Special Edition #1

4 Steps To Take Now To Reduce Your Taxes

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Where did this year go? It seems like it was just yesterday that we were celebrating President’s Day in February. Now 2001 is drawing to a close. If you want to reduce your 2001 tax bill, and most Americans do, it’s time to get moving.

Here are 4 steps to consider if you’d like to reduce your federal taxes:

If you are leaving your employer and you have a 401-k retirement account, roll it into a self-directed I.R.A. That keeps 100% of your 401-k savings working for you and avoids the immediate payment of taxes on those funds. You’ll also find that it enables you to keep your money invested and diversified exactly the way YOU want.

Many IRA retirement accounts are limited in their investment choices. Your Goldline Account Executive can refer you to an IRS-approved custodian that can help you set up a self-directed IRA to invest in a wide variety of approved assets – including all of the real gold and silver coins permitted under the current law.

Call your Goldline Account Executive toll-free at 1-800-827-4653 to learn more about a self-directed IRA retirement account. If you’re not sure who your Account Executive is, call Goldline and we’ll identify him or her for you.

By the way, have your 401-k manager send the check for the value of your 401-k account directly to your newly opened IRA. It’s more convenient and it will help you avoid paying-out a chunk of your retirement savings to the Internal Revenue Service.

Consolidate your IRA retirement accounts. It’s amazing how many of Goldline’s new clients have more than one IRA retirement account. We constantly see people with two, three, sometimes four different tax-advantaged IRA accounts. That’s an expensive oversight we can help correct.

Having more than one IRA account means they are paying multiple sets of fees and charges. These costs mount up rapidly. They reduce the amount of savings available for investing now and the extra cost reduces the amount of assets available for support during their retirement years.

Do you have more than one IRA account? Decide now to consolidate them. Your Goldline Account Executive will be happy to help you reduce your annual fees.

Get started on this money-saving project today because it often takes longer than expected.

(Hint: based on years of helping clients consolidate their accounts, it’s often your current IRA account custodian that takes the extra time.)

Make your 2001 IRA contribution now and help your IRA assets compound. Compounding is the time-honored process of letting your money earn more money for you. That’s why we often recommend making an IRA contribution early in the year: it helps the compounding process.

In plain English that means compounding can help your money grow.

Another advantage of making your IRA contribution for 2001 right now: you can take

advantage of today’s great opportunities. Today there are a limited number of outstanding investment assets that offer superior profit potential. These opportunities may NOT be available if you wait to make your IRA contribution.

We recommend you evaluate, then take advantage of, today’s great opportunities.

My final tax-saving step is contained in a story from Goldline’s President & CEO, Mark Albarian. When he was young, Mark’s grandparents asked which he would prefer: $25 in silver quarters or $25 in paper money. Being a coin collector, Mark chose the silver coins. He searched through the 100 quarters, added one or two to his collection and held the rest as a silver investment.

In 1979 and 1980, when silver rocketed upward (peaking at $50 per ounce), that $25 gift was worth $750.

Some years ago Mark Albarian’s grandparents passed away. But they got to see their grandson enjoy their gift, instead of waiting until after they had passed away to leave the coins to him. They also got to reduce their taxable estate and were sure that the assets went to the right person.

Current federal laws permit you to give up to $10,000 per year to any person or any number of persons. A husband and wife can give up to $20,000 per year per person. That means if you have a son and two grandchildren, you and your spouse can give them $20,000 each per year. You can see how this type of gift can quickly become an important family asset, while significantly reducing your taxable estate.

Although you should also seek advice from your tax consultant, the end result could be that the person receiving your gift of up to $10,000 owes not one cent of federal income taxes! In the example

I used in the previous paragraph, you and your spouse could give your son and two grandchildren a total of $60,000 per year and they would owe NO federal taxes!

"As part of your tax planning," Mark says, "you may wish to give your children and grandchildren gifts of gold and silver coins that have appreciated in value over the decades. Or you may wish to acquire some of today’s undervalued gold and silver coins to present as your gift.

"When you make these gifts, share some of your personal investment experiences and insights. Tell the recipients about the importance of owning real gold and silver coins as part of a family’s diversified investment portfolio.

"Explain to your children and grandchildren about paper money’s history of losing value and becoming worthless. Tell them why gold and silver coins are real and timeless wealth, assets that help preserve purchasing power.

"Whether you give them one rare coin or a sizeable portfolio, the joy on the recipient’s face will tell you that your gift and your shared wisdom is important and well appreciated. I know," Albarian concluded, "the gift I received from my grandparents is worth so much more than the coins’ market value."

That’s it. Four steps you can consider when preparing to reduce your tax payments for this year. Remember that the clock is ticking and the time you have to consider and implement these ideas is rapidly slipping away.

If you’d like to talk to your Goldline Account Executive about putting a few of these ideas to work for you, call toll-free 1-800-827-4653. We are always ready to assist you.

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