The Investment Answer Book

[Berenice Pretlow]

GordonMurray, who died as the result of glioblastoma on January 15, 2011,[1] chose to co-write the book in the time he had remaining. Murray had worked in institutional trading and sales at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers. He retired from Wall Street in 2002.[2]

The book is a general guide to investment and gives fundamental explanations in each chapter. The first chapter deals with using brokers. Chapter two touches on asset allocation, explaining the relationship between risk and return. Chapter three gives a basic explanation of diversification (having a mix of assets in a portfolio). Chapter four discusses active investing versus passive investing. Chapter five is about rebalancing a portfolio. Chapter six discusses how to gauge the performance of a portfolio. Chapter seven touches on hedge funds, private equity and commodities.

The book has received positive reviews in The New York Times,[3] National Public Radio,[4] the Journal of Financial Planning,[5] Morningstar Advisor,[6] and The Huffington Post.[7]

The Net Investment Income Tax is imposed by section 1411 of the Internal Revenue Code. The NIIT applies at a rate of 3.8% to certain net investment income of individuals, estates and trusts that have income above the statutory threshold amounts.

The Net Investment Income Tax went into effect on Jan. 1, 2013. The NIIT affects income tax returns of individuals, estates and trusts, beginning with their first tax year beginning on (or after) Jan. 1, 2013. It does not affect income tax returns for the 2012 taxable year filed in 2013.

If you are an individual who is exempt from Medicare taxes, you still may be subject to the Net Investment Income Tax if you have Net Investment Income and also have modified adjusted gross income over the applicable thresholds.

Nonresident Aliens (NRAs) are not subject to the Net Investment Income Tax. If an NRA is married to a U.S. citizen or resident and has made, or is planning to make, an election under section 6013(g) or 6013(h) to be treated as a resident alien for purposes of filing as Married Filing Jointly, the final regulations provide these couples special rules and a corresponding section 6013(g)/(h) election for the NIIT.

A dual-resident individual, within the meaning of regulation 301.7701(b)-7(a)(1), who determines that he or she is a resident of a foreign country for tax purposes pursuant to an income tax treaty between the United States and that foreign country and claims benefits of the treaty as a nonresident of the United States is considered a NRA for purposes of the NIIT.

A dual-status individual, who is a resident of the United States for part of the year and a NRA for the other part of the year, is subject to the NIIT only with respect to the portion of the year during which the individual is a United States resident. The threshold amount (described in # 3 above) is not reduced or prorated for a dual-status resident.

Estates and trusts are subject to the Net Investment Income Tax if they have undistributed Net Investment Income and also have adjusted gross income over the dollar amount at which the highest tax bracket for an estate or trust begins for such taxable year under section 1(e) (for tax year 2013, this threshold amount is $11,950). Generally, the threshold amount for the upcoming year is updated by IRS each fall in a revenue procedure. For 2014, the threshold amount is $12,150 (See Rev. Proc. 2013-35 PDF).

There are special computational rules for certain unique types of trusts, such as Qualified Funeral Trusts, Charitable Remainder Trusts and Electing Small Business Trusts, which can be found in the final regulations (see # 20 below).

In general, investment income includes, but is not limited to: interest, dividends, capital gains, rental and royalty income, non-qualified annuities, income from businesses involved in trading of financial instruments or commodities and businesses that are passive activities to the taxpayer (within the meaning of section 469). To calculate your Net Investment Income, your investment income is reduced by certain expenses properly allocable to the income (see #13 below).

The Net Investment Income Tax does not apply to any amount of gain that is excluded from gross income for regular income tax purposes. The pre-existing statutory exclusion in section 121 exempts the first $250,000 ($500,000 in the case of a married couple) of gain recognized on the sale of a principal residence from gross income for regular income tax purposes and, thus, from the NIIT.

The amounts of Net Investment Income that are included on your Form 1040 by reason of Form 8814 are included in calculating your Net Investment Income. However, the calculation of your Net Investment Income does not include (a) amounts excluded from your Form 1040 due to the threshold amounts on Form 8814 and (b) amounts attributable to Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends.

