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The reality of Social Security and Medicare- My real life experience.

R Quinn | May 4, 2026

"There is thing you can control, other you can just do what is best for you. Does not matter what you said is fact or complain, there will be no change."

- Hung Nguyen

Retirement Toys

Mark Crothers | May 4, 2026

"Being nomadic I can say we haven’t accumulated a single retirement toy. During the first year after retirement we weren’t really nomadic since we still owned an home, even though we were away from home nine months of it. During that year I bought a nice coat in Madrid. (Sadly it’s currently sitting in our storage unit.) With that exception, I can’t recall buying a single object remotely impractical since retirement, nevermind an actual toy. Experiences yes, and more to come."

- Michael1

How much to provide a college student monthly?

Chris | Apr 25, 2026

"“Concerned” seems a misnomer here😎"

- R Quinn

Is saving really that hard? Nope, not for the great majority of Americans.

R Quinn | Apr 28, 2026

"Difficult requiring great discipline, yes. Impossibility, no. Simply because some people do it. Don’t focus on the $3,000, that’s an illustration. It’s the concept that is important. Many people earning double the amount claim they can’t save. An 8% return for the stock market is pretty close to the average over the last 50 years."

- R Quinn

Investing Fundamentals: A Simple Guide for Beginners

W.D. Housley | Apr 24, 2026

"Excellent article. Now let’s forward it to our young relatives and friends who have limited attention spans."

- Nick Politakis

Ageing and the Open Road

ArticleMark Crothers | May 2, 2026

RECENTLY I TOOK a free ride on a driverless bus trialling its proposed route, part of my local administration's ten-year rollout plan for self-driving public transport and taxis. I see real potential in this technology, and I'm hoping the infrastructure and implementation stay on schedule. That hope is mostly selfish, I'll admit. In fifteen years I'll be in my mid-seventies, and I'd love to ditch my car and rely on cheap, dependable robo-taxis instead. It would give me freedom precisely in that decade of life when driving starts to become genuinely problematic. I'm planning to change my car in 2027 for a modern hybrid, but in the back of my mind is the thought that it could be my last. If the self-driving rollout hits its targets, I can see the case for never buying another. The advantages for someone in my demographic at that stage of life would be hard to argue with. Think about what car ownership actually costs. There's the purchase price, insurance, road tax, fuel, servicing, tyres, and the occasional bill that arrives like a punch to the stomach. For most people, a car is the second most expensive thing they own after their home. In retirement, when income typically drops and budgets tighten, that ongoing drain becomes harder to justify. This is especially true when the car spends the vast majority of its time sitting on a driveway looking pretty. A robo-taxi model, where you pay only for the journeys you actually take, could represent a dramatic shift in how much personal transport really costs. The numbers, I suspect, will be compelling — with current estimates from real world operations suggesting an 80% reduction in the cost of fares being achievable. Then there's the question of independence. This is the one that matters most to me personally, and I'd imagine it resonates with anyone approaching or already in their later years. Giving up your car keys is one of those milestones that nobody really talks about, but everyone in that demographic understands. It represents a loss of spontaneity and self-sufficiency that can genuinely affect quality of life. The difference with autonomous vehicles is that surrendering the wheel doesn't have to mean surrendering the freedom. A reliable, affordable self-driving taxi available on demand restores something that previous generations simply had to go without once driving became difficult. This could be a trip to the supermarket on a weekday morning or a late evening visit to family. The safety dimension is also worth considering. Reaction times slow as we age. Night vision deteriorates. Concentration over long distances becomes harder. Most older drivers are aware of this and manage it carefully, but there comes a point for everyone where the road becomes a source of anxiety rather than freedom. Autonomous vehicles remove that calculation entirely. You get in, state your destination, and arrive, without the cognitive load of navigating, anticipating other drivers, or worrying whether your responses are still sharp enough. That peace of mind shouldn't be underestimated. There are wider social benefits too. Older people who can no longer drive are disproportionately affected by isolation. Poor rural transport links, infrequent bus services, and the general assumption that everyone has access to a car all contribute to a situation where many retired people find their world gradually shrinking. Autonomous vehicles, particularly if integrated intelligently with existing public transport, have the potential to reverse that. A robo-taxi that can be summoned by a smartphone, or even a simple voice command, could keep people connected to their communities, their families, and their routines far longer than is currently possible. There are, of course, reasons to be cautious. Technology rollouts rarely go entirely to plan. The ten-year schedule my local administration is working to is ambitious, and a lot can change in funding priorities, in public appetite, and in the regulatory environment. The early trials are promising, but promising trials and full-scale dependable infrastructure are very different things. It's worth keeping in mind, with a groan inducing pun: your mileage will vary — literally. Dense urban and suburban areas will almost certainly see reliable services first, and I'm fortunate that describes my situation. For those in more rural communities, the very people for whom isolation is already the sharpest problem, the wait could be considerably longer. I'm hopeful, but I'm not banking on it entirely. Which is why the 2027 hybrid still makes sense. It's a practical hedge, a good, modern, efficient car that will serve me well through the transition years, whatever pace that transition takes. But the fact that I'm already thinking of it as potentially my last car feels significant. A decade ago that thought wouldn't have crossed my mind. The technology has moved from science fiction to credible near-future fast enough to genuinely reshape how I'm thinking about retirement planning. If it delivers, the generation hitting their seventies in the late 2030s could be the first in history for whom ageing and mobility don't have to be in conflict. That's not a small thing. That might turn out to be one of the most personally transformative shifts of the entire autonomous vehicle revolution. It is not about the flashy early adopters or the logistics industry efficiencies. Instead, it is the simple dignity of an older person getting where they need to go, independently, on their own terms. I'm hopeful I'll be taking that ride and certain my children and grandchildren definitely will.

