AUTHOR: Cheryl Low on 11/13/2024 FIRST: luvtoride44afe9eb1e on 11/13/2024 | RECENT: Jonathan Clements on 11/25/2024
Comments
We paid off our mortgage 7 years before retirement and continued to make contributions to our Roth IRAs. Two changes we made after paying off the mortgage were to do annual Roth conversions and shift more into a Roth 401k vs Trad 401k, as long as it didn't push us into a higher tax bracket.
We treat our four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren equally. We believe it’s important for them to work through their own financial challenges. It can be painful to watch, but those experiences tend to stick, and they don't repeat the same mistake. We’re always willing to guide them, whether that means helping them refinance a mortgage at a better rate, open Roth IRAs, start investing, or understand their options for financing college and other major expenses. A couple of years ago, we gifted the grandkids 5k each. As part of the gift, I offered to help them set up a Roth IRA. Six of the nine grandkids took me up on it, two used the gift towards a down payment on a home, and one used it for college. What I appreciated most was how it opened the door to other conversations about money. I’ve been able to walk them through their options and, if needed, help them through the process.
We used a HELOC to build our current home on some acreage we had previously purchased. The HELOC had a fixed rate of 3.4% and no fees. It helped provide a smooth transition from our old home to our new home. The HELOC was paid off as part of the closing on our old home.
Under legislation enacted in 1983, the Social Security Trust Funds receive income based on Federal income taxation of benefits up to 50 percent of benefits from single taxpayers with incomes over $25,000 and from taxpayers filing jointly with incomes over $32,000.
Legislation enacted in 1993 extended taxation of benefits. The legislation increased the limitation on the amount of benefits subject to taxation from 50 percent to 85 percent for single taxpayers with incomes over $34,000 and for taxpayers filing jointly with incomes over $44,000. All additional tax income resulting from the 1993 legislation is deposited in Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund.
This excerpt is from the brookings.edu website. The USPS employs more than 600,000 people and manages more than 31,000 retail post offices (six times as many outlets as Walmart). It handles 44% of all the world’s mail. And, it has been operating at a loss since 2007, largely driven by declining mail volume and the shift towards digital communication. First-class mail, marketing mail, and periodicals—which together account for more than half of the USPS revenue—have seen significant declines over the past 15 years. First-class mail, a product over which USPS has exclusive delivery rights, has declined by 50%, from 91.7 billion pieces in 2008 to 46.2 billion pieces in 2023. Periodicals have fared even worse, with volume shrinking so much that the cost of processing and delivering them far exceeds the revenue that they generate for the USPS. While not explicitly defined, the Postal Service’s universal service obligation (USO) is broadly outlined in multiple statutes and encompasses multiple dimensions: geographic scope, range of products, access to services and facilities, delivery frequency, affordable and uniform pricing, service quality, and security of the mail. Declining letter delivery not only reduces direct revenue but also makes each delivery less profitable. This challenge is further exacerbated by the postal service’s USO in the context of an increasing number of delivery points—on average, 1.16 million new delivery points have been added every year since 2008. As USPS is required to expand its delivery network to accommodate the growing population, it must serve more addresses while handling fewer pieces of mail—placing an even greater strain on its financial sustainability. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/return-to-sender-what-privatization-might-mean-for-the-future-of-the-usps/
I started rereading "Enough" this morning... didn't plan it; just couldn't put it down. I'm glad you mentioned Mike Piper's book. It sounds like the ideal companion book to read next. Now, my curiosity is piqued - what books are on your annual reread list?
The anecdote is in the Introduction for John Bogle's book "Enough". "At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds,“Yes, but I have something he will never have . . . enough.” "Enough. I was stunned by the simple eloquence of that word—stunned for two reasons: first, because I have been given so much in my own life and, second, because Joseph Heller couldn’t have been more accurate. For a critical element of our society, including many of the wealthiest and most powerful among us, there seems to be no limit today on what enough entails."
Great article - I saved a copy for my next laptop purchase. Question: I'll be scanning old photographs, doing corrections in Photoshop, and then adding them to a photobook...or printing & framing. Most photographs probably don't have a lot of detail so 600 dpi is good, but some of the older photographs have great detail. Is the Epson Scanner V600 a good flatbed scanner for high quality digital images? (My old epson scanner finally died, so I'm in the market for a new one.)
Comments
We paid off our mortgage 7 years before retirement and continued to make contributions to our Roth IRAs. Two changes we made after paying off the mortgage were to do annual Roth conversions and shift more into a Roth 401k vs Trad 401k, as long as it didn't push us into a higher tax bracket.
Post: Should You Stop Contributing To Your IRA?
