Doug C

Comments

• The movie "Up In The Air" about a man whose job is to travel around the country, firing people, came out in 2009. So the practice started before that...

  Post: America Doesn’t Just Do Layoffs. It’s Fallen in Love With Them

  Link to comment from March 17, 2026

• The direct website for Boomer Benefits is at: https://boomerbenefits.com/ I used them in the past to help sign up for Medicare Supplement and Medicare Rx.

  Post: What happens to Medicare Supplement coverage when moving to a different state?

  Link to comment from March 15, 2026

• If you use Facebook, there is a good group called "Medicare Q&A with Boomer Benefits" available at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/508122746351903 Boomer Benefits is a Medicare Broker who helps people with Medicare Supplement and Medicare Rx sign up. They can easily answer questions like this.

  Post: What happens to Medicare Supplement coverage when moving to a different state?

  Link to comment from March 15, 2026

• R Quinn, I don't disagree with your reply on the analysis of the maturity of an 18 year. That is why I referred to them as a "young adult" and said: "Are they experienced and self sufficient, usually not. But maturity levels vary."

  Post: Is there any point when a child needs financial help that you feel comfortable saying “not my problem?” 

  Link to comment from March 15, 2026

• Speaking of AI technology as one influencer on the economy, here is an interesting opinion piece that lays out how big an impact it may have: https://shumer.dev/something-big-is-happening

  Post: Economic Trends

  Link to comment from March 14, 2026

• Yes, an 18 year old is an adult. Are they experienced and self sufficient, usually not. But maturity levels vary. Should parents support their children? Of course. That is a privilege and obligation parents should gladly accept when having children. The most important support starts with love and guidance. Financial support and knowledge sharing is especially important early on. Different parents have different financial means. Some may not be able to financially support their young adult children, although they wish they could. Others have an ability and desire to send them to the finest schools. In both situations, it is to the benefit of the young adult children for the parents to help guide them in understanding the effort involved in earning money, how to decide how best to spend it, and the value of an education when that is needed to pursue future life paths, and understand that alternatives exist. ========= This is how it worked out for our two children who both went to college. We saved via 529s for both children for at least 15 years each. One set of their grandparents were also able to contribute a small amount each year that was saved in the 529s. We were very upfront with our children, in advance and leading up to deciding what to do after high school, that we were saving towards the cost of college for them, but we would unlikely be able to pay for it all. And depending on what college they chose to go to, they may have to take out some Federal loans. When looking at colleges, I pushed the idea of local state universities, being very good schools and a less expensive choice. In the end, they both chose to go to a small, private college in another state. We also continued to contribute while they were in college the same amount we had been contributing leading up to entering college. We stopped supporting their educational pursuits after gaining their undergraduate degree. ======== Our oldest child took what I think of as a traditional approach.   They participated in high school until the end. Worked a summer job in advance of college and saved some for upcoming expenses. Worked during college and during summer breaks. Finished their 4 year undergraduate degree, with Federal loans, and some minor private educational loans. Got out of college, got a job, lived on their own, and paid off their college and automotive loans in about 5 years. ========= Our younger child was much more thoughtful and intentional in pursuing all of this.  While in high school, they took classes at the local community college (for free), and finished high school a semester early. The community college credits were able to be transferred to the college they attended. They worked full time the 6 months before going off to college, saving their earnings for college expenses.  That same child finished their college undergraduate degree in 3.5 years. They worked for 6 months after graduation, saving earned funds. After that 6 months, they continued on into Grad School for 2 years where they paid all of their expenses on their own (working while in Grad school), part of which were covered by their own Federal Graduate loans. After graduating from Grad school they got their desired job, lived at home for about a year and a half, and paid off all of their college and automotive loans during that time. They then moved out into their own apartment. ======== In the years since the above, both of our children have married and have had children of their own. We are contributing to a 529 plan for each of our grandchildren, as are their parents. Unfortunately, college is much more expensive now. But additional alternatives exist that may be taken. As always, challenging choices will have to be made by these new parents (our children) and these future young adults (our grand children). ======== In the end, I think it is beneficial for young adults to participate in all of these decisions, and to have some "skin in the game" financially so that they are not taking for granted what they are obtaining.

  Post: Is there any point when a child needs financial help that you feel comfortable saying “not my problem?” 

  Link to comment from March 14, 2026

• "Different strokes for different folks."

  Post: Retirement Plan

  Link to comment from March 7, 2026

• Also, I failed to mention that even though the referenced tool advocates and defaults to the "TPAW" strategy, it also provides the ability to show results based on choosing an "SWR" strategy and something it calls an "SPAW" strategy. So either way, even if you choose to use "SWR" it is a very useful and powerful tool 🙂

  Post: Forget the 4% rule.

  Link to comment from March 6, 2026

• I'm no financial expert but here is my take... SWR is based on historical backtesting and sometimes incorporates Monte Carlo analysis. Monte Carlo simulation runs thousands of "what-if" scenarios by randomly shuffling historical market returns (volatility and average growth) to see how your portfolio holds up. Based on criteria you set you then choose a SWR rate to use from start to end. A fixed SWR doesn't instruct you on what, if any, adjustments should be dynamically made over time based on changes in the market. It only bases periodic changes on the inflation seen in that period. An SWR based on looking back over historical returns does not predict what will happen year in and year out into the future.  TPAW (Total Portfolio Allocation and Withdrawal) uses an Amortization-based Withdrawal (ABW) method. It calculates your safe spending every year based on the criteria you set looking at real changes in the market and inflation in that specific time period. Bogleheads has a large conversation on TPAW as well as what can be found at the TPAW tool's website in the help documents. The link to the Bogleheads conversation is at: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=331368 These references would do a much better job than me of expressing the pros and cons of SWR vs TPAW.

  Post: Forget the 4% rule.

  Link to comment from March 6, 2026

• It anecdotally looks like many people (especially those who access sites like Humble Dollar and Bogleheads) may be underspending defensively due to an unknown future. I do this myself. Especially those who have been fortunate enough to fall under these positive situations: 

  • Persistent savers throughout their lives
  • Have built up a retirement fund
  • Have a good social security
  • Maybe have a pension
  • Invested during these recent good financial markets 
  Although using a Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) is a highly touted "rule of thumb" it has its issues.  The most common SWR is the 4% Rule. It suggests you take 4% of your initial portfolio balance in Year 1, then adjust that fixed dollar amount for inflation every year thereafter, regardless of what the stock market does. The Flaw: It is "blind" to current conditions. If the market crashes (a "sequence of returns" risk), you keep withdrawing the same inflation-adjusted amount, which can rapidly deplete a shrinking portfolio. The Result: To avoid going broke in a worst-case scenario, the 4% rule is intentionally too conservative for most people. This often leads to "over-saving" or dying with a massive surplus you could have enjoyed while younger. Because of the above, in addition to other financial tools I use (including Boldin which I really like), I have recently been exploring the use of a tool called "TPAW Planner" (Total Portfolio Allocation and Withdrawal) . It is highly customizable to unique individual financial situations, risk tolerance, and legacy goals, and dynamically adjusts based on market conditions. If you haven't taken a look at this, I'd recommend taking it for a spin as it may help you better evaluate how much you can spend without fear of the unknown (something I have a lot of).

  Post: Forget the 4% rule.

  Link to comment from March 6, 2026