Mark Crothers is a retired small business owner from the UK with a keen interest in personal finance and simple living. Married to his high school sweetheart, with daughters and grandchildren, he knows the importance of building a secure financial future. With an aversion to social media, he prefers to spend his time on his main passions: reading, scratch cooking, racket sports, and hiking.

Tax Free Income Trap, Dealing With MAGI

DAN SMITH | Apr 21, 2026

"Agree! When it comes to Roth conversions, tax arbitrage is usually the focus of discussion, but “portfolio return“ arbitrage (if that’s a proper term?) is usually less mentioned."

- Andy Morrison

A Life You Build

Jeff Peck | Apr 19, 2026

"Jeff, That is an incredible article. One of if not the best HD articles I’ve ever read.That moved me. As I was reading I was thinking to mention a couple of the most inspiring takeaways you included but there were so many. Thank you so much for taking the time to write and share this piece with the HD community. Ideally, I hope this reaches way beyond HD. Well done on your life’s journey and well done capturing it here!"

- Andy Morrison

Blood Money

Michael Flack | Mar 28, 2026

"On April 30 (with WTI closing at $105.07/bbl.) I sold another 10% of my XOM shares @ $154.413 (up nicely from it mid-month low of $146.44). Plan is to continue selling next month."

- mflack

New Face, old scam

Jim Wasserman | May 2, 2026

"Thanks. Good to see you contributing again."

- Jeff Bond

How Far Behind is the IRS?

Larry Sayler | Apr 29, 2026

"My mother died in 2021 and we were due a significant refund on 2020 taxes due to medical expenses. We filed on time but it took two years and mutiple phone calls to resolve it. This was before the Trump cuts. Nothing moved until Biden pumped $80 million more into their budget. Before they woukd not even answer the phone. my only advice is to call every 2 months, take names and badge numbers and if no result call again. one agent told me they had everything they needed but nothing happened. Two months later calling back I wastold they needed X form and the lady stood by the fax machine when I faxed it. The refund arrived in two weeks. oh and keep a joint bank acvout open with mom so they can send the money there even if she passes and you can withdraw it"

- Concerned

First Place

Jonathan Clements | Sep 6, 2024

"I've driven that stretch of road from the north, after a hiking trip to Humboldt Redwoods and Sinkyone on the coast. Very beautiful."