Link to comment from February 10, 2026
We treat our four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren equally. We believe it’s important for them to work through their own financial challenges. It can be painful to watch, but those experiences tend to stick, and they don't repeat the same mistake. We’re always willing to guide them, whether that means helping them refinance a mortgage at a better rate, open Roth IRAs, start investing, or understand their options for financing college and other major expenses. A couple of years ago, we gifted the grandkids 5k each. As part of the gift, I offered to help them set up a Roth IRA. Six of the nine grandkids took me up on it, two used the gift towards a down payment on a home, and one used it for college. What I appreciated most was how it opened the door to other conversations about money. I’ve been able to walk them through their options and, if needed, help them through the process.
Post: Helping Adult Children
Link to comment from February 9, 2026
We used a HELOC to build our current home on some acreage we had previously purchased. The HELOC had a fixed rate of 3.4% and no fees. It helped provide a smooth transition from our old home to our new home. The HELOC was paid off as part of the closing on our old home.
Post: Advice I give to anyone who’ll listen!
Link to comment from February 2, 2026
The income taxes paid on SS benefits are split.
- Under legislation enacted in 1983, the Social Security Trust Funds receive income based on Federal income taxation of benefits up to 50 percent of benefits from single taxpayers with incomes over $25,000 and from taxpayers filing jointly with incomes over $32,000.
- Legislation enacted in 1993 extended taxation of benefits. The legislation increased the limitation on the amount of benefits subject to taxation from 50 percent to 85 percent for single taxpayers with incomes over $34,000 and for taxpayers filing jointly with incomes over $44,000. All additional tax income resulting from the 1993 legislation is deposited in Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/taxbenefits.html#:~:text=Under%20legislation%20enacted%20in%201983,Medicare's%20Hospital%20Insurance%20Trust%20Fund.Post: Is Social Security Going Bankrupt?
Link to comment from January 31, 2026
I'd also be in favor of 4 or 5 day deliveries per week.
Post: The future of mail and how it affects finances
Link to comment from January 5, 2026
This excerpt is from the brookings.edu website. The USPS employs more than 600,000 people and manages more than 31,000 retail post offices (six times as many outlets as Walmart). It handles 44% of all the world’s mail. And, it has been operating at a loss since 2007, largely driven by declining mail volume and the shift towards digital communication. First-class mail, marketing mail, and periodicals—which together account for more than half of the USPS revenue—have seen significant declines over the past 15 years. First-class mail, a product over which USPS has exclusive delivery rights, has declined by 50%, from 91.7 billion pieces in 2008 to 46.2 billion pieces in 2023. Periodicals have fared even worse, with volume shrinking so much that the cost of processing and delivering them far exceeds the revenue that they generate for the USPS. While not explicitly defined, the Postal Service’s universal service obligation (USO) is broadly outlined in multiple statutes and encompasses multiple dimensions: geographic scope, range of products, access to services and facilities, delivery frequency, affordable and uniform pricing, service quality, and security of the mail. Declining letter delivery not only reduces direct revenue but also makes each delivery less profitable. This challenge is further exacerbated by the postal service’s USO in the context of an increasing number of delivery points—on average, 1.16 million new delivery points have been added every year since 2008. As USPS is required to expand its delivery network to accommodate the growing population, it must serve more addresses while handling fewer pieces of mail—placing an even greater strain on its financial sustainability. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/return-to-sender-what-privatization-might-mean-for-the-future-of-the-usps/
Post: The future of mail and how it affects finances
Link to comment from January 4, 2026
Much appreciated!
Post: Enough Already
Link to comment from December 12, 2025
I started rereading "Enough" this morning... didn't plan it; just couldn't put it down. I'm glad you mentioned Mike Piper's book. It sounds like the ideal companion book to read next. Now, my curiosity is piqued - what books are on your annual reread list?
Post: Enough Already
Link to comment from December 11, 2025
The anecdote is in the Introduction for John Bogle's book "Enough". "At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds,“Yes, but I have something he will never have . . . enough.” "Enough. I was stunned by the simple eloquence of that word—stunned for two reasons: first, because I have been given so much in my own life and, second, because Joseph Heller couldn’t have been more accurate. For a critical element of our society, including many of the wealthiest and most powerful among us, there seems to be no limit today on what enough entails."
Post: Enough Already
Link to comment from December 11, 2025
Great article - I saved a copy for my next laptop purchase. Question: I'll be scanning old photographs, doing corrections in Photoshop, and then adding them to a photobook...or printing & framing. Most photographs probably don't have a lot of detail so 600 dpi is good, but some of the older photographs have great detail. Is the Epson Scanner V600 a good flatbed scanner for high quality digital images? (My old epson scanner finally died, so I'm in the market for a new one.)
Post: How to buy a laptop computer in an AI world
Link to comment from December 3, 2025