6 things the rich get an advantage on-David Ning

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The Federal Reserve has been accused of helping the rich more than the poor with its economic stimulus policies, but the wealthy have opportunities to make more money than the average person no matter what the Fed does. Here are seven ways you can get a better deal if you have money.

The rich can choose to lower their tax rate by saving more in retirement accounts. Retirement account contribution limits are pretty generous, with many people being eligible to contribute $18,000 per person to a 401(k) and $5,500 to a traditional or Roth IRA in 2015. A couple who maxed out both of these accounts could defer taxes on $47,000, and even more if they are age 50 or older. The only problem is that most people don't have the funds to contribute this much to their retirement accounts every year. Higher income folks don't have this problem, which means they can lower their tax rates at will by choosing to put a little more cash into a retirement account instead of a taxable account.
If you have enough wealth to retire early, you can further minimize taxes by doing a Roth conversion. The wealthy might be able to accumulate enough assets in an IRA to retire early. When you convert traditional IRA assets to a Roth account, you pay taxes on the amount you convert at your current tax rate. If you do the conversion in a year when you aren't working, you can pay a very low tax rate or even no taxes on a portion of the conversion. And then you won't have to pay taxes on that money again, and can even leave it to heirs. For some wealthy investors, a Roth conversion during early retirement is an opportunity to avoid or significantly reduce taxes on thousands of dollars.
Getting a loan becomes cheaper as you get wealthier. Investors with significant financial assets can borrow money at a lower cost than less wealthy households are getting for their loans. Everything is negotiable, and financial institutions are often willing to lend money to clients at a lower rate when they maintain a higher balance at their firm. The more money you have, the better loan terms you can get. The hope is that the company can make money off of your assets in other ways if you keep the money with them.
You can take advantage of sign up bonuses from financial institutions that want your money. With fierce competition, many firms are offering cash to clients who transfer assets to them. Essentially, you are being paid to invest with a specific financial institution. Those with assets in brokerage accounts can move money from one firm to the next, wait until the required holding period ends and then make a move again to grab more money.
Being able to delay Social Security benefits until age 70 is only possible if you have the money to last until then. Electing to receive Social Security starting at age 70 is one of the most financially beneficial moves most people can make to ensure they won't run out of assets in retirement, but you need to have enough assets to survive until 70 to pull this off. For many people, delaying Social Security benefits until age 70 isn't an option, even if they believe they are going to live until 100. You need to have other sources of retirement income or be able to work until 70 in order to make this optimal financial move.
The wealthy may be able to eliminate emergency funds with very low interest rates. Having cash reserves to deal with emergencies is a good idea, but people with assets may not need one at all. That's because most emergencies can be dealt with pretty easily. First, there's cash flow via wages, dividends and interest. Then, the rich can use up to their credit card limit, which is essentially a free loan as long as you can pay it off by the payment date. Just these two sources can deal with just about every event that can come up. Plus, richer folks have equity and investment portfolios, both of which give them access to credit lines such as home equity and portfolio backed loans at very good interest rates. So, there's no need to tie up any of their cash in savings accounts or CDs paying less than 1 percent interest.

The wealthy are at an advantage, but the beauty is that leaning to invest like the wealthy can help you to get ahead. For example, if your taxable investments are earning income, you can use that for your expenses and shift more of your earned income to your retirement accounts. The key is to earn a good living, save and invest consistently. Let time do the rest.

Culled from Yahoo finance