- Edmund Marsh

Wall Street Trap

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | May 2, 2026

IN THE INVESTMENT world, May 1st is a notable day. It was on May 1, 1975 that the Securities and Exchange Commission deregulated the brokerage industry. For the 183 years prior to that, trading commissions on the New York Stock Exchange had been fixed at uniformly high rates. But when deregulation arrived, competition got going. That’s when discount brokers like Charles Schwab got rolling, and over time, May Day, as it’s now referred to, has delivered enormous savings to consumers. More than 50 years later, though, Wall Street still operates in ways that are often at odds with consumer interests. As an individual investor, what are the obstacles to be aware of? At the top of the list is Wall Street’s fixation with individual stocks. For almost 100 years, the data has been clear that stock-picking is counterproductive. Probably the first to uncover this was a fellow named Alfred Cowles. Cowles came from a wealthy family and wondered whether the investment advice his family had been receiving was worthwhile. He set about answering that question and in 1933, published a paper titled “Can Stock Market Forecasters Forecast?” Cowles’s conclusion: They can’t. More recently, research by finance professors Brad Barber and Terrance Odean came to a similar conclusion. The title of their most well known paper is self-explanatory: “Trading Is Hazardous to Your Wealth.” Along the same lines, Standard & Poor’s regularly examines actively-managed mutual funds to see how many are able to outperform the overall market. The most recent finding: Over the past 10 years, fewer than 15% of funds benchmarked to the S&P 500 managed to beat the index. Research by Jeff Ptak at Morningstar has found that the more active a fund is, the worse it performs. So-called tactical funds, which shift among different asset classes in response to economic forecasts have, in Ptak’s words, “incinerated” shareholder dollars. This data is fairly well known. The problem, though, is that trading activity generates revenue for the brokerage industry, so it has an interest in keeping investors engaged with the market. That’s why brokerage analysts are on TV every day, offering their forecasts for individual stocks, for the overall market and for the broader economy. To be sure, this makes for interesting television. The problem, though, is that it’s been shown to carry almost no value. According to research by Joachim Klement, the accuracy of Wall Street prognosticators is approximately zero. Why are they so poor at forecasting? For starters, there’s the simple fact that no one has a crystal ball. No one can know what a company—or its competitors—will do a month or a year from now, and how that will translate into stock price gains or losses. Sociologist Ezra Zuckerman Sivan uncovered a more subtle explanation. In research published after the technology selloff in 2000, Sivan found that Wall Street analysts are constrained by two obstacles. The first is that they’re dependent on access to companies’ management teams to help in their research. For that reason, it’s in their interest to maintain positive relationships with the companies that they follow. Investment banks that take a positive view on a company may also be rewarded with profitable mergers or acquisitions work when the need arises. Those factors bias stock recommendations overwhelmingly in the direction of “buy” ratings. Another reason analysts tend to avoid negative comments about the companies they cover: Sivan found that there is a community effect that tends to form among the analysts assigned to a given company, and thus an incentive develops to not “rock the boat” in saying anything too critical. People generally want to get along, and that results in a sort of self-censorship. This research is well understood, and yet Wall Street continues to generate forecasts day after day, year after year. Why? There are two explanations, I believe. The first is that it’s entertaining. I’ll be the first to acknowledge that index funds aren’t terribly interesting to talk about. It’s far more interesting to talk about smartphones or AI and the companies behind them. That makes Wall Street analysts invaluable to the media, who need to fill airtime. And as long as they’re granted that airtime, forecasters are of great value to the brokerage industry. Since trading activity is profitable for Wall Street, it’s in brokers’ interest to generate continued interest in stocks. That brings in commission dollars for brokers. And even though commissions have shrunk in recent years, brokers benefit in other ways from active trading, including the “bid-ask spread” on each trade. That’s the difference between what buyers pay and what sellers receive, and though these spreads are tiny, they add up for the brokers who collect them. For good reason, then, Wall Street continues to promote stock-picking. At the same time, the investment industry is always busy developing new funds. In the first half of last year, for example, fund companies rolled out more than 640 new funds. Among them: funds that hold single stocks with varying degrees of leverage and other seemingly unnecessary new formulations. The result: There are now many more funds than there are stocks trading on U.S. exchanges. Many of these new funds follow ever more esoteric strategies. They’re often opaque. And almost invariably, they carry higher fees. In a 2011 study titled “The Dark Side of Financial Innovation,” finance professor Brian Henderson and a colleague looked at one popular category of fund known as a structured product. Their conclusion: These funds were overpriced to the point that their expected return was actually a bit below zero. How were they able to market such an inferior product? Henderson’s hypothesis was that the fund companies designed them to be intentionally as complex as possible in order to exploit individual investors. The bottom line: To a great degree, Wall Street is upside down. But as an individual investor, you don’t have to be. My rule of thumb: In building a portfolio, investors should do more or less the opposite of what Wall Street recommends. That, I believe, is a reliable formula for success. Adam M. Grossman is the founder of Mayport, a fixed-fee wealth management firm. Sign up for Adam's Daily Ideas email, follow him on X @AdamMGrossman and check out his earlier articles.

