Congress Suspends the Required Minimum Distribution Requirement for 2009

The House and Senate have passed "The Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008". The President is expected to sign this legislation next week. We will review the Act in greater detail in a later release. For now, the Headline for IRA owners is:

The Act:
SUSPENDS IRA REQUIRED MINIUM DISTRUBITIONS FOR 2009

That's right you will not be required to take your Required Minimum Distribution in 2009. Notes:

1. If you are over the age of 70½ in 2008, you must take your Required Minimum Distribution for the year.

2. The Act will not change your Required Start Date. (However, if your first Required Minimum Distribution was to have been in 2009, you will not be required to take that distribution.)

This will be a major benefit for two types of IRA owners:

A. Anyone who wants their IRA assets to recover before being forced to take a distribution.
B. Any person who wants to allow their IRA funds to continue to grow tax deferred.

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The IRA Club offers Self Directed IRAs and Checkbook IRAs for investors who seek to take control of their funds. A self directed IRA can be opened for as little as $49. To go to the IRA Club web site CLICK HERE.

Publisher by:
Dennis Blitz, President
Phone - 312-795-0988 Ext 11
Toll Free – 888-795-0988 Ext 11
E- Mail - dblitz@IRAclub.org

The IRA Club
Web Site - IRAclub.org

Are You Looking for Unbiased Investment Advice? - Look in the mirror!

Why Almost No Investment Advice is Unbiased…
and What to do about It.

By Dennis Blitz, President, The IRA Club

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a wise investment guru sitting in an unpretentious office who would listen endlessly to our goals, desires, and hopes? They would then gladly give each of us an unbiased and detailed road map to follow to maximize our investment returns and minimize
our financial frustration? Sadly there are four obstacles that explain why this mythical, person doesn’t exist.

1. The first obstacle is the set of rules that govern your Securities Broker. Security
regulations require that a Broker (a Registered Representative) may work for only one
brokerage firm [called a Broker/Dealership] at a time. All registered representatives are
captive sales people for a single broker dealer and may only offer the products of that
Broker/Dealer unless they are given expressed written permission to sell outside” products, which is referred to as “selling away.” Because the Broker/Dealer is legally
and financially responsible for the actions of its registered representatives, permission
to “sell away” is rare.

The consequence of this rule is that each broker has only limited investment products
that he or she may offer.

2. The second obstacle to finding a single source of investment guidance is that
everyone has their limits. It would be impossible for anyone adviser, sales person or guru
to understand the fine points of every investment category. The person who thoroughly
understands Real Estate Development may be out of his or her element when dealing with
Equity Indexed Annuities. In the same manner, the annuity sales person will be of
little help when you need help evaluating a real estate development project.

3. The third obstacle to finding a single source of unbiased investment guidance is that
the investment salesperson you are talking to is likely to be earning a commission.
There is nothing wrong with commissions. However, the commission may drive the sales
presentation. It is nearly impossible for a commissioned sales representative to be
completely unbiased.

4. And this may be the biggest obstacle: No one cares about your money as much as
you. The placement of your dollars and the monitoring of their progress is up to you. It
should be, it’s your money.

For more information on this topic and hundreds of investment ideas, pick up a copy of our newest book, Save Smart, Earn More or visit http://www.dennisblitz.com/.

Dennis Blitz is an active writer and lecturer on the topic of investing; he is President of The IRA
Club, an organization dedicated to providing investors with the education to achieve the greatest
growth in their Individual Retirement Accounts.

FREE – IRA ALERT; The quarterly newsletter exclusively for IRA owner. To receive a one year of IRA ALERT at no charge CLICK HERE. .

The IRA Club offers Self Directed IRAs and Checkbook IRAs for investors who seek to take control of their funds. A self directed IRA can be opened for as little as $49. To go to the IRA Club web site CLICK HERE.

Publisher by:
Dennis Blitz, President Web Site IRAclub.org
The IRA Club E-mail DBlitz@IRAclub.org
Chicago, IL Toll Free 888-795-0988 Ext 11

The Blog for IRA Owners

Making Charitable Contributions Directly from an IRA

The opportunity to make charitable contributions directly from an IRA has been extended to December 31, 2009. (There is pending legislation that may make this option permanent.)

For anyone planning to donate money to a charity a direct IRA-to-Charity contribution is a nice option to consider.

Who may use it:
IRA owners over the age of 70½.

How much may be transferred directly to the charity:
Up to $100,000 per year: (For now please assume that this feature will expire 12-31-2009).

Required Minimum Distribution (RMD):
The transfer to the charity can be used to satisfy the IRA owners RMD.

Why is this benefit?
Normally if an IRA owner wanted to make a charitable contribution they might take a distribution from their IRA, reporting that amount as income and then make the contribution which would be a deduction. On the surface there seems to be no real advantage to making the charitable contribution directly from the IRA. However, by making the direct contribution the funds that were inside your IRA never hits your 1040 form. This means, there is no loss of deductions because of higher earnings and no social security tax on the amount.

Who may not use this feature?
Persons under 70½, or a person who is transferring funds from an employer plan such as a 401(k).

Can you still deduct the charitable contribution?
No, as you never reported the income, there is not deduction allowed for the contribution.

Question: The charity I have in mind provides services to me, will that affect the transfer?
Yes, let’s say you live in a home provided by the charity or the charity regularly provides you with a service; than the contribution may not be made by direct transfer.

Question: My spouse and I are both over age 70½ and both have IRAs. Can we both make a direct charitable contribution?
Yes

How do we do this?
First contact the charity. They must provide you with the paper work that the IRS will want to verify the contribution.

FREE - IRA ALERT the Newsletter for IRA Owners.
For a free one year subscription go toIRAclub.org and click on “Free IRA Newsletter”

The IRA Club offer Self Director IRAs and Checkbook IRA for investors who seek to take control of their funds. A self directed IRA can be opened for as little as $49.

Dennis Blitz Web Site: IRAclub.org
The IRA Club E-mail: dblitz@IRAclub.org
Chicago, IL Phone 312-795-0988 Ext 11