Edmund Marsh

Comments:

• As a high school student, I was a budding proponent of centralized control, but Milton Friedman's books won me over to the other side, including the necessity of free trade. I hope the new admin's dabble into protectionism won't cascade out of control, but how much control do I have? Only as far as my own reaction, which is to follow the advice of holding a defensive diversity.

  Post: Trading Arguments

  Link to comment from December 8, 2024

• My brother-in-law made a different, yet similar announcement when he told us he was moving across country to be near us for help in dealing with his illness. The illness was slowly progressive, and we had implored him to plan for his eventual need for an assistance close to home, near his friends. He didn't, but waited until crisis time. The sale of a home and his pension financed his life here until his death, so we had no need to provide money, but the strain on our time and emotions was tremendous. We still feel the reverberations two years later. The situation led to much soul-searching for us, trying to determine the appropriate limits of family caregiving. Up front, I insisted it couldn't jeopardize our financial stability, even if it wrecked our schedule. Because of his contentious nature, he shifted from one facility to another, eventually winding up in an assisted-living facility owned by friends. They provided extraordinary care until his death. I truly feel for you and your siblings. As we made decisions about how much care to give, we rested on the belief that siblings are different from parents, which is perhaps just a mental construct we created. You don't have that thought to fall back on. I still think I would recognize that there are limits to how much any person deserves of another time and resources. That's not advice--just speaking of my own guidelines.

  Post: Pick Your Peril

  Link to comment from December 7, 2024

• Your Saturday newsletter is always a treat. Your contention is we all have an emotional component to our money decisions, even if we don't realize or admit it. It would be interesting to look under the financial hood of those folks who appear or claim to be coldly analytical in all their actions, to see if their image aligns with their actions, as you put it.

  Post: Pick Your Peril

  Link to comment from December 7, 2024

• I'm sure that article was a satisfying find--thanks for sharing. Great idea for the book project. We know that HD is mostly populated by us older folks, but the crying need is among the audience targeted by the education effort you describe. It will be a great legacy for you.

  Post: How Quickly We Forget by Jonathan Clements

  Link to comment from December 6, 2024

• I understand your uneasiness. My wife and I have the same employer, so we also have the same 403(b) provider that came with a change in company ownership in 2016. We also have the same first-time login failure you describe. Additionally, they transposed our email addresses when two-factor sign-in was initiated years ago. A call to the provider just produced an "I'm sorry, we can't work it out at this time, please call back." It's still there. Along with other seemingly small indications that the ship is not tightly run, we're motivated to jump to another provider when we retire. We've already rolled our 401(k)s from the old employer into IRAs.

  Post: Love, Hate and My 401(k)

  Link to comment from December 6, 2024

• Dennis, in my work, I've observed many family situations with patients who are nearing or who have reached the end of their independence. Some are near death. From your account, you're a good son. I experienced something similar with my father, but I knew that when the supportive medications were withheld that he would soon die. It was hard, because, though he had some dementia and relied on us to honor the decisions he had made years before, he was smiling and jovial to nearly the end. I also love my wife's fresh bread, and fresh cornbread. We make the cornbread in the same 9-inch cast-iron skillet that my grandmother used. It's been making cornbread for nearly a century.

  Post: At the End

  Link to comment from December 5, 2024

• Kristine, I imagine my choice would be as different from yours as Georgia is from Arizona, but it sounds just right for you. Enjoy your trips!

  Post: No Hot Dogs

  Link to comment from December 4, 2024

• Rick, I don't know how I missed this. but thanks for sharing. I wish your family a perpetual gathering, and hope you give an annual report as long as you are able. And in reply to Jonathan's comment below: I am happy to be among the thousands of lives that have been improved by your work. My sincere thanks to you..

  Post: Happy Thanksgiving from the OBX

  Link to comment from December 2, 2024

• It’s hard to overstate how much low-cost index funds have benefited the “little guy.” How many other big wins require such little effort?

  Post: Bet on Low Costs

  Link to comment from December 1, 2024

• Like Rick and you, all of our fees are at Vanguard broad index prices. I also agree with him that some folks are better off not doing it themselves. A conversation with a friend led to him showing me his Rollover IRA numbers. Between the fund fees and management expenses, he was paying around 3%. I showed him the probable impact of that figure on his future earnings and he saw the wisdom of moving to Vanguard. He's a smart man, but not tuned into finances, so it's also wise for him to pay for the Vanguard advisor services. Jonathan has a great article in his Guide here: https://humbledollar.com/money-guide/why-costs-matter/

  Post: Costs Matter

  Link to comment from November 30, 2024