The reality of Social Security and Medicare- My real life experience.

R Quinn | May 4, 2026

"There is thing you can control, other you can just do what is best for you. Does not matter what you said is fact or complain, there will be no change."

- Hung Nguyen

Retirement Toys

Mark Crothers | May 4, 2026

- Michael1

How much to provide a college student monthly?

Chris | Apr 25, 2026

"“Concerned” seems a misnomer here😎"

- R Quinn

Is saving really that hard? Nope, not for the great majority of Americans.

R Quinn | Apr 28, 2026

- R Quinn

Investing Fundamentals: A Simple Guide for Beginners

W.D. Housley | Apr 24, 2026

"Excellent article. Now let’s forward it to our young relatives and friends who have limited attention spans."

- Nick Politakis

Ageing and the Open Road

ArticleMark Crothers | May 2, 2026

Tax Free Income Trap, Dealing With MAGI

DAN SMITH | Apr 21, 2026

"Agree! When it comes to Roth conversions, tax arbitrage is usually the focus of discussion, but “portfolio return“ arbitrage (if that’s a proper term?) is usually less mentioned."

- Andy Morrison

A Life You Build

Jeff Peck | Apr 19, 2026

- Andy Morrison

Blood Money

Michael Flack | Mar 28, 2026

"On April 30 (with WTI closing at $105.07/bbl.) I sold another 10% of my XOM shares @ $154.413 (up nicely from it mid-month low of $146.44). Plan is to continue selling next month."

- mflack

Wall Street Trap

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | May 2, 2026

Manifesto

May 3, 2026

NO. 52: WE SHOULD aim to become homeowners—not because homes deliver handsome capital gains, but because owning locks in our housing costs and, with every mortgage payment, forces us to save.

Truths

May 5, 2026

NO. 111: WALL STREET tries never to send us a bill, so we’re unaware of how much we’re paying. Fund expenses and financial advisor fees are quietly subtracted throughout the year. Stock trading spreads and bond markups are built into security prices. Load mutual fund commissions are swiped from our initial investment or they're deducted when we sell.

act

May 4, 2026

GO TO THE LIBRARY. You can borrow DVDs, rather than paying to stream movies and TV shows. You can cancel your magazine and newspaper subscriptions, and peruse the library’s periodicals instead. You can borrow the latest books, rather than ordering from Amazon. All this will get you out of the house, meeting your neighbors and reading more—at no cost.

think

May 4, 2026

EVOLUTIONARY psychology. Why are we so fearful of losses, so bad at saving money and always hankering for more material goods? Evolutionary psychology explains such behavior by identifying the traits that helped our nomadic ancestors to survive. These hardwired instincts often hurt us in today’s world—and it can take great mental effort to overcome them.

Money Guide

Manifesto

May 3, 2026

NO. 52: WE SHOULD aim to become homeowners—not because homes deliver handsome capital gains, but because owning locks in our housing costs and, with every mortgage payment, forces us to save.

Spotlight: Cars

I Need Car Advice

R Quinn | Jan 24, 2025

My ten year old car needs $8,000 in repairs. It’s worth about $5,500. I’m thinking not worth more investment.
So, do I pay cash, loan or lease?
Take a deal on a loaner with 6,100 miles or go for something new?
Have to decide in four days. HELP😩

Diminished Value

Sanjib Saha | Sep 18, 2021

A CRUCIAL STEP WHEN buying a preowned car is to scrutinize its Carfax report. A single-owner car with a regular maintenance history and which was driven solely for personal use should be a safe bet, while an accident record gives most people pause. All things being equal, a car that was in an accident, however minor, ought to cost less than a similar one with a clean history.
Some bargain hunters don’t mind taking a chance on a car with an accident history as long as it drives well.