In order to arrive at Net Investment Income, Gross Investment Income (items described in items 7-11 above) is reduced by deductions that are properly allocable to items of Gross Investment Income. Examples of deductions, a portion of which may be properly allocable to Gross Investment Income, include investment interest expense, investment advisory and brokerage fees, expenses related to rental and royalty income, tax preparation fees, fiduciary expenses (in the case of an estate or trust) and state and local income taxes.

The Net Investment Income Tax is subject to the estimated tax provisions. Individuals, estates and trusts that expect to be subject to the tax in 2013 or thereafter should adjust their income tax withholding or estimated payments to account for the tax increase in order to avoid underpayment penalties. For more information on tax withholding and estimated tax, see Publication 505, Tax withholding and Estimated Tax.

Any federal income tax credit that may be used to offset a tax liability imposed by subtitle A of the Code may be used to offset the NII. However, if the tax credit is allowed only against the tax imposed by chapter 1 of the Code (regular income tax), those credits may not reduce the NIIT. For example, foreign income tax credits (sections 27(a) and 901(a)) and the general business credit (section 38) are allowed as credits only against the tax imposed by chapter 1 of the Code, and therefore may not be used to reduce your NIIT liability. If you take foreign income taxes as an income tax deduction (versus a tax credit), some (or all) of the deduction amount may deducted against NII.

Yes. For taxable years beginning before Jan. 1, 2014 (e.g., calendar year 2013), taxpayers may rely on the 2012 proposed regulations (published on Dec. 5, 2012), the 2013 proposed regulations (published on Dec. 2, 2013), or the 2013 final regulations (published on Dec. 2, 2013) for purposes of completing Form 8960. However, to the extent that taxpayers take a position in a taxable year beginning before Jan. 1, 2014 that is inconsistent with the final regulations, and such position affects the treatment of one or more items in a taxable year beginning after Dec. 31, 2013, then such taxpayer must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their Net Investment Income Tax liability in the taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2013 is not inappropriately distorted. For example, reasonable adjustments may be required to ensure that no item of income or deduction is taken into account in computing net investment income more than once, and that carryforwards, basis adjustments and other similar items are adjusted appropriately.

LinkedIn and 3rd parties use essential and non-essential cookies to provide, secure, analyze and improve our Services, and to show you relevant ads (including professional and job ads) on and off LinkedIn. Learn more in our Cookie Policy.

...I have pretty much always been involved in the Chinese markets. I got involved in the stock markets in China before the stock markets existed by helping in a small way those who created them, and I have invested in them beginning from when I was allowed to until now. Investing in China has been a success for me in all the ways that I hoped to be successful, including demonstrating to investors how they can do well in both bear and bull markets through smart portfolio diversification and overweighting those assets that are best for whatever the environment is like. Because of the way I invest, there is no such thing as a bad market; there is only bad decision making. I find the markets in China good for my type of decision making.

...I have had a wonderful 40-year relationship with the Chinese people and the Chinese culture that has led me to love them. For me, being involved with them and their markets go together and I wouldn't want to be without either. I don't jump in when things are booming and jump out when things are tough because I am neither "a fair-weather friend" nor "a fair-weather investor."

...I can't diversify as well as I'd like to without investing in China. For example, China and the US are the only dominant powers in the most important industries and how these two nations are with each other will shape the world.

...I have invested throughout many cycles in many countries and learned the adage "the time to buy is when there is blood in the streets." In other words, the time to buy is when everyone hates the market and it's cheap (which is now the case in Chinese equities), especially when it looks increasingly likely that the economic leadership is about to do something like a "beautiful deleveraging."

For those reasons, to me the key question isn't whether or not I should invest in China so much as how much I should invest. As you know my holy grail of investing is to have 15 or more good uncorrelated return streams. I see China as one of these, so that will be a core position that I will vary from based on my assessments of all of the things I mentioned.

This material is for informational and educational purposes only and is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities or other instruments mentioned. This material does not constitute a personal recommendation or take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations, or needs of individual investors which are necessary considerations before making any investment decision. Investors should consider whether any advice or recommendation in this research is suitable for their particular circumstances and, where appropriate, seek professional advice, including legal, tax, accounting, investment or other advice.

3a8082e126