New to investing, at least this kind

[iwasakib]

Hi

Currently I'm playing poker online in a semi-professional manner and I'm interested in diversifying. The similarities between these two types of investing seem pleantiful, and I really excel at poker. I'm hoping within the next couple of months I'll feel comfortable enough to make my first deposit! Any help initial direction, advice, anything is very welcome at this point.

I'm 22 years old and I'm looking to eventually get into some fairly agressive investing, but I think starting off slow is a smart thing. Since I have a fair amount of time and interest in this topic, I plan on really getting into the meat. It sounds like getting an IRA account set-up will be first business, but I'm going to have to do some research on the technicallities of gambling income and if that qualifies for IRA status.

Thanks for reading, I hope to hear from everyone soon.

[danks]

To have a ira you need to have whats called "earned income" which would be Income derived from active participation in a trade or business, including wages, salary, tips, commissions and bonuses. This is the opposite of unearned income. I dont belive poker winning would be inclued in that catagory. If you have a spouse you can do a spousal contrabution provied she has earned income. Basically you would need to get get a w-2 to make thins simple.

[iwasakib]

Do you know the qualifications on filing under self employment? Currently, I've just been filing my winning under W-2 gambling section, but I was hoping to talk to a tax specialist this next year since I've made a fair amount. I thought it might be possible to file winning under self employment since it is the only income I generate for myself, and probably will be over the next few years.

BTW, I'm only 22 so I'm not really married yet, I doubt I will be for at least 5 years.

[CSSVT]

I'm 99% sure that wouldn't be self employment as it's an individual tax. Self employment would have you paying taxes for a business as well...which you don't technically have. Why don't you just get a part time retail job or something?

[iwasakib]

I'd strongly prefer not working but I'll keep that under consideration. I think I might try talking to a tax specialist and figuring out what my options are.

I think it's pretty silly that investing in the stock market or other markets is considered earned income compared to something like poker which is considered gambling. It seems like the stock market has quite a bit of gambling involved in itself, and is a place where far more people have lost lots of money. I'm hoping they will begin to regulate poker differently and change some of the tax laws.

[LongArm]

I think it's pretty silly that investing in the stock market or other markets is considered earned income compared to something like poker which is considered gambling. It seems like the stock market has quite a bit of gambling involved in itself, and is a place where far more people have lost lots of money. I'm hoping they will begin to regulate poker differently and change some of the tax laws.
Actually, profits from trading/investing are NOT considered earned income any more than gambling is. And even a full-time trader like myself can NOT contribute to an IRA unless my trading is done within an entity (LLC, S-Corp, etc.), which it isn't.

[iwasakib]

LongArm-

Are there any other tax exempt programs that are offered? I misunderstood what someone had posted earlier. Maybe looking into some type of part-time work would be appropriate for me to setup a tax exempt account. Thanks for the correction.

[LongArm]

I assume you're looking for an account from which you can trade actively and defer paying taxes on the gains? I don't know of anything like that that doesn't require earned income. You COULD find yourself a wife who works and then open up a spousal IRA. ;)