Taking Back the Wheel

Michael Perry | Nov 11, 2023

WE FLEW BACK TO the U.S. last week from Madrid, and were reunited with our car of 12 years. After selling our house in late 2022 and going nomadic, we had headed to Europe six months ago, opting to have our 2008 Lexus SUV professionally stored.
In an earlier article, I recounted the thought process behind this decision. Suffice it to say, we chose this option largely because we had no firm plans for when we’d need our car again,

Closing the Deal

Dennis Friedman | Dec 28, 2021

I HATE BUYING CARS. I can’t think of too many sales transactions that are more loathsome. When I look back at all the times I purchased a car, the one with my father in 1976 was the most memorable.
I needed a new car. I was living in San Diego and often driving to Los Angeles to visit family and friends. My 1966 Volkswagen Beetle couldn’t take too many more trips.
I asked my father if he wanted to come with me to look at new cars.

About That Fine Print

Darwin Beloate | Mar 1, 2023

CAR LEASING WILL likely make a comeback in 2023. But is leasing a good idea?
Before the pandemic, leases represented about 30% of new car sales and as much as 70% or 80% for some luxury vehicles. But during the pandemic, with new vehicles in short supply, manufacturers reduced their generous lease subsidies. This, combined with low interest rates, reduced payment differences between financing and leasing, making leasing less attractive.
But that may be about to change.

Our Chosen Road

Kenyon Sayler | Apr 12, 2022

CONSUMER REPORTS and other authorities will tell you that you get the greatest value for your car-buying dollar by purchasing a two- or three-year-old vehicle. They also often recommend selling your current car after you’ve owned it for about seven years.
We favor a different strategy—one that suits our family but certainly isn’t for everybody.
My wife’s No. 1 priority is that her vehicle be reliable. She insists that every time she gets in the car,

Big Beautiful Bill Response

Howard Rohleder | Sep 6, 2025

I keep a spreadsheet that helps me estimate my current year taxes. As a result of tax changes from the Big Beautiful Bill and further tax changes resulting from the recent Ohio budget bill, I expect tax savings in 2025 in the neighborhood of $1800 on the Federal side and $300 on the State side. And, I expect further savings in 2026. Political discussions are forbidden on the Humble Dollar site and this post is not political commentary. All of us probably have opinions about how reductions in Federal funding have been implemented this year. But no matter our opinions, the fact is they reflect real reductions to some organizations that are doing good work. And, while I always appreciate lowering my cash outflows, I must admit that I did not need either the Federal or State tax cut. I was getting along fine at the prior rate of taxation. I have concerns about the people impacted by these cuts. Reasonable people can disagree about the role of government in funding any number of programs. That doesn’t mean they are all worthless. And, maybe some should be funded to a greater degree by private individuals who believe in their work. With my trusty spreadsheet calculations, I have mapped out a plan to donate my tax savings to organizations that saw cuts. First, I’m planning on upping donations I was already making to the local food bank, a voluntary health organization, and the local PBS station. I also used Bing Co-Pilot to ask targeted questions about regional organizations that are likely to be hard hit by funding cuts. I learned of a charity, highly rated by Charity Navigator, that provides a wide range of services to underserved populations in my area. They expect to see a significant reduction in Federal monies.…

