European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 18, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 the stars and stripes tuesday february 18, 1986 when an Ira in t your Best bet would everyone who works take advantage of the easy income sheltering provided by an individual retirement account yes most financial Counselor will jell you. Not necessarily says Robert Carter. My viewpoint is quite a bit different from most people says Carter an Independent financial consultant and business lecturer with the University of Maryland in Germany. I think you have to first decide whether an Ira is a Good idea or not and for some people it May not be. Here s my Rule of thumb. If you Are in the 40. Percent or higher marginal tax bracket you should have an Ira if you re in the 25 percent bracket or lower you probably should to and if you re in Between it  people in the 40 percent bracket Carter said get a hefty tax break from their Ira contribution around $800 but they also enjoy enough liquid income to make annual contributions without fear of later having to disturb the fund. Below 25 Bemy just the opposite is True. People in that tax bracket probably can t afford to make a Large enough contribution to make it worthwhile on their taxes and their lower income Means a greater Chance of later needing the Money and a ing the 10 percent penalty for Early  and Carter says Congress is expected to double the penalty to 20 percent in the near future. Also lower income goes with younger age and those Are the people who Are More Likely to want to use the funds for some other  wage earners who fall Between the 25 and 40 percent brackets should consider their age number and types of other investments and the amount of their disposable income before deciding on an Ira investment he said. Whether you open an Ira or not Carter stresses have a regular savings or investment program one of the shocking things is what prodigious Consumers Many service people Are. I have a Friend who represents an electronics company Over Here and he told me once that if something has an on off switch the military will buy  the Booklet that accompanies your Federal tax forms explains which tax bracket you fall into. Single workers who earned less than $20,000 Are in the 25 percent bracket those who earned around $45,000 Are taxed at the 40 percent rate. Carter advises those who do plan to open an Ira to shop around first to find the Best investment vehicle possible. That can be a problem Over Here. Serve remembers Are Cut off from a lot of the flow of information. By the time Money Magazine gets into the base Library it s sometimes months  your Best bet Carter said is to get advice from an expert and then get More advice. A second opinion is important because not everyone has the right answers. This can be a very confusing Field and it s very easy to give somebody wrong  additional advice can be obtained free from financial Counselor available in most military communities. They vary quite a bit in experience. Some Are very Good and some Arent quite frankly. But i be never met one that was  there is no perfect investment product because if there were there would Only be one product. There in t anything that is going to provide you with highly liquid tax free High rate of return  but Carter thinks there Are some things that come close. In his opinion the following investments Are right for 1986 Mutual funds. Especially Stock growth funds Mutual that invest heavily in the Stock Market. If carefully selected Good funds will perform Well Over an extended period of time. There Are no guarantees with Mutual and that makes a lot of people nervous but most people can earn substantially Good rates of return for a period of time. One of my favorite examples is the fund that has earned More than 1,000 percent in 10 years but the very first year of that 10 years the fund lost Money. And one of the years it was up Only marginally. That s a realistic pattern for Mutual funds essentially eight Good years out of 10. One Good thing about funds is the wealth of information available on them and ease in understanding. Some investment products Are really esoteric and people never really do understand How they work and consequently find it Tough to make performance  government be Eurtle fund. Mutual funds that invest in . Treasury Bonds and Bills and what Are called go Nile Maes mortgage investments made by the government National mortgage association and the . Government. These Are a conservative investment and Are essentially risk less in the sense of losing Money because the securities themselves Are As Good As the us. Government. If the . Currency is Good the fund is Good. Right now these Are doing extremely  Beite Short for real estate investment trusts. Funds that use shareholder Money to buy investment property or to make mortgages. Essentially a reit is a Mutual fund that deals in real estate mortgages usually. The principal difference is that reit does t Promise to redeem itself the Way