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Things I have an extreme amount of aesthetic distaste for: Systems which have an obviously optimal play which civilians are largely unaware of and participants are unable to tell civilians about due to professional guild rules.
This is obviously an affront to justice.
This is obviously an affront to justice.
One example I can actually discuss because it is explicitly not a professional interest: if you’re in the middle class, you have your IRA at a brokerage.
You might sensibly wonder “Hmm can I contribute to a Roth IRA this year.”
Your brokerage cannot tell you the true answer.
You might sensibly wonder “Hmm can I contribute to a Roth IRA this year.”
Your brokerage cannot tell you the true answer.
There is a formal answer, which is “Here is an IRS chart of income against contribution limits. If you have questions, speak to a tax adviser.”
This answer is so incomplete as to be false, and the falsity is largely available to folks wealthy enough to have tax advisors.
This answer is so incomplete as to be false, and the falsity is largely available to folks wealthy enough to have tax advisors.
The actual truth is that there is no upper limit to income for Roth IRA contributions. There is a simple two-step process which makes them possible at all income levels, to the maximum yearly contribution.
Tax advisers with wealthy clients will just do it automatically.
Tax advisers with wealthy clients will just do it automatically.
This particular example is a First World Problem, since one has to be well off to trigger the Roth contribution limits, but there are many, many, many similar things where not knowing the password has negative consequences for folks who everyone would agree should not bear them.
Bless the Internet for making many of the answers a Google search away, but often the ability to distinguish them from “Drink bleach to power up!” is hurt by the requirement that everyone who knows they are correct having to pretend to be in a state of ignorance due to the law.
Don’t drink bleach. Do contribute the maximum to a Roth IRA every year if you are employed in technology. The mechanics are widely available on Google; the magic word is “backdoor contribution.”
One of the best things about programming as a profession, and a hill I will die on, is that we did not standardize on “You want to sort an array? Talk to a licensed programmer; I can’t give programming advice.” and “I am a licensed programmer but not *your* licensed programmer.”