Quick Work

Howard Rohleder | May 3, 2022

I'VE USED QUICKEN since the DOS version, with my first entry made in August 1992. I’m trying to decide if I qualify as a power user. The fact is, there are so many Quicken features that I simply don’t use. The product was first released in 1984 as a basic digital checkbook. It later moved to Windows and it’s now a subscription service. I love the ability to manage my checkbook, but over the years Quicken has added features aimed at managing my entire financial life. I did experiment with tracking some basic investment accounts, only to revert to my own homemade spreadsheets. In the beginning, all entries had to be typed by hand. This required diligence but, for me, the payoff was the ability to manipulate the data once it was entered. For a while, I used the one-click update feature, where Quicken would initiate an automatic download of transactions from all my bank accounts at once. Various glitches led me to give up on that. Now, I enter my checkbook entries manually and download my credit card transactions from the card websites, rather than initiating the transfer within Quicken. When the subscription service was added in an effort to increase Quicken’s revenues, I thought I might use the web feature to access my checkbook, rather than relying solely on the installed software on my desktop. It worked for a while. But when I had problems with the web version, I didn’t see enough value to call the help desk to try to fix it. They have a mobile app, but I haven’t tried it. I’ve never tried the budgeting feature, either. I don’t budget, so it had no value to me. Likewise with bill pay. During the years I’ve used Quicken, I’ve migrated from snail-mailing checks to bill…

Walking Away

Howard Rohleder | Mar 18, 2022

IN PROFESSIONAL sports, superlatives are often overdone. Even the GOAT designation—greatest of all time—is sometimes applied prematurely. But love him or hate him, Tom Brady is arguably the GOAT among NFL quarterbacks and perhaps among all NFL players. For proof, look no further than his collection of record-breaking statistics, Super Bowl rings and most valuable player awards. Could it be that he has added another GOAT designation with his epic fail at retirement? Brady reversed his retirement announcement from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after just 40 days. What did he figure out in those 40 days that changed his plans? The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the median NFL player career is six years. Brady has played for 22. Didn’t he know that retirement was coming? Maybe it’s a matter of finances. Despite earning in a few years what most people earn in a lifetime, an unfortunate number of NFL players file bankruptcy after their football days are over. Tom and his wife Gisele reportedly have $26 million worth of homes in various states. Perhaps they neglected to factor the mortgage payments into their retirement plan. Maybe they miscalculated how much early retirees pay for health coverage. Perhaps they forgot to fund 529 plans for the kids’ college. Still, with a reported individual net worth of $250 million, coupled with his wife’s $400 million, I’m guessing Brady doesn’t need the paycheck. In a HumbleDollar article last October, Mike Drak described “failing” retirement because he didn’t recognize in advance what retirement would mean for his identity and sense of purpose. For Brady, maybe we shouldn’t discount the feeling that comes with having millions of fans scream his name at every snap. Brady’s stated reason for reversing his retirement decision was “unfinished business.” The fans take this to mean he wants another…

The Mary Jean List

Howard Rohleder | May 25, 2023

MY FATHER-IN-LAW Carson was a stereotypical engineer—organized and precise. All four of his children know the motto “measure twice, cut once.” Carson applied these traits to his finances, which he managed on behalf of himself and Mary Jean, his wife. Mary Jean depended on this. As they aged, Carson maintained his mental acuity, but he was the first of the two to deteriorate physically. Mary Jean was strong physically but slowly surrendered to Alzheimer’s. Before her diagnosis, Carson made a concerted effort to teach Mary Jean how to manage their finances in case, someday, she might have to do it on her own. They had an investment manager, so the actual investing was taken care of. Carson wanted her to be able to navigate the banking, bill paying and check book. With an engineer’s precision, he created a list instructions laying out who to contact and how to handle the monthly financial chores. It became apparent that this wasn’t going to work. Possibly due to the early effects of as-yet undiagnosed Alzheimer’s, Mary Jean couldn’t grasp what needed to be done. That was when he turned to us. I wrote a HumbleDollar article based on what we learned from this experience. Carson’s list, which my wife and I referred to as the “Mary Jean list,” guided us when he passed away. It was such a good idea that we adopted it ourselves. Enshrined in a manila folder in the front of our file cabinet is a three-page list of steps and instructions for my wife to follow, should I die first. Just over a page is devoted to 15 steps. Each step refers to an individual contact: attorney, accountant, investment company, bank, insurance agent, pension, Social Security, health insurance… the list goes on. There’s a name, a phone number, questions…

