Blog: Today on the Ilyce Glink Show - May 24, 2009

Added May 24, 2009 by Ilyce R. Glink

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Roth IRA Conversions

Today on the Ilyce Glink show, we had a call about the Roth IRA conversion change for 2010. I've been writing about this for awhile, and basically the change boils down to the following:

If you make too much money (over $100,000/year) to convert your current IRA to a Roth IRA, those income limits disappear in 2010. So, even if you earn $1 million per year, you can convert your IRA to a Roth IRA. That's why so many accountants and financial advisors are advising their clients who make more than the conversion income limit to make non-deductible contributions to an IRA (in a separate account), so that next year, they can convert them to a Roth IRA.

You will have to pay any taxes owed when you convert, but you can spread out the tax liability over two years. Plus, the one slightly sliver lining of the current market meltdown, is that you're converting when the value is lower, so you'll owe less in taxes.

I've written about this on my website. Check out this link.

Credit Card Legislation

Near the end of the show, we had a call from someone who doesn't carry a balance, but has had the interest rate on his credit cards jacked up to 24.9 percent. What's going on? With the new credit card legislation about to be signed (or maybe President Obama signed it this weekend), credit card companies have just a few months to figure out how they're going to makeup nearly the $10 billion in profits they might lose under the new rules of the Credit Card Act.

One way they're trying to add to their profits is to jack up interest rates on all cards, whether or not you carry a balance. If you don't carry a balance, it doesn't matter (on a practical level) what the APR is on the card.

I'll post some of the new credit card legislation information on the site tomorrow, and we'll talk about it tomorrow 1p to 4p when I fill in for Clark Howard.

In the meantime, check out these credit videos to find out more about how your credit history and the way you manage credit affect your credit score.

HOPE for Homeowners Hotline: 888-995-HOPE

I gave out the HOPE for homeowners hotline number on this week's show. If you've been trying to do a loan modification, and no one is calling you back, you can try calling the HOPE hotline and the housing counselors may be able to use their backdoor channel numbers to help you link into your lender's office.

Remember, these loan modification and loan refinancing programs are voluntary. Lenders don't have to do them, and they don't necessarily have to do them for you. You can find out more at the MakingHomeAffordable.gov website.

Special EBook Discount: Buy 2 Get 3rd FREE!

We still have our free book giveaway going on. You pay the shipping & handling, and I'll send you an unlimited number of free copies of either (or both) of my books, 50 Simple Steps You Can Take to Disaster-Proof Your finances and/or The REALLY Useful Guide To Working Smarter Not Harder.

We introduced a new ThinkGlink store deal this weekend: Buy 2 eBooks and get the 3rd eBook FREE! Your discount code is "freeebook" (make sure you use one word, no quotes) and the price of your third ebook will be removed at checkout.

DIVORCE EBOOKS: This week, we'll be introducing two very important divorce ebooks. In the first ebook, we'll look at Divorce and Your Finances. The second ebook will look at Divorce and Your Real Estate. We should have both of these ebooks ready to go this week. Sign up for our newsletter (just enter your email address on any page) and you'll be among the first to find out when they're ready. If you want a copy of the divorce ebooks, you can email me or Sam and we'll send you an email with a direct link to where you can buy them.

The Buy 2 Get 3rd Free discount will work with the divorce ebooks. We just want you to have the best information available.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, and don't forget to tune in tomorrow when I fill in for Clark, 1p to 4p ET.

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ann wolf says

May 24, 2009 at 12:04 pm

i have 150 thousand dollars to tuck away..the problem is i am 701/2 and do not want to got to deep.thanks HELP

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Ilyce says

May 24, 2009 at 01:27 pm

Ann: Having 150,000 to invest these days is great. But you're right - you don't want any long-term investments that aren't properly managed. I think it would be prudent for you to keep a large percentage of your money in cash (like 50 percent, saved in an FDIC-insured back with short-term CDs perhaps) and then another large chunk of say 30 percent in a diversified portfolio of bonds or a short-term bond fund instead of buying individual bonds) and the rest in no-load stock index funds. You want to be extremely safe, until we all figure out when the market is going to turn around for good. (Hint: I don't think we're out of the woods yet.) Thanks for your question. Hope this helps. Ilyce

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