap ReCap
Jun 30, 2014 7:33:09 PM / by Ara Oghoorian posted in Credit Score, Credit Card, credit score, 401(k), 401k Loan, mortgage, Mortgage, Student Loans
May 2014 ACap ReCap
Jun 1, 2014 2:29:02 PM / by Ara Oghoorian posted in 401k 403b, Traditional IRA, Dividends, Real Estate, 401(k), Taxes, 401k Loan, Roth IRA, dividends, 457b
1. Can I convert a portion of my IRA to a Roth IRA?
Most people assume that if you convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, you must convert the entire Traditional IRA balance. However, you can decide how much of your Traditional IRA you want to convert to a Roth IRA rather than converting the entire amount all at once. There are benefits to converting gradually because when you convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, you must report the converted value as income and pay tax. The option to gradually convert can be especially helpful if you have a large traditional IRA balance and you don't want to report the entire amount as income in one year, but would instead prefer to spread your tax liability over a few years. Just remember to complete IRS form 8606 when doing the conversion to accurately capture cost basis.