Excellent article, Dennis. Everyone's different, but my wife and I are in the "stay at home" camp and will do what's necessary to make that work. Just hoping they perfect driverless cars sooner rather than later!
I likewise have a strong psychological aversion to debt. But isn't there an additional factor? If you took out the loan, that would free up the funds you'd otherwise use to continue to be invested. You'd be betting that they'd earn more than you're paying on the loan interest. With the market currently at such lofty heights, I'd be uncomfortable making that bet. Jonathan has written that paying down a mortgage is like getting a guaranteed return of the mortgage's interest rate. In most cases, that's pretty hard to beat, not to mention a good portfolio diversifier.
Randy, thank you for pointing that out. My post was indeed muddled. So I attempted to get a comparison of total returns, with dividends reinvested, from 6/12/25 to 6/12/26 of VGIT, VGSH, and VMRXX. The last one is a Vanguard money market fund we hold. (One of our online savings accounts actually paid a good bit higher interest over the last year). This was harder than I expected, so I tried a few AI sites. Here's what ChatGPT came up with: Approx. Total Return (6/12/25–6/12/26): VGIT~3.7% VGSH~3.4–3.5% VMRXX~3.9% Here's what CoPilot came up with: Summary (6/12/25 → 6/12/26 Total Return, Dividends Reinvested):
Total Return VGIT +3.19%VGSH +3.31% VMRXX +3.96% And finally, this from Claude:VGIT (Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF):+3.19% — this figure is for the exact period ending 6/12/2026. Year-to-date 2026 it's actually down slightly (-0.29%), so essentially all of this return came from dividend income/reinvestment plus price gains in the second half of 2025 (VGIT had a strong 2025, +7.34% for the full calendar year). VGSH (Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF):~3.4% — reported as of 6/8/2026 (a few days before your end date, but close). On a price-only basis VGSH was actually down about -0.5% over the year, so virtually the entire return came from reinvested monthly dividends (the fund yields around 3.9-4%). VMRXX (Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund Admiral):~4.0% — reported as of early June 2026. Since this is a money market fund with a constant $1.00 NAV, this return is essentially pure dividend income compounding monthly — no price appreciation/depreciation component. ChatGPT is the outlier, showing higher returns from VGIT than VGSH, and I'm pretty sure that's off base. But in any event, my current preference for online savings accounts and MM funds over short (& intermediate) bond funds remains. I realize this can all change when the bond market changes, and I'm ready to make adjustments then. From what I understand, the bond market doesn't swing as fast and as dramatically as the stock market, so I'm thinking I won't pay as high a price for a wait and see attitude.
Sanjib, thanks for an excellent article and detailed explanation of your thinking on this. Most of our cash/liquid assets are in online savings accounts and money market funds, but we also hold some Vanguard Short Term Treasury ETF (VGSH) and Intermediate Treasury ETF (VGIT). Their current SEC yields are 4.21% and 4.00% respectively. But, and for me a big "but" is that I have a current long term loss on VGIT of 2.19% and on VGSH of 1.25%---and that's with the dividends reinvested. Of course, the principal is stable on the savings and MM accounts, and we get anywhere between 3.42% and 4.15% interest. At this point I'm just not sold on transferring more cash into Treasury ETFs (not to mention that I'm still smarting from the bond crash of a few years ago!).
Bill, you make an important point. I likewise converted all my Vanguard funds (held at Vanguard) to their equivalent Vanguard ETFs. No fees and the conversions aren't taxable. I was thinking of my heirs but also of myself as I may later want to transfer those assets to a different brokerage firm. As you point out, transferring ETFs to a different firm is easy but funds not so much.
Jonathan, I think of you often---for the many finance (and writing) lessons you taught us, but even more for the pragmatism and dignity with which you approached death. You were more guarded about your deeper feelings. That makes this piece all the more striking. Andrew
Ben, I appreciate your posting this. I just read the transcript of Adam's Morningstar interview and it was great. Adam has a lot in common with Jonathan. He writes and speaks clearly and in a way that even finance amateurs like me can understand and appreciate. His straightforward, common sense, "center lane" approach hits the mark with me. We're lucky to have him here on HD.
Thank you for this, Andrew. You shed light on the other side of retirement that, as you say, is less discussed but even more important than all the financial maneuvering. I'm sure Jonathan is indeed looking over your shoulder when you write, and I know he's smiling.
Comments
Lovely story, Andrew. So true that some things we forget as being of small consequence are actually much appreciated and long remembered by others.
Post: A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered
Link to comment from July 1, 2026
Excellent article, Dennis. Everyone's different, but my wife and I are in the "stay at home" camp and will do what's necessary to make that work. Just hoping they perfect driverless cars sooner rather than later!
