Distributing investments among 401K, IRA, Roth IRA, traditional brokerage account?

[zzzz8]

How should I ideally distribute the following investments in a portfolio that has an IRA (Rollover), 401K, Roth IRA, and traditional brokerage account - assuming a 30%, 30%, 10%, 30% distribution? Obviously, I'm most interested in the tax implications... If I have the following investments (assuming allocations are about equal):

General commodity ETF
Foreign treasury ETF
Foreign TIPS ETF
Foreign stock ETF
International index mutual fund
State municipal bond fund
CD
Money Market
Cash
U.S. Stocks

I don't think I've done the allocation correctly, possibly leading to a less than ideal allocation and tax "penalties"... Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated. The advice doesn't have to be specific for my situation - just what should one normally put in Roth IRAs vs. 401Ks vs. traditional brokerage accounts vs. IRAs. Thanks!

 

[raystone]

do a little research... google search text example ...

ETFs rarely distribute capital gains, so they ought to be best suited for taxable accounts;

 

[jonahtrainer]

You really ought to consider offshore solutions. The Sovereign Society has lots of information and I like GoldMoney.

 

[ghemminger]

Europac - tell em i sent you

 

[zzzz8]

do a little research... google search text example ...

Yes, I did do a LOT of research before submitting this post and got a LOT of conflicting answers. The only certainty I saw was possibly putting muni bonds in my taxable account. However, there are conflicting answers for putting stocks or bonds in either the taxable or non-taxable (or deferred) accounts... Very confusing and there were persuasive points both ways.

I was just wondering if there were some experts here who might recommend a few things. I trust my Ron Paul brothers to give me good advice.

 

[AceNZ]

How should I ideally distribute the following investments in a portfolio that has an IRA (Rollover), 401K, Roth IRA, and traditional brokerage account - assuming a 30%, 30%, 10%, 30% distribution? Obviously, I'm most interested in the tax implications... If I have the following investments (assuming allocations are about equal):

General commodity ETF
Foreign treasury ETF
Foreign TIPS ETF
Foreign stock ETF
International index mutual fund
State municipal bond fund
CD
Money Market
Cash
U.S. Stocks

I don't think I've done the allocation correctly, possibly leading to a less than ideal allocation and tax "penalties"... Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated. The advice doesn't have to be specific for my situation - just what should one normally put in Roth IRAs vs. 401Ks vs. traditional brokerage accounts vs. IRAs. Thanks!

The type of investment, as you've listed them above, isn't always enough by itself to determine which account should be used. It also depends on how long the investment will be held.

Retirement funds are best suited for investments that have regular dividends or that pay other types of current earnings, like interest.

A traditional brokerage account is best suited for long-term holdings, since no tax is due until you sell. You can also leverage lower capital gains taxes that way. Municipal bonds, if you hold them (don't!) are also best here, since their earnings are already tax-free.

You didn't list them above, but gold and silver ETFs have especially ugly tax treatment, and so are well-suited to retirement funds. Otherwise, they are treated as "collectibles", with a 28% tax rate, regardless of how long they're held (no long-term capital gains).

 

[Bradley in DC]

You really ought to consider offshore solutions. The Sovereign Society has lots of information and I like GoldMoney.

+1

have some non-dollar CDs at Everbank too.

 

[seapilot]

+1

have some non-dollar CDs at Everbank too.

How is Everbank? I looked into them a couple of years ago to get an account in EUROs but read some bad reviews by some previous account holders at that time on the net.

 

[Bradley in DC]

How is Everbank? I looked into them a couple of years ago to get an account in EUROs but read some bad reviews by some previous account holders at that time on the net.

Generally good. I had an issue with them not implementing all of the 14 different transactions one time (moving things around). I got a statement and called a few months later. The checked the recording, fixed it and adjusted my earnings back to what they should have been.