Taxes are done - what's the next issue?

Just tossing ideas around for discussion.

Now that taxes are done (for most), and the deadline for 2011 IRA contributions has passed, what's coming up for people?

Naturally, there's a whole list of year-end stuff that we've got 8+ months to get done, from opening retirement plans (most employer-based plans need to be established during the year, unlike IRA contributions), to getting RMDs done, to prepaying deductible expenses if you're doing that sort of things.

But in these next 8+ months, what's next?

Sell in May and go away?

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And there was this, with some surprising research:

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If you invested $10,000 in the Dow Jones Industrial Average back on May > 1, 1950 and sold on October 31, 1950 and then repeated this 6 month > holding approach every year through 2010, you would have actually lost > $379 over that 60 year stretch. > On the other hand, the same strategy applied to the other 6 month > stretch (buy on November 1st and sell on April 30th) would have > produced a whopping $609,071 in profits.

(I haven't checked their math, but I wouldn't be surprised)

Hedge the portfolio against the Supreme Court's ruling on ObamaCare (regardless of which way it goes, there will be repurcussions - thoughts on what they'll be?)

Look for a pullback in markets to make a Roth conversion cheaper again?

Let's hear it folks - it sometimes get kind of quiet in here!

--David

!) Harvest gains or losses according to your tax needs. Just go ahead and change horses, like switching betwen Home Depot and similar Lowes. Not everyone expects higher tax next year, especially if you have a Roth conversion bombshell hitting this year. So if the stock market temporarily cycles to the negative, trade and take the loss this year and hope the replacement stock can ride it's gains into future tax years.

2) Find a better stock/etf screener. The ones I have tried are utterly bonkers. This may be a good thing, because your competition is hobbled by the same issue and you can overcome it with manual research. But it's so needlessly hard - like an etf screen that can't filter out the leveraged funds that clog the performance rankings. Or a valuation screen on stocks that throws out many (most?) candidates for which it has no valuation numbers - I want it to give me the known cheapos AND the unknowns... should only throw out the known overvalued.