Dan Malone

Comments

• Excellent perspective, and it works on the other side of the allocation transaction, too. I gifted some of a highly concentrated, low basis stock after it had grown significantly to $300 - $350. And then sold most of the remainder at $450 - $520 . . . . only to see it surpass $600. Like you, no regrets on the "derisking" rationale for the decision, but hard not to notice what you missed out on, too. I have ~20% left, though, which will likely go to my heirs with a stepped-up basis.

  Post: The 34% Return I’m Glad I Missed

  Link to comment from February 14, 2026

• Love your pithy KIBS slogan and the academic research that backs it up.

  Post: No Such Thing as Easy Money

  Link to comment from January 9, 2026

• Sounds like QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distributions) are a perfect match for you, Richard!

  Post: If You Could Rewind 5 Years Before Retirement… What Would You Change?

  Link to comment from December 28, 2025

• Ha!

  Post: The Supply Chain Behemoth That Puts Amazon on the Naughty List

  Link to comment from December 25, 2025

• To demonstrate the power of AI, take a look at this comprehensive comparison of various features of DAFs. Quite unbelievable, actually! https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/98c3b7e9-a539-4f9b-91ff-96d3b76776f7

  Post: Easy DAF (e.g. Daffy.org) for Donation of Appreciated Stocks

  Link to comment from October 18, 2025

• I switched from Vanguard Charitable to Charityvest for many of the reasons you mentioned, especially for the low grant minimum of $15 ($500 with Vanguard) and to avoid the minimum annual $250 maintenance fee, which is too high for small balances (Charityvest has a $100 annual fee minimum). Chartityvest uses Vanguard's low expense ratio funds. Overall, I’ve been very happy with Charityvest. There are only two drawbacks: 1) they only communicate via email, which is one way they keep their administrative fees so low (so understandable). They have always been very responsive, though; 2) they do not allow designatation of which investment to sell to fund grants. With Vanguard, I could hold cash in a money market fund and make grants through that account; Charityvest requires grants to come from all investments you hold in your account proportionately. Hopefully, that will change soon, as it appears this is just a software programming issue.

  Post: Easy DAF (e.g. Daffy.org) for Donation of Appreciated Stocks

  Link to comment from October 18, 2025

• That must be it, as I had two embedded links.

  Post: ROTH Conversions and Fixed Indexed Annuities

  Link to comment from October 11, 2025

• (new) Editor: Why was my comment not accepted?

  Post: ROTH Conversions and Fixed Indexed Annuities

  Link to comment from October 11, 2025

• It is clearly best to pay the tax from a taxable account, referring to your comment about “ pay with cash on hand or pay with the conversion.” Read Effect #2 of Roth conversions on Mike Piper’s blog. Piper also spoke on the topic “Roth Conversions – A Deep Dive” at the Bogleheads conference last December, available on YouTube. Otherwise, I look forward to learning more about Roth conversions into Fixed Income Annuities, and especially what the 15 – 18% bonus is about. 

  Post: ROTH Conversions and Fixed Indexed Annuities

  Link to comment from October 11, 2025

• Mark, mind sharing your portfolio’s asset allocation and the reasons therefore?

  Post: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

  Link to comment from September 2, 2025