Managing to Profit

Howard Rohleder | Oct 25, 2021

THE GAMBLING TRUISM says you can’t beat the house. That brings me to a recent HumbleDollar article that discussed choosing either a Medicare Advantage plan or traditional Medicare with an accompanying Medigap policy. Almost two dozen readers weighed in with comments. My two cents: Never forget that the managed-care companies offering Advantage plans are mostly for-profit companies that are publicly traded. The government’s purpose is to transfer its insurance risk to those companies. These managed-care companies must then manage that risk through rationing, limiting choice and negotiating provider payments, as well as encouraging healthy behavior among their customers. To the extent they’re allowed, they deny coverage or charge higher rates to those with preexisting conditions. Although Medicare Advantage was first offered in the late 1990s, enrollment really took off about 10 years ago. That was when Congress made the program more palatable to insurance companies. Advantage plans became their growth driver and industry marketing got more aggressive. Enrollment has doubled over the past decade. I looked at the major national managed-care companies in the Medicare Advantage market over that time period. Here are their stock returns for the past 10 years, without dividends reinvested, as of Oct. 18: Aetna (AET) +499% Anthem (ANTM) +537% Humana (HUM) +514% UnitedHealth Group (UNH) +873% S&P 500 (SPX) +271% Over the long haul, the stock market recognizes value. Don’t imagine that managed-care companies are charitable ventures. This factors into how they “manage” your care. Rather than choosing one of their Advantage plans, your best bet might be to become a stockholder. That way, you can smile at your brokerage statement because you’ll be betting with the house. I spent years in hospital administration sitting across the table from insurance companies. When it came time to decide, I opted for traditional Medicare plus a Medigap policy. It…

Copycat Crime

Howard Rohleder | Oct 14, 2021

I WAS SITTING AT MY computer one lunchtime when an email popped up from one of my credit card companies, saying I’d just purchased nearly $12,000 of jewelry at a store in Toronto. Within minutes, I was on the phone to the card company. I was quickly referred to the fraud unit. I told my story. The company credited my account, cancelled the card and mailed me replacements. Weeks later, I had to complete a form, signing off on my statement describing what happened. Months later, the company sent me a letter formally closing the case and saying I had no liability. What I learned was that someone had called the card company, pretending to be me, and requested a duplicate card while I was supposedly traveling in Canada. Apparently, the caller supplied enough identifying information that a card was priority shipped to Canada. This had occurred several months before the Toronto transaction. The card was presented in person at the jewelry store. I had set up a series of account alerts online, which is why I knew instantly when the fraud occurred. I suspect I was reporting the crime minutes after the fraudster had left the jewelry store. What baffled me was that there was no alert setting for receiving a duplicate card, let alone receiving a duplicate card in a foreign country. This fraud could have been easily prevented if the card company had emailed me, saying it had issued a duplicate card and shipped it to Canada. Nonetheless, fraud alerts on your banking and credit card accounts can be valuable. After the jewelry incident, I reviewed my settings and tightened them further. Different banks may have slightly different alerts. But generally, they can be categorized as security alerts, transaction alerts and payment alerts. Some are there to…

The reality of Social Security and Medicare- My real life experience.

Retirement Toys

How much to provide a college student monthly?

Is saving really that hard? Nope, not for the great majority of Americans.

Investing Fundamentals: A Simple Guide for Beginners

Ageing and the Open Road

Tax Free Income Trap, Dealing With MAGI

A Life You Build

Blood Money

New Face, old scam

How Far Behind is the IRS?

First Place

Wall Street Trap

The reality of Social Security and Medicare- My real life experience.

Retirement Toys

How much to provide a college student monthly?

Is saving really that hard? Nope, not for the great majority of Americans.

Investing Fundamentals: A Simple Guide for Beginners

Ageing and the Open Road

Tax Free Income Trap, Dealing With MAGI

A Life You Build

Blood Money

Wall Street Trap

Free Newsletter

Get Educated

Manifesto

Truths

act

think

Money Guide

Manifesto

Spotlight: Cars

I Need Car Advice

Diminished Value

Taking Back the Wheel

Closing the Deal

About That Fine Print

Our Chosen Road

Spotlight: Rohleder

Big Beautiful Bill Response

Quick Work

Walking Away

The Mary Jean List

Managing to Profit

Copycat Crime