Ever heard of the website camelcamelcamel.com Sounds like a weird website about camels. It's not. Go to it BEFORE you pick up your Black Friday "Deals". This is a fantastic BS detector. Most deals, aren't really deals. The camels will lead you to it. See for yourself (I promise this isn't some weird fetish porn site). @Colby Haverkamp rest assured, I am more mature than your Jr. High buddies (only by a small fraction though). 🤣

Tis the season for making IRA moves. In 2024: If you earn more than $161K as a Single person ($146K-$161K MAGI has special rules, ask about them if this applies to you) OR $240K ($230K-240K MAGI - ask about this if it applies to you) as Married couple (filing taxes together)... You CANNOT get a deduction for contributing to a Traditional IRA. BUT, just because you cannot get a deduction, doesn't mean you cannot contribute. You'd still get tax free GROWTH in the IRA...but you would be taxed at retirement when pulling the money out. BUT...what if there was a way to MOVE the money out of the IRA....and into a Roth IRA, where it grows tax free AND it gets PULLED out (giggity) tax free?!? There is - and it's called the Backdoor Roth! Steps: Step 1: Contribute up to IRA limits ($7K for anyone under age 50) in 2024 to a Traditional IRA. I personally recommend either Vanguard, Schwab or Fidelity as a company that holds the money. Step 2: Convert that same amount to a Roth (if you don't already have a Roth account setup you'll need to open that account up before doing the conversion). Step 3: Invest the money once it is in the Roth (ppl always forget this step....putting money into an account doesn't do much, you actually have to INVEST the money). Step 4: File Form 8606 (or alert your accountant to do it) during tax time. Congrats....you just performed a hack that wealthy ppl use to "sneak in" more money into retirement accounts, even though your income is high. Know the rules, win the game! PS - You can do some of these moves up until tax filing deadline (april 15th, 2025), but if you already know what your income will be, may as well just do it now.

In my sales career, I never understood how my commissions were taxed. "Commissions get taxed more than base salary." That was ALWAYS what I heard, from sales leaders, to top reps, etc. And it is DEAD WRONG! Commission & base get taxed the EXACT way. What gets WITHHELD is where it gets tricky. Two ways your company MAY withhold your paycheck: 1. Percentage Method - Generally, you will be withheld at a flat 22% rate for commission. UNLESS, your earnings go above $1mil for the year, then that flat 22% gets flipped to a flat 37% rate. 2. Aggregate Method - Your company's software may do ongoing calculations to determine your income. Say you earn $10K/mo (aka $120K/yr), your company will automatically withhold the right amount, based on your $120K/yr income. BUT...let's say in March, you earn a $70K commission check. That particular month, it looks like you earn $80K/mo...aka almost $1mil/year. Sooooooo....Your company's payroll software will hold the taxes back as if you are earning $1mil...which means you would be put in the highest tax bracket. And if that was the ONLY commission check you earned for the year, your income doesn't even top $200K! In the end, it doesn't truly matter what gets withheld! As long as you do your taxes every year, the RIGHT amount will be given back to you (or the gov't) if you over or under withheld. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, BABY! https://www.loom.com/share/38fafc4ecb454cec845db35b729771e6?sid=7c2f0d0f-f267-4a4c-a80e-f563ef1f6c96

WHERE you invest should semi-dictate WHAT you invest in. Example (directionally accurate, NOT 100%): You own $100K in a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust). That REIT pays out dividend payments of 4% (aka $4,000). If you own the REIT in your retirement account (i.e. 401k, IRA), no tax implications. If you own that REIT in your brokerage account...you get taxed on that $4K. Say you are in the 24% federal tax bracket, you lose ~$1K to taxes...simply bc you didn't put enough emphasis on WHERE you choose to invest in a specific location. ($4,000 X 0.24 = $960). Asset location can be a HUGE deal. Good news is: it's VERY controllable. ACTION ITEM: Review your investments in EACH account. Any heavy-dividend paying stocks/REITS, or interest-paying investments...should be held in a RETIREMENT account...where you are saved from paying taxes. Make sure your investments in a brokerage account are tax-efficient. 😉 PS - IF you realize you have inefficiencies in your brokerage account, be wary of selling out of positions...bc that creates EVEN more taxable events. Questions on how to get out of positions? Comment on this post and let's get educated together!

Small stocks outperform big stocks (over a long period of time). Value stocks outperform growth stocks (over a long period of time). So with 'Small Value' stocks...you can likely expect an even higher return. It's the triple cheeseburger of stocks, without the heart attack. 😅 Take a look at the differences when investing in the S&P 500 (often referred to as "the market.") vs the Small Cap Value (SCV) asset class from the past ~100 years. Absolutely NO guarantee of what future returns look like, but for patient, LONG-TERM investors...this is an asset class I love to highlight. S&P 500 has done VERY well the last 15 years. Small Cap Value has not. It's not intuitive, but generally, things 'revert back the averages...aka the norms." Small Cap Value hasn't done well recently, but historically, it has. Sometimes you have to be VERY patient to be rewarded. Look at the time periods in the charts. Notice that SCV can be dormant for a long period of time (20 yrs), but we ALL have very long investing life spans. It's not JUST about investing from age 22-65...from 65 to 95 (or whenever we die), you still are invested. SCV should be at least a portion of nearly anyone's portfolio, particularly if they can stomach the long periods of drought.