Financial Advice

[disneysteve]

Steve, that doesn't sound too complicated and something like Turbo Tax would be able to take care of it. Although if you're getting a good deal with your cousin and don't feel like entering in all the info, I don't blame you for going that route.

The thing I like about Turbo Tax is I just download my 1099's from Scottrade and that's it. I check to make sure it's right but it saves me a lot of time.

Let's use this year as an example.

I sold some stock in my Scottrade account, but I didn't buy it through Scottrade. I bought it from Olde which was 2 brokers ago. Scottrade didn't have my cost basis. I had to dig out my old statements to find that, and the stock had split since I bought it.

Another stock had been declared worthless in 2011. It was a stock that I had received as a stock dividend when a parent company spun off one of their subsidiaries. I bought the original shares in 3 lots from 1992 to 1998 (from 2 different brokers). The spin off happened in 2007. The stock had also split along the way. We needed to calculate the cost basis of the original shares of the parent company and then figure out the cost basis of the spin off company shares in order to figure out how much to claim for the loss from the bankruptcy.

Could I have done it all myself? Yes, I'm sure I could. I'm pretty good at math. Would it have been easy to screw it up somehow? Absolutely. Is it worth paying a pro to get it right? I think so.

[MonkeyMama]

So the IRS sent me a letter something along the lines of: . (When I received said letter, I was: )

Yeah, that is about how it goes. LOL.

Usually the IRS letters are pretty innocent and people way over-react. But I understand from the "peace of mind" aspect. The IRS can be pretty intimidating.

[disneysteve]

Having an expert on hand during exceptional situations (like 2008) is probably a worthwhile expense.

I think that really depends on you... and on the adviser. If you are the type to panic and sell everything in a downturn, having an adviser to talk you off the ledge might save you a bundle. If you aren't that type and are content to hold tight, there isn't really anything for the adviser to do that you aren't already doing.

I have yet to encounter a situation that would lead me to feel I needed to pay someone for advice. Over the past 6 years, I have posted questions here numerous times and feel I've gotten some excellent, and most importantly impartial, advice that served my purposes just fine.

[feh]

I think that really depends on you... and on the adviser. If you are the type to panic and sell everything in a downturn, having an adviser to talk you off the ledge might save you a bundle. If you aren't that type and are content to hold tight, there isn't really anything for the adviser to do that you aren't already doing.

Actually, the situation was exactly the opposite of this.

I realize hindsight is 20/20, but we should've reduced our exposure to equities during the fall of 2008. We didn't sell a thing; we held everything.

The CEO of my company, a very savvy financial person himself, uses the same adviser, and it was on his recommendation that I signed up. His main point of praise for the adviser was that during the downturn, the adviser moved him into something like 30-40% bonds, which my CEO says he never would've done on his own.

[Like2Plan]

Another stock had been declared worthless in 2011. It was a stock that I had received as a stock dividend when a parent company spun off one of their subsidiaries..

By any chance was that Citadel?

[disneysteve]

By any chance was that Citadel?

Yep. That's the one.

[Like2Plan]

Yep. That's the one.

I've been struggling with that one myself (trying to figure out how to take the write off and whether it was 2010 or 2011). This is definately a situation in favor of the CPA doing your taxes.

[disneysteve]

I've been struggling with that one myself (trying to figure out how to take the write off and whether it was 2010 or 2011). This is definately a situation in favor of the CPA doing your taxes.

It was 2011 that it went to zero. I can walk you through figuring your cost basis if you want.

[Like2Plan]

It was 2011 that it went to zero. I can walk you through figuring your cost basis if you want.

Thx DisneySteve,
I calculated the cost basis back in 2007 because I received a fractional share as cash and had to report that on my taxes for that year. But, when the shares went to zero I guess they don't send out a 1099 (or do they?). I have been looking around the bankrucpty web site to see if I could find any info about taking the write off, but I haven't found anything. (Wish I had sold those off way back when)

[kv968]

Let's use this year as an example.

I sold some stock in my Scottrade account, but I didn't buy it through Scottrade. I bought it from Olde which was 2 brokers ago. Scottrade didn't have my cost basis. I had to dig out my old statements to find that, and the stock had split since I bought it.

Another stock had been declared worthless in 2011. It was a stock that I had received as a stock dividend when a parent company spun off one of their subsidiaries. I bought the original shares in 3 lots from 1992 to 1998 (from 2 different brokers). The spin off happened in 2007. The stock had also split along the way. We needed to calculate the cost basis of the original shares of the parent company and then figure out the cost basis of the spin off company shares in order to figure out how much to claim for the loss from the bankruptcy.

Could I have done it all myself? Yes, I'm sure I could. I'm pretty good at math. Would it have been easy to screw it up somehow? Absolutely. Is it worth paying a pro to get it right? I think so.

Yeah that's a bit ugly and a little beyond just the basic buying and selling. Professional help does sound the way to go in a case like that.

I've never had anything quite that complicated so far in my trading but Turbo Tax did help with a "wash rule" sale that I didn't realize. Although it's not perfect since one of my cost basis was off when it got downloaded from Scottrade so I had to fix that. How that happened I don't know since it was correct on the 1099. But that's why it's always good to double check when using software.