I'm gifting a Wall Street Journal article on the share of AI company debt in the bond market. Just as AI is becoming an ever-growing share of the S&P500, it is becoming a bigger share of the bond market. I have already shifted money from the S&P500 to the rest of the market, and to an international fund, now I'm wondering whether I should do the same for bonds. Since my asset allocation is 50% stocks, I own a fair amount of bonds. Most of the money is in short and intermediate TIPs (VTAPX and VAIPX), and short and intermediate Treasuries (VFIRX and VSIGX), but some is in high-grade corporates (VFSUX and VFICX). Would you only hold Treasuries?

I see a fair amount about how index funds will ruin the stock market. According to this Wall Street Journal article there is a different and more immediate issue. Seems that there is a drop off in companies raising capital on the open market, instead restricting IPOs or their equivalent to a hand-selected group of insiders. Is this a case for some kind of regulation? Hard to see what kind.

The Washington Post has an article on yet another effort to cut taxes for the wealthy. This time it is stepping up the cost basis for capital gains to account for inflation. You'd think they'd at least wait for the dust to settle from the recent give away. I don't know whether the article is behind the pay wall, it's not giving me an option to share it so I did a straight copy.

LATE LAST OCTOBER, I was one of the first to move into the new building at my chosen continuing care retirement community, or CCRC. Now, more than five months later, I’m more confident than ever that I made a good decision. I’m in my mid-70s, single and childless, with relatives 3,000 miles distant in both directions. Both bathrooms at my old home were up 15 stairs. Aging in place was not a good option. Now, I have a large apartment, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a den and a balcony. There's plenty of daylight, including in the kitchen, which has full-size appliances and a huge island. The washer and dryer, also huge, have their own closet. My study—with its six bookcases and a big desk—occupies the second bedroom. The setup of both the study and the main bedroom are effectively unchanged from my house. The apartment is cleaned weekly—I'm planning to switch to every other week—and the guy who answers my maintenance requests is great. There’s no shortage of advice on “aging well,” which generally includes recommendations to exercise, eat a healthy diet and stay socially engaged. Since I moved in, I've been using the weight machines and the treadmill in the well-equipped gym, and I'm starting tai chi. In the week ahead, for those of us in independent living, there's a choice of more than 40 exercise classes, including aqua exercise, barre and cardio strength—and that doesn’t count table tennis and pickleball games. Right now, I'm staying with my primary care physician, rather than switching to the onsite clinic, but I’m getting my vaccinations there. I could attend a webinar on tinnitus next week or one on diet later in the month. And I've already seen the continuing care concept at work: A couple of residents injured themselves during move-in. After time in hospital, they stayed in the CCRC’s skilled nursing facility, before being cleared to move into their apartments.  There's a lot going on, including charitable activity for both onsite and offsite recipients. Residents run the gift shop and a semi-annual yard sale to raise money for the residents’ association. This funds the budgets for 15 main committees and a number of sub-committees, including the library, which is run by residents and led by a former professional librarian. A professional director for the choir and a trainer for the dance team are also paid out of these funds. A residents’ council with elected representatives from the various floors and cottage groupings oversees the association's budget and acts as the liaison with management. There are separate fund-raising drives for the foundation that supports residents who run out of money and for employee appreciation. (There's no tipping.) Then there's an annual event for Rise Against Hunger, and ongoing projects for homeless veterans and a local charity shop. Plenty of social events, too. I volunteer in the gift shop and the library, and put puzzles together for the charity shop. I've been on lunch outings, socialized at “meet and greets,” attended committee meetings, classes and onsite entertainment, and made new friends. I've seen complaints on HumbleDollar about living with a bunch of old people. Of course, there are very old people here—residents seem to live a long time. There are also a lot of less old people, especially in the new building where I live. Some people are still working, while others are active volunteers offsite. You need to be at least age 62 to move in, but your spouse could be as young as 55. Food is a perennial topic of conversation, and its quality varies. There’s some excellent but expensive food—paid in dining points—which I indulge in only once or twice a month. The two bars offer very good bar snacks that don't quite make a meal. A sit-down restaurant with table service usually has good food, but occasionally misses. Other options are a not-bad cafe and a food-court-style eatery that I find short on healthy options. Still, the dining director does listen to residents and some better choices are showing up. For instance, all locations recently switched from white to brown rice. Between making new friends and volunteering, I’ve been staying very busy—so busy, in fact, that I’m blocking off Sunday as “introvert recharge day.” A friend who’s considering his next move is concerned that a CCRC is no place for an introvert. But if you want to eat all your meals in your apartment, and only venture out to pick up your food and your mail, you could. Still, given the advice to maintain social connections as we age, that doesn't seem like a particularly good idea. It's a bit early for me to be sure how the financial side will work out. My move wasn't cheap—I’d used the same senior movers before—and I had some distinctly expensive periodontal work done in December and January. I’ll know more when I see the effect of the change on my tax situation. Part of my monthly fee is deductible as a pre-paid medical expense, as was part of my entry fee. Existing residents are extremely welcoming and seem happy. I still believe, as I and others have posted here before, that a move to a CCRC is the best gift you can give your kids. If you're childless, it's the best gift you can give to yourself. But research is critical. Avoid for-profit CCRCs, make sure the facility will keep you if you run out of money, check the financials and be sure to visit in person. Kathy Wilhelm, who comments on HumbleDollar as mytimetotravel, is a former software engineer. She took early retirement so she could travel extensively. Some of Kathy's trips are chronicled on her blog. Born and educated in England, she has lived in North Carolina since 1975. Check out Kathy's previous articles. [xyz-ihs snippet="Donate"]

Towards the bottom of Mr. Quinn's lengthy thread on spreadsheets and budgets I mentioned that I expect to spend a bit under 1% of my portfolio this year. Dick said that he would feel nervous in that situation. I am not currently feeling nervous, but since that percentage will increase over time, maybe I should be. I thought I would ask my fellow contributors what they thought. Some background: I agree with Dick in seeing my income as just Social Security, with COLA, and a company pension, with no COLA. In fact, the pension was frozen when I reached 30 years service in 2000, and has lost value ever since. I expect my SS to overtake it in a couple of years. It's true, that at almost 78 I have been taking RMDs for several years, and the IRS considers that to be income, but since, after QCDs, I simply move the funds from my IRA to my brokerage account, I don't. Equally, the interest and dividends in my brokerage account are on automatic reinvestment. As I expect my medical costs to increase above the rate of inflation, and the monthly fees for my CCRC will probably do the same, I will need more than 1% from my portfolio in future years. I should mention that the portfolio exists solely to make up for the lack of a COLA on my pension. Leaving a legacy would be nice, but as I have no biological children it is not a priority.  If I take the current value of my portfolio (which has increased since the last time I looked), subtract a guesstimate $50,000 for what will likely be my last car and divide by 22 (years to 100), the result is 11.5% lower than my annual SS plus pension, before taxes. In other words, I believe I could nearly double my gross income without a risk of running out of money. No doubt Dick would still feel nervous, but should I?

Well, mostly FI, but some RE. (FIRE standing for Financial Independence, Retire Early). Christine Benz from Morningstar recently attended a CampFI event in Spain, and wrote about her experience here. She comments that "A lot of people have a caricatured perception of the FI community. They assume that everyone is trying to live on $10 a day in order to hang it up at age 35." While she met some young people, she met older people as well. She concludes that she learned some valuable lessons from her fellow attendees. A recommended read.