Hello Andrew. Thanks for sharing your sister's story. I'm sorry for the pain that she and your family experienced. Addiction knows no bounds. Our youngest son has been in recovery for three years. He was in and out of treatment for four or five years before that. I plan to share your post with him.
I'm a 75 yr. old man; I've been retired 5 years. My wife (73) has a small pension (~1k/mo.); our social security covers our monthly expenses. Our Fidelity portfolio includes a small Roth acct and a small brokerage account (~ 2.5% each of our portfolio) and two tax-deferred IRAs (95% of portfolio). We have 5% of our assets in high interest savings accounts. Within our Fidelity accts all positions are indexed or sector specific mutual funds or ETFs. (We own no individual stocks or bonds.) The balance is 80% equities (including 10% intl stock funds) and 20% bond funds. We have no debt except monthly credit card expenses which we pay off. Within each Fidelity account my rule of thumb is to have 7 or fewer funds. The largest is FXAIX (Fidelity 500 Index) with about 33% of all equities. (I've tried to keep things simple.) We use our savings accounts, RMDs, and our brokerage account for travel, major expenses, and occasional support for our 3 adult children and our granddaughter.
For the past 6 or 7 years, HD has been our financial north star thanks to Jonathan, Adam, Dennis, Richard and many other contributors and commentators. I am so grateful to all of you! For now, with my wife's assent, I manage our assets. As I age I anticipate hiring a financial advisor to give my wife peace of mind (assuming I'm the first one to sign off). Probably TMI. Until about 10 years ago I thought v. little about retirement. I just knew that saving and living below one's means was a good idea.
I have traveled with my children as preteens and later as young adults in Germany and Japan. On one occasion our son required an outpatient visit for a serious infection. Our daughter had an emergency room visit for a serious health condition. In both instances, medical services were relatively prompt (< 1 hr wait) and inexpensive. Prescribed meds were also inexpensive and the health concerns were resolved. I contrast that with the forms, billing, EOB statements, and coverage reviews we all - well most of us - experience in the US. The US spends more per capita on health care than other nations. Yet, our health outcomes - think infant mortality - are sub par for developed nations.
I think R. Quinn's post highlights the lack of good healthcare education among the general public. As Quinn noted in another thread on this site, in retirement and as we age, our health and making the most of our time are extremely valuable. I think many would exchange taxes for healthcare for unanticipated expenses that can wreck individual and family finances.
What a positive initial discussion with your adult children. Well done. Our oldest (38 yr old) and his wife own a home. Our two younger children (29 & 35) are still single and are not homeowners. We have told them that we are willing to help them purchase a condo or house when they are ready. In the meantime we have had discussions with them about having emergency funds, setting up a Roth account, and saving ~ 15% of what they earn. We check in with them about finances a couple of times each year but try to tread lightly.
Thanks for posting your story. It's very encouraging.
A fraudster filed a federal tax return using my wife's and my SSNs 13 years ago. Untangling things took a few months with the IRS and more than a year with the state of Maryland. The IRS handed things efficiently; we've been using PINs when we file that the IRS mails to us each year. Maryland, where we lived at the time, gave us a lot of grief as we tried to sort things out and refile our tax forms. The state put a lien on our property and after 6 months turned our account over to a debt collection agency! The issue was resolved after we contacted our state representatives. We had no problems with the IRS.
Comments
Hello Andrew. Thanks for sharing your sister's story. I'm sorry for the pain that she and your family experienced. Addiction knows no bounds. Our youngest son has been in recovery for three years. He was in and out of treatment for four or five years before that. I plan to share your post with him.
Post: What Addiction Couldn’t Take: My Sister’s Story
Link to comment from June 21, 2026
I'm a 75 yr. old man; I've been retired 5 years. My wife (73) has a small pension (~1k/mo.); our social security covers our monthly expenses. Our Fidelity portfolio includes a small Roth acct and a small brokerage account (~ 2.5% each of our portfolio) and two tax-deferred IRAs (95% of portfolio). We have 5% of our assets in high interest savings accounts. Within our Fidelity accts all positions are indexed or sector specific mutual funds or ETFs. (We own no individual stocks or bonds.) The balance is 80% equities (including 10% intl stock funds) and 20% bond funds. We have no debt except monthly credit card expenses which we pay off. Within each Fidelity account my rule of thumb is to have 7 or fewer funds. The largest is FXAIX (Fidelity 500 Index) with about 33% of all equities. (I've tried to keep things simple.) We use our savings accounts, RMDs, and our brokerage account for travel, major expenses, and occasional support for our 3 adult children and our granddaughter. For the past 6 or 7 years, HD has been our financial north star thanks to Jonathan, Adam, Dennis, Richard and many other contributors and commentators. I am so grateful to all of you! For now, with my wife's assent, I manage our assets. As I age I anticipate hiring a financial advisor to give my wife peace of mind (assuming I'm the first one to sign off). Probably TMI. Until about 10 years ago I thought v. little about retirement. I just knew that saving and living below one's means was a good idea.
Post: What’s in your portfolio ?
Link to comment from June 21, 2026
I have traveled with my children as preteens and later as young adults in Germany and Japan. On one occasion our son required an outpatient visit for a serious infection. Our daughter had an emergency room visit for a serious health condition. In both instances, medical services were relatively prompt (< 1 hr wait) and inexpensive. Prescribed meds were also inexpensive and the health concerns were resolved. I contrast that with the forms, billing, EOB statements, and coverage reviews we all - well most of us - experience in the US. The US spends more per capita on health care than other nations. Yet, our health outcomes - think infant mortality - are sub par for developed nations. I think R. Quinn's post highlights the lack of good healthcare education among the general public. As Quinn noted in another thread on this site, in retirement and as we age, our health and making the most of our time are extremely valuable. I think many would exchange taxes for healthcare for unanticipated expenses that can wreck individual and family finances.
Post: What do we Americans want? We want “free” healthcare
Link to comment from June 11, 2026
What a positive initial discussion with your adult children. Well done. Our oldest (38 yr old) and his wife own a home. Our two younger children (29 & 35) are still single and are not homeowners. We have told them that we are willing to help them purchase a condo or house when they are ready. In the meantime we have had discussions with them about having emergency funds, setting up a Roth account, and saving ~ 15% of what they earn. We check in with them about finances a couple of times each year but try to tread lightly. Thanks for posting your story. It's very encouraging.
Post: Helping Adult Children, pt. 2
Link to comment from March 1, 2026
Our PINs are mailed to us each January. We don't have to request them each year.
Post: A PIN to protect your tax return
Link to comment from February 28, 2026
A fraudster filed a federal tax return using my wife's and my SSNs 13 years ago. Untangling things took a few months with the IRS and more than a year with the state of Maryland. The IRS handed things efficiently; we've been using PINs when we file that the IRS mails to us each year. Maryland, where we lived at the time, gave us a lot of grief as we tried to sort things out and refile our tax forms. The state put a lien on our property and after 6 months turned our account over to a debt collection agency! The issue was resolved after we contacted our state representatives. We had no problems with the IRS.
Post: A PIN to protect your tax return
Link to comment from February 27, 2026