Post: Close to Everything I Need
Link to comment from June 20, 2026
I likewise have a strong psychological aversion to debt. But isn't there an additional factor? If you took out the loan, that would free up the funds you'd otherwise use to continue to be invested. You'd be betting that they'd earn more than you're paying on the loan interest. With the market currently at such lofty heights, I'd be uncomfortable making that bet. Jonathan has written that paying down a mortgage is like getting a guaranteed return of the mortgage's interest rate. In most cases, that's pretty hard to beat, not to mention a good portfolio diversifier.
Post: Leverage
Link to comment from June 19, 2026
Thanks for the link. Just took a look and the site looks great. Congrats to you, Sanjib, on this very worthwhile project.
Post: Beyond Bank Accounts
Link to comment from June 14, 2026
Randy, thank you for pointing that out. My post was indeed muddled. So I attempted to get a comparison of total returns, with dividends reinvested, from 6/12/25 to 6/12/26 of VGIT, VGSH, and VMRXX. The last one is a Vanguard money market fund we hold. (One of our online savings accounts actually paid a good bit higher interest over the last year). This was harder than I expected, so I tried a few AI sites. Here's what ChatGPT came up with: Approx. Total Return (6/12/25–6/12/26): VGIT~3.7% VGSH~3.4–3.5% VMRXX~3.9% Here's what CoPilot came up with: Summary (6/12/25 → 6/12/26 Total Return, Dividends Reinvested): Total Return VGIT +3.19% VGSH +3.31% VMRXX +3.96% And finally, this from Claude: VGIT (Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF): +3.19% — this figure is for the exact period ending 6/12/2026. Year-to-date 2026 it's actually down slightly (-0.29%), so essentially all of this return came from dividend income/reinvestment plus price gains in the second half of 2025 (VGIT had a strong 2025, +7.34% for the full calendar year). VGSH (Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF): ~3.4% — reported as of 6/8/2026 (a few days before your end date, but close). On a price-only basis VGSH was actually down about -0.5% over the year, so virtually the entire return came from reinvested monthly dividends (the fund yields around 3.9-4%). VMRXX (Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund Admiral): ~4.0% — reported as of early June 2026. Since this is a money market fund with a constant $1.00 NAV, this return is essentially pure dividend income compounding monthly — no price appreciation/depreciation component. ChatGPT is the outlier, showing higher returns from VGIT than VGSH, and I'm pretty sure that's off base. But in any event, my current preference for online savings accounts and MM funds over short (& intermediate) bond funds remains. I realize this can all change when the bond market changes, and I'm ready to make adjustments then. From what I understand, the bond market doesn't swing as fast and as dramatically as the stock market, so I'm thinking I won't pay as high a price for a wait and see attitude.
Post: Beyond Bank Accounts
Link to comment from June 14, 2026
Sanjib, thanks for an excellent article and detailed explanation of your thinking on this. Most of our cash/liquid assets are in online savings accounts and money market funds, but we also hold some Vanguard Short Term Treasury ETF (VGSH) and Intermediate Treasury ETF (VGIT). Their current SEC yields are 4.21% and 4.00% respectively. But, and for me a big "but" is that I have a current long term loss on VGIT of 2.19% and on VGSH of 1.25%---and that's with the dividends reinvested. Of course, the principal is stable on the savings and MM accounts, and we get anywhere between 3.42% and 4.15% interest. At this point I'm just not sold on transferring more cash into Treasury ETFs (not to mention that I'm still smarting from the bond crash of a few years ago!).
Post: Beyond Bank Accounts
Link to comment from June 13, 2026
Bill, you make an important point. I likewise converted all my Vanguard funds (held at Vanguard) to their equivalent Vanguard ETFs. No fees and the conversions aren't taxable. I was thinking of my heirs but also of myself as I may later want to transfer those assets to a different brokerage firm. As you point out, transferring ETFs to a different firm is easy but funds not so much.
Post: The Market’s Unpredictability
Link to comment from June 13, 2026
Jonathan, I think of you often---for the many finance (and writing) lessons you taught us, but even more for the pragmatism and dignity with which you approached death. You were more guarded about your deeper feelings. That makes this piece all the more striking. Andrew
Post: Mourning the World
Link to comment from June 5, 2026
Ben, I appreciate your posting this. I just read the transcript of Adam's Morningstar interview and it was great. Adam has a lot in common with Jonathan. He writes and speaks clearly and in a way that even finance amateurs like me can understand and appreciate. His straightforward, common sense, "center lane" approach hits the mark with me. We're lucky to have him here on HD.
Post: Adam Grossman on The Long View
Link to comment from May 28, 2026
Thank you for this, Andrew. You shed light on the other side of retirement that, as you say, is less discussed but even more important than all the financial maneuvering. I'm sure Jonathan is indeed looking over your shoulder when you write, and I know he's smiling.
Post: My Father: The Peace He Never Found
Link to comment from May 21, 2026