Smart moves often in eye of beholder

Before 2004 draws to a close, it's time to peer into the gripe file and address some annoyances dealing with personal-finance issues from the past year. Several examples:

• The "most destructive" financial mistakes as identified by the Moneycentral section of msn.com.

In an article, the Web site listed the following as the "three worst money moves you can make": borrowing from a 401(k) retirement plan, using a home-equity loan to pay off credit-card debts and stretching to buy a house.

Are these really the worst financial moves possible?

I'd suggest plenty of other mistakes would outrank these, such as living beyond your means. Or failing to buy life insurance if you have dependents. Or dying without an estate plan. Or not checking bank and credit-card statements for accuracy and fraud activity each month. Or not participating in 401(k) plans, especially if you have access to company matching funds. Or marrying a compulsive gambler.

In fact, msn.com's worst moves aren't really so bad. I'm no fan of 401(k) borrowing, for example, but as with other loans, there may be justifiable reasons to do this.

So, too, with tapping your home equity to pay off credit cards, especially as you stand to chop your interest rate at least in half.

And stretching to buy a home, rather than a dumb move can be tremendously wise in growth areas like Arizona where prices tend to rise.


• Retroactive tax moves as ordered up by Congress.

The government seems to be getting worse about enacting laws affecting current-year taxes, making planning hard and heightening confusion.

The latest example was the decision to allow an optional federal deduction of state and local sales taxes for 2004, for the first time since the 1980s.

The problem is that people should have been saving their receipts throughout the year, yet the legislation wasn't enacted until October. To mitigate this, the Internal Revenue Service has just come out with tables (in Publication 600) that taxpayers can use instead of actual receipts.

The tables estimate what people pay in yearly sales taxes based on their state of residence, income and so on.

Unfortunately, the tables reflect state sales taxes only, not county and city levies, Phoenix tax attorney Bob Kamman said. In most parts of the Valley, city and county levies add another 2.5 points or so to the state's 5.6 percent rate.

"This gets complicated in Arizona because some cities tax food, but others do not," Kamman said.

Nor is the new IRS worksheet for calculating local taxes a cinch, he added.

If all that's not enough, people may have to forget about this new rule as soon as they get comfortable with it. That's because the sales-tax provision is set to expire after 2005.


• The debate over Social Security privatization.

The people most affected by proposed changes to Social Security should be the ones most vocal about it. Instead, those least affected seem to be making the greatest noise.

I'm referring to seniors and young adults, of course. President Bush already has made it clear that current retirees and those nearing retirement age won't be required or allowed to divert money into stock-market accounts, yet many seniors remain upset about this.

By contrast, younger workers, especially those in their 20s and 30s, will be greatly affected if the plan passes, yet I'm not hearing much feedback from them.

It seems many members of both age groups need to align their priorities better.


• Bank complacency on identity theft. Banks, credit-card companies and other financial firms like to say they're doing all they can to fight fraud, but I wonder.

Surveys have shown consumers value e-mail or other notices alerting them to suspicious activity, yet banks don't routinely oblige.

For example, a November study of 40 large banks by Javelin Strategy & Research found that just one institution, Bank One Corp., offered immediate electronic alerts of suspicious activity in their credit or debit accounts.

Speedy detection would seem to be a key tool for frustrating crooks, but few banks bother with it. Sooner or later, that will have to change.