Vitamins - The Truth’ gives you over 80 pages of Valuable Information on the Foods that supply the Vitamin. At Last - The Truth About Vitamins. -

Free Basic SnowBomb.com Tahoe Card - Discounted Lift Tickets
Here’s one for the skiers and snowboarders out there. Until 1/15, grab a free 2009/10 Basic Tahoe Card from Snowbomb.com, which offers free discount lift tickets (electronic only). You can also get a free subscription to Snowboard or FreeSkier magazine. Usually costs $25. Simply create a new account at SnowBomb.com with the promo bode snow1970. You should receive immediate confirmation, with the magazine sub option on the bottom of the page. Credit to FW user FatMattE. Account Activated You have completed the activation process. You now have access to the cheapest prices in the SnowBomb online store for the 2009/10 season. The discounts aren’t awesome, but sometimes it can be the best deal available. For more ski deals, check out SlidingOnTheCheap.

2010 Roth IRA Income Limits Effectively Removed
Okay, let’s try this again. There are no longer any income phase-outs on Roth IRA conversions from Traditional IRAs. As in previous years, individuals or couples with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over a certain limit are ineligible to contribute directly to a Roth IRA. In 2010, the phase-outs begin at $105,000 for single filers and $167,000 for those married filing jointly. However, with no conversion limitations, people with any income can simply contribute to a Traditional IRA and then convert that to a Roth IRA immediately afterwards. This is great news for those higher income earners who have been previously unable to contribute to a Roth IRA. In addition, if you have been contributing to a non-deductible Traditional IRA in previous years, you can now finally convert those already-taxed funds into a Roth IRA, which is almost as good as retroactively contributing to a Roth IRA. You’ll only have to pay taxes on any gains you earned on the contributions, not the actual contributions themselves since they were already taxed before. (With the recent market performance, that isn’t much of a problem for most of us…) One additional wrinkle is that if you have a mix of pre-tax and post-tax contributions inside all of your combined Traditional IRA funds, you cannot convert them separately. For example, if you have a mix of 50% pre-tax and 50% already-taxed funds, then any converted amount will be assumed to be 50% pre-tax and 50% post-tax. You can’t just convert the post-tax part. This could be one reason not to roll over all pre-tax 401k funds into a Traditional IRA whenever possible. More info: IRS Publication 590, “What’s New for 2010″

Fear the Boom and Bust : Hayek vs. Keynes Economics Rap
Ever heard the term “Keynesian economics” and wanted to learn more? Here’s a new rap video that explores the competing theories from the Austrian business cycles of Friedrich von Hayek and the interventionist theories of John Maynard Keynes. Yes, I said rap… and it’s actually pretty good! I like the quotes at the end. We’ve been going back and forth for a century [Keynes] I want to steer markets, [Hayek] I want them set free There’s a boom and bust cycle, and good reason to fear it [Hayek] Blame low interest rates. [Keynes] No … it’s the animal spirits Full lyrics and song download available at EconStories.tv. Via NPR, thanks to reader Tim.

Medicare.gov Data Updates
This week the data for the following tools was updated on Medicare.gov:Nursing Home CompareHelpful ContactsMedicare Options Compare

ExxonMobil Speedpass Promo: Up to $20 in Gas Rebates
Buy gas from Exxon Mobil? If you are a new Speedpass customer and activate by 1/31/10, you ll receive a 5 per gallon rebate on fuel purchases for 90 days in most states, up to a max of $20. In certain states, you’ll just get a flat $20 - FL, LA, MA, NC, NJ, RI and SC. This appears to be a keychain fob that links to any existing credit/debit card but allows you to purchase gas without needing to swipe. So that would be 5 cents per gallon on top of your existing credit card rewards. Thanks to reader Kyle for the tip. *Offer limited to new Speedpass customers. Offer excludes fleet card accounts. Both enrollment and activation must be done online at speedpass.com to qualify. New Speedpass customers in FL, LA, MA, NC, NJ, RI and SC will receive a $20 ExxonMobil Gift Card (or a $20 ExxonMobil Credit Card statement credit if Speedpass is linked to an ExxonMobil Credit Card) for activating a new Speedpass account. The $20 gift card offer cannot be combined with the 5 cent per gallon rebate offer. Maximum rebate is $20 (or $20 gift card) per new account. Allow a minimum of 90 days to receive rebate credit(s) or gift card. Rebates will be posted to the credit or debit card that is linked to Speedpass. Purchases must be made with a valid Speedpass. Offer expires January 31, 2010.

Sharebuilder - $50 Bonus, IRAs Get Free Trades During 2010
Sharebuilder has a new promotion offering free window trades for all of 2010 if you open an IRA with them before April 15th (1,500 max). These usually cost $4 each, $12/month for 6, or $20/month for 20. Thanks to reader Ron for the tip. Open an IRA before 4/15/10 to receive 1,500 Automatic Investment Plan credits. The trade credits will be posted to your account the next business day and will expire on 12/31/10. This offer applies to Individual Retirement Accounts only. AIP credits for mutual fund purchases apply only after the minimum investment has been met. It is important to note that these Automatic Investments are not real-time market/limit trades that most brokerages offer, but market orders that only execute in batches once a week on Tuesdays. In most cases, this is best suited for people gradually dollar-cost-averaging into ETFs or widely-traded stocks. If you want to do an ACAT transfer out, it will cost you $75. For taxable accounts, Sharebuilder is offering a $50 cash bonus as long as you open a new account with $50 by April 16th with promo code 50WCFA. It doesn’t appear that you even need to make a trade. You must open a new account with ShareBuilder and deposit at least $50 to be eligible for this promotion. Initial deposit must be completed by 4/16/10. ShareBuilder will deposit a $50 bonus approximately 4-6 weeks after your first $50 deposit. The $50 bonus offer is available for Individual, Joint and Custodial accounts only. For more background, you can see my slightly-dated Sharebuilder review as well as a follow-up post on a possibly better way to invest with them.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 11:25 pm and is filed under Social Security News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.