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My initial knee-jerk reaction to the idea of the annuity is why have a tax deferred annuity within a tax deferred account? There's also the potential to lose out on potential growth in years where the market is doing well, and possibly higher exit fees for early withdraw. I would agree with mcb for now that buying a CD isn't a bad idea, especially since many banks are offering the highest rates on the shorter term CDs, so the investor isn't locked in for very long at all.

I always use all caps for Tax Returns. ATX has the option to use all caps. It is much more presentable and easier to read. IMO

Those auto withdrawals add stress to my life. The people who really need it are also the people who will never monitor that the payments were made properly or won't make sure the money is in the account when payments are due. I love the idea but honestly they add stress to my life.

An equity indexed annuity is a branch of the fixed side of annuities versus the variable side. It's not so much for growth, it's a product for safety with a "touch" of growth. I have no clue the commission rate on these as I haven't sold an annuity since 1991 but variable annuities are the highest commission product a financial advisor can sell you. MANY financial advisors literally make 90% of their sales via annuities for this reason. When I took my series 6 exam (1991) and was licensed to sell annuities (life insurance also) my manager said NEVER put an annuity in an IRA. I took a class to pass my series 7 licensing exam (1992) and the instructor told us that you should NEVER sell a client an annuity and put it into an IRA. By about 1994 the insurance industry had spent a boatload of money and it was deemed reasonable to have an annuity within an IRA. The argument was that the life insurance component and lifetime payment made it worthwhile to be inside of an annuity even though the tax deferred portion was meaningless. You might argue the life insurance is tax free also but you are supposed to ignore that.

It's a tax return, not an essay. No punctuation either. Same reason.

CAPS

With Drake, it doesn't allow the caps lock on during sign in, and I also find with that program that I can fit more description on the forms using initial caps only, so I've switched away from all caps.

I too have my tax prep software set to use all caps. I usually remember to hit the caps lock key, also. I find it's easier to proofread if my data that I entered is in all caps; data in caps stands out from all the smaller text on the forms/schedules. For correspondence and everything else, I prefer this usual upper & lower case. I'm old and I still struggle with using all caps and going back and forth. If I'm entering tax data and hit the shift key, I see the initial letter as small on my screen briefly; but as soon as I move off that field, the software converts any small letters to caps for my viewing pleasure. And, yes, I often start an email to a client in all claps, but luckily Outlook changes that for me!

Exactly this. All of the factors that go into choosing appropriate investments should be considered. Look at the entire portfolio and its diversity, retirement and non-retirement accounts, risk tolerance, current age, current and future savings rate, expected retirement age, expected lifestyle, health concerns, longevity. I'm sure I've missed more than a few factors, and that is why I don't give any investment advice.

My knee went to the same school as your knee. Portfolio accounts are different than retirement accounts. I have no issues with annuities as long as they fit the clients situation, but I feel they should stay in the portfolio and out of the IRAs. Tom Longview, TX

I do just the opposite. I find it harder to type in all caps. I think it goes back to my typing class. I can't stop hitting the shift key when I start a sentence or go to the next field, so I get a lower case letter with all caps behind it and it looks really funky and I have to go back and correct. It is a muscle memory thing with me. I don't mind all caps in returns...it is not a big deal for me, I just don't do it for the reason above. Tom Longview, TX

I just recently advised my son, who has a longtime redundant IRA set up years ago at the Credit Union; to invest it in a short term CD. The Credit Union agreed. He did as advised. He has been getting 0.99% interest and will now get 4.99% and after 7 months , we will re-evaluate.

Many entities "reading" data (such as tax information submissions) will require or change the data to all caps. Could be some sort of "old" preference no one bothers to update, or by an old timer's code which can compress better by reducing the number of characters. Some entities do little or no interpretation of submitted data, as their programmers seem incapable of things like stripping out dashes from human entered FEIN's. MANY tax agency programmers cannot interpret a dot as a decimal in a dollar field. For email and other human read communication, all caps is harder to read for most, and most consider it SHOUTING at the reader. I have a few customers who write in all caps, they also have an automatic signature in their messages stating they use all caps for a reason. In my real worked use, if I get a message in all caps, I reply in the same manner, assuming it is the customer's preference/need. Online forms and software which knows the output needs to be in all caps, will often take what you enter and upcase it, as well as limit not allowed characters completely (with a beep usually).

