Capital Gains tax vs IRA

marine13910 — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:49:37 -0400

I was thinking about the current 15% LT Cap gains tax and how it is a pretty good deal for those investing in mutual funds and possibly Private Equity/Hedge Funds. The government has the standard IRA which is suppossed to be this gift to society to encourage retirement savings. But I never realized until yesterday that distributions from a standard IRA are taxed as "regular income". So while you get the deduction up front, many of us will be in a 35% tax bracket even in retirement and will be paying a lot of taxes on those IRA's. Compare it with the idea of simpy buying into an investment and holding and therefore only paying 15% tax on the gains and there is very little advantage to the IRA. Obviously the ROTH is great but I never realized how piss poor the regular IRA is. Of course, who knows what the Cap Gains tax of the future with the socialist movement in the US!

Career Progression beyond Post-MBA Associate

marine13910 — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:11:04 -0400

There seems to be little conversation about the possible career progression once someone has filled the role of Post-MBA associate for 2 or 3 years. I believe it goes something like VP to Principal to Partner. What I've heard is that the progression to Partner is not like banking where someone is likely to work there way up to MD at the same firm. Is it true that in order to make Principal or VP someone would likely need to assume a role with a portfolio company or startup for some time? I'm not specifically speaking about Mega-funds and am more interested in the middle-market. Any ideas?

Former military what are my chances at HBS?

marine13910 — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:15:03 -0400

To make a long story short. I have served in the Marine Corps on the enlisted side for 10 years, with 3 years of active duty and 7 in the reserves. I was fortunate enough to be promoted rapidly and have held a variety of leadership roles along with two overseas tours{Iraq, Afghanistan}. I graduated undergraduate from Rutgers University with a triple major Finance/Accounting/Marketing and cumulative GPA of 3.94.