Chuck BV

Comments:

• Thanks for an informative article. The TIPS ladder approach is attractive after having watch bond funds go down at the same time as stocks in 2022. But my understanding is that part of a classic "4% rule" strategy for drawdown is rebalancing between a target stock/bond allocation quarterly or annually. It seems like having most or all of one's fixed-income assets in TIPS would make rebalancing difficult. Am I overlooking something?

  Post: Laying Down a Floor

  Link to comment from September 14, 2024

• Today I mentioned in passing military tribunals in the Global War on Terror, but couldn't remember offhand the location where detainees were held other than "in Cuba". My 19-year-old daughter immediately came up with "Guantanamo", even though she was a kid when that was going on. At 64 I worry every time something like that happens that I might have already stripped a couple of mental cogs. But I know that I'll do what I can (per Peter Attia), and live with what I have to (per Ryan Holiday). On the AirPods--I've never owned them, but I've watched enough interns my daughter's age lose AirPods that I won't attribute that to age.

  Post: My senior moment

  Link to comment from July 3, 2024

• Great article, and great tips here and in the comment section. There are two things I am curious about for this type of arrangement. First--is there a downside in not building a rooted community that could be important farther along in retirement/life? Second, medical expenses--as a South American-in-law, I had supposed that if I ever do something like this it would look more like 6 months North America and 6 months in South America, and we would get medical needs met out of pocket while in South America. It sounds like you spend more time in Europe and the British Isles. Are medical costs too high to take that approach there?

  Post: Our Nomadic Life

  Link to comment from June 5, 2024

• After reading several of these examples in Humble Dollar, it is too easy to imagine a world of AI rehashing and repeating AI. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification

  Post: Selling My Soul

  Link to comment from May 27, 2024

• These contrasting essays are more valuable then the stand-alone samples presents so far.

  Post: Selling My Soul

  Link to comment from May 27, 2024

• We can say memento mori. But it doesn't get real until it gets real. Thank you for your observations and inspiration.

  Post: My Death Odyssey

  Link to comment from May 22, 2024

• I have had a couple of nonagenarian ancestors, and one centenarian that I can think of going back three generations. That is not unusually long-lived by current standards. Yet I have an innate fear of running out of money in retirement, more than of cashing in before checking off bucket list items. I am a Federal employee, and currently I am eligible for immediate full retirement, but plan A is to continue working until SSA FRA. The counterweights are: A) my wife's experience was that her Dad died at my FRA, weeks before she and my mother-in-law planned to take a bucket list trip; and B) my recent reading of Peter Attia's book "Outlive" suggests I need more sleep and a more disciplined exercise program than my current regime to improve my odds of avoiding old-age dementia that plagued some in my family. So that would be an argument for saying "enough" a couple of years sooner.

  Post: Long Odds

  Link to comment from May 4, 2024

• This question is meaningless unless we specify whether we're talking about sticker price or net price. That, of course, depends a lot on circumstances. At the end of the day, the net price for us was better for Stanford and Pomona then for UC Berkeley or any other public school for which she applied. In our case, that was not a hard decision.

  Post: Are top private colleges worth the cost?

  Link to comment from April 20, 2024

• I appreciate this thought provoking article. My thoughts: first, if you keep a 60/40 equities/fixed income portfolio and rebalance every once in a while, then that 40% part should smooth things out somewhat when the bubble bursts (careful, of course, if that is all in bond indexes, as we learned in 2022). Second, if you actually own your primary residence (as opposed to having a title, a mortgage, and a lien), that should be an additional buffer. Finally, the rising tide of the economical metaphor might not lift all boats, but widespread catastrophes are more equal-opportunity and for all of us our time here is limited. So we make are best bets to hedge against outliving our means of support and enjoy this moment, which is the only one we truly have. For me passive index fund investing is still a major part of making my best best.

  Post: Testing My Faith

  Link to comment from April 13, 2024

• The failure of the banking industry to provide security that meets current standards can only be described as malfeasance and cries out for tighter regulation of this industry. Most banks, including the household names, do not allow the customer to forgo SMS (text) as an option for 2FA. Easier for the bank that way. I had an experience with Wells Fargo similar to the Bank of America experience above, except that the thieves sent themselves a Zelle transfer (I had never before used Zelle) even as I was with customer support trying to regain control of my account. I went through two rounds of appeal with Wells Fargo and then another round through the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau was was stiffed in each case (CFPB has had its moments, but is largely ineffectual and living on borrowed time because its enemies can afford more K street firepower than its friends.) Wells Fargo apparently stiffed me because my complaints about misuse of the Zelle system that they helped to created countered a narrative in which they are heavily invested. So consumer beware, but recognize that the problem is as much the industry as the rogues. By the way, the brokerage industry (Vanguard and ETRADE/Morgan Stanley) are way ahead of consumer banking on this.

  Post: Stop Bank Robbers

  Link to comment from September 13, 2023