“Well, we finally have a Democratic nominee. Yes, a lot of water still has to flow under the bridge. The only thing we know for certain right now is that a new president and a new Congress will be sworn in next January,” Brett Arends reports for The Wall Street Journal. “But as Barack Obama is the man of the hour, it’s a reasonable time to ask what his election might mean for you and your family’s money.”
“This is not a political column, and in this space I take no stance about who should or shouldn’t win. I am only concerned with what you should do to prepare for contingencies,” Arends notes.
“The Bush tax cuts, which came into effect in 2003, are already set to expire in 2011. And politics, as well as the huge budget deficit, make it likely they will do so. That will probably mean big changes to the tax rates on capital gains and stock dividend income, among others. Senator Barack Obama has already acknowledged that he may be willing to raise the top rate on long-term capital gains still further, to 28%. That was the rate in 1997. Today it’s just 15%,” Arends reports.
“So if you are sitting on a huge profit in, say, your Apple stock, if the Democrats win in November you might want to cash it in before the end of the year,” Arends reports. “‘Go ahead and sell it’ says Benjamin Tobias, a financial planner in Plantation, Fla. ‘Pay the 15% tax, and put a happy face on the check to the IRS because you’re only paying 15%. Next year, who knows what you’ll be paying?'”
Arends also notes, “It’s way too early to make any moves based on the election, and you should probably seek professional advice before taking any bold steps with your money. It is also worth adding that a number of these changes might end up being brought in if John McCain becomes president as well. The one thing I am willing to say with some certainty is that the 15% tax rate on dividends and capital gains isn’t going to be cut.”
Full article, in which Arends also covers making changes to your IRAs and other tax-deferred accounts, along with moving some of your other investments into tax shelters such as low-cost variable annuities, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Broker” for the heads up.]
Here we go…
WHEN Obama wins this prediction will have as much credence as Bush’s fantasies of Iraqi WMD and a Saddam connection to 9/11.
O’bummer!
but then think of all the good things that that tax might achieve!
you might end up with a society you feel safe in!
you might end up with a society!
Five pages, easily.
save 10-15% now and miss 10,000% in future gains
get real ……. AAPL is going to crush for years
and there is a real change happening that is just starting >>AAPL $$$$$$$$$$.. I will hold mine thank you very much!!! ass-hats who want to steal
ain’t gonna happen! Obama is not going to drag the stock market down. This is a little to overly apprehensive.
Brett, this is sad, and beneath even you, you lousy hack.
And they said that Murdoch wouldn’t change the WSJ.
How scared are the vested interests in the USA, when the WSJ publishes such an unmitigated pile of unsubstantiated, alarmist, propagandist crap!
Seriously, MDN: Grow up!
Tax cuts create greater tax revenues for the government. I understand this may seem incongruous at first glance, but it’s not. Prosperity breeds prosperity.
A fun little quiz: Match the people (Rush Limbaugh, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy) to the quotes below:
1. “Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15.”
2. “If you’re not a liberal at 20, you have no heart, and if you’re not a conservative at 40, you have no head.”
3. “An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenues to balance our budget just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits… In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now.”
4. “No nation ever taxed itself into prosperity.”
“It’s way too early to make any moves based on the election, and you should probably seek professional advice before taking any bold steps with your money.”
If you’re listening to Brett Arends for advice on money, technology, or, really anything at all, seek professional help.
For more of Brett’s sage advice on money and Apple, click here.
“The True Cost of an iPhone? Try $17,670”
Yeah, dickless, you sure don’t have a bone to pick, do you?
this would apply only to the capital gains moving forward – and not what you’re making NOW . . . they can not back date taxation.
Well if Obama is a Mac user, then maybe our government will switch to Macs. Thats alot of Macs. Then more gateways open to the enterprise. Apple stock goes through the roof and the expired tax cuts are null.
Gosh,
“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” – Ronald Reagan
@ Historian
{sigh..}
http://www.slate.com/id/2164053/
Dangerously close to OFF TOPIC!
Mr. Reeeeeee sez:
“…this prediction will have as much credence as Bush’s fantasies of Iraq”
A couple points: Bush never had a fantasy. He had the Iraq Invasion Manifesto written by William Kristol and his cronies as part of the Project for the New American Century sitting in front of him as a blue print for the entire moronic idea. He also had a hoard of PNAC members in his cabinet. PNAC themselves talked about taking advantage of a catastrophic event to push forth their dimwit manifesto. They also talked about what rubbish to propagandize to the public to fool them into buying the entire charade. No fantasy in site, just outrageously poor judgement, the worst gang of advisors in Washington (dubbed ‘The Crazies’ but President Ronald Reagan) and a man willing to perpetrate incredibly destructive, illegal and unconstitutional acts for the sake of his higher priority of making his pals happy, versus making US citizens happy.
Second, this is the usual greed oriented negative capitalist attitude in the USA these days. Make a buck any which way you can and damn the consequences. Thus the USA slips into irrelevance in the world and economic collapse. Support American corporations? Nah. Just make a buck any way possible. Thank Apple for being the single most innovative company in the world these days? Nah. Make a buck. It’s inevitable, no surprise, obviously destructive. But it is the inevitable result of our culture teaching people to live for short term monetary gains at the expense of personal responsibility for their actions. It’s so sadly inevitable these days that it puts me to sleep. I dream of being a member of a more evolved species.
Back to business…
We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefitting from their success — only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free… Everyday life confirms the fundamentally human and democratic ideal that individual effort deserves economic reward. – Ronald Reagan, September 29, 1981
Not a good article to post when getting ready for a server change out, MDN.
Not that I disagree with it….
TowerTone,
Send those old servers out with a bang, we always say.
If the capital gains rate does go back to 28% there will be a perverse incentive to invest less in stocks. This should not affect long-term Apple investors much, I could see many buying more shares after an initial Obama induced drop. This is not a political opinion, just basic Obamanomics.
Yeah good old Ronald Reagan – the guy who ran an illegal war in Nicaraugua and funded it with a massive cocaine influx into the poor neighborhoods of the USA, spreading gang culture throughout the entire country. He’s awesome!
It’s now common knowledge, stick the word “Apple” in a story and it sells (or gets hits)
It was a bit of a stretch, but it seems to have worked.
@Arends (the author)
Hey dumbass, the new Congress and President aren’t even sworn into office until about the third week of January, so they can’t even introduce legislation, agenda, etc. until then.
Even if new laws were passed, rarely does a new tax law take effect immediately. Regulations have to be written, and Congress needs to give time to departments, IRS, businesses, etc. to make changes and plan accordingly
Remind me why I would sell BEFORE the new leaders are even in power? So I can miss the Christmas season? Macworld?
What a maroon.
With Obama in office you should sell all of our stock and buy a copy of the Communist Manifesto as it won’t be too long. The most liberal candidate for President EVER!.
This election is already over, except for the shouting.
I told you same (or very similar) idiots right on these very pages a couple of years ago that Bush would win re-election and you all screamed that I was nuts. “Kerry!” you all shouted.
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So, once again, for those who need repetition: America will not elect a black man (or a woman, if her wish gets fulfilled) as president. Maybe in a decade or so, but not now.
Yes, we here are all enlightened people and would never vote based on race or gender, but large swaths of the U.S. are not enlightened and will vote based on race and gender.
Here’s the deal, repeeat it until you get used to it:
President John McCain
The Democrats have set themselves up for failure yet again and have nominated the unelectable, just like they do almost every single time.
Hit bait.