As Patrick Michael described above I, too, use the "Account Transaction Summary" page created by Drake for all transactions involving the client's bank, and I always review it with the client and obtain the client signature(s) in the area at the bottom of that page. For those states that rely on the federal 8879, including my own resident state, this is the only place that contains all of the entire information in one place including the name of bank, routing and account number, the amounts scheduled direct deposit or withdrawal, and signature lines. For the withdrawal transactions, this summary page also includes the date withdrawal will occur.

I have always used Capital Letters to complete a Tax Return (Following the Straw Man thinking, I guess). Not only have I understood it is best to use CAP'S, but I find it easier to read a return in all caps. My IT Guy, (not a tax guy at all) finds the use of caps to be the incorrect way to type. Your general thoughts, please.

All of the above was taken from a topic where the poster had used another client's banking information for a direct withdrawal. I've edited and moved those portions of the comments to this topic for best practice for using and verifying clients' banking information.

If I receive an email in all caps, it gets skipped until all the (what I see as not shouting) messages get answered. I doubt I am alone in that opinion/method. I have only one customer who uses all caps, and I know who it is and do not save their messages for later as I acknowledge they may have a reason (or broken keyboard). I am also of the opinion some programmers in government somehow can afford to be lazy and do not bother with trim/remove/ucase and other similar commands. The no punctuation, I am used to. I have a relative who is less tech inclined, but uses speech to text, and has not grasped saying things like period and comma, so I have become adept at inferring punctuation.

No need to have an angry face. I find it interesting how the same thing can be viewed differently by different people. Peace.

A lot has changed since those years. IRA's and 401K's started in the 70's. Mutual funds didn't really become popular until the 80's. Have you seen anything as to how much the increase is due to more people buying in (supply/demand) as opposed to actual company earnings? I'm guessing it's between 50-75% due to more people buying shares.

There were 2 stretches where Dow Jones Industrial Average didn't really do much at all for about 15 years each. The first was the great depression and the second was from the late 1960s until the early 1980's? The S&P 500 went up 6% from 1961 to 1974. That's not 6% per year, that's 6% total. Multpl.com has some good charts showing how the current market is historically VERY expensive.

LOL! I've always viewed all caps as unprofessional and lazy. To each their own!

Definitely tricky staying within bounds when giving investment advice, I usually stick to making them aware they cannot take losses in an IRA and when you have mutual funds in IRA's, you don't have to track basis, so that's a good place for them. But a lawyer talking to our local EA group brought up a different angle from the perspective of assets and legal protection. In Florida, annuities, pensions (think OJ Simpson), and IRA's are "sheltered" accounts. To him, if you want to buy an annuity, don't use IRA funds but use money from an unprotected brokerage account.

You have to look at all sides of the situation. My son now has a retirement plan at work. He doesn't need this money at the moment. This IRA was set up in excess of 20 years ago. It's just been sitting there slowly accumulating low interest. Just saying. I certainly wouldn't give this same advice to everyone.

Bear in mind that the same thing happens when you exit the tax program and go to email or any other program that involves typing. They are trying to keep our minds sharp

Thank you.

We have the client initial by the account and routing number and sign the and date the "Account Transaction Summary" page.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/webinars-for-tax-practitioners The IRS offers the upcoming live webinars to the tax practitioner community: Energy Efficient Home Improvements Credit & Residential Clean Energy Property Credit: How the Inflation Reduction Act revised these credits on Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. ET. Earn up to one continuing education credit (Federal Tax). Certificates of completion are being offered. Beneficial Ownership Information Presented by Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Nov. 19, at 2 p.m. ET. No continuing education credit is being offered.

To each their own. Vast majority of my clients pay with check at time of pick-up. A few pay cash, and like MCB I keep that in safe for items I pay cash for and to have emergency money in the case of wide spread internet outage. A few others pay with CC and while I don't show a separate line item, I do charge them a little more to cover the fees. If I had a storefront practice, I'd want CC payment, but since I know my clients very minute risk of being stiffed. I only remember one over 27 years that check bounced and wasn't made good.

Since 1974 there has never been a 20 year period in which the S&P lost money. Since 1974 the only 10 year period with loss was from 1999 to 2008 - 1%, and 2000-2009 -.61%