Would someone be willing to explain to me everything that goes into a consideration of whether or not to sell some single stocks in order to fund my Fidelity Roth IRA?
In 2017 I inherited some very old-school stocks from my father when he passed away. These are held in an Oppenheimer account.
I have a Fidelity Roth IRA that I’ve been funding for a while. I I’m not going to be able to fund it this year because of other expenses. I know that capital gains are taxed nationally at 15% from my bracket. And I know that New York State, where I live taxes capital gains as income. If I sell about $8000 worth of stock from the Oppenheimer account and then put that money into my IRA, I have a rough idea of how much I would be taxed, which seems or rather large percent of the total. What I can’t tell is if it’s worth it. I’m not even sure what the calculation would entail. I’m about 60 years old and probably 5 to 7 years away from retirement. Is that time? Period long enough to recoup the tax hit? Or what way do I need to think about whether the gains outweigh the cost? There must be some kind of formula? Is there?
Do I just transfer the stocks over to Fidelity and then direct them to an IRA there? Or do I sell the stocks from Oppenheimer and just put the cash back to my Fidelity Roth IRA? Can anyone tell me how to calculate a decision like this? I’d really appreciate any assistance you could give. Thank you.