As someone with a CLL diagnosis that isn't as immediately life-threatening but eventually may be (my dad died from the same cancer) one of the things I've done to get my affairs in order is to create a sheet listing accounts, subscriptions, and the like. It also lists common items that I don't have so people don't spend time looking for them (safe deposit box, life insurance, storage locker, etc)
It sounds like you live in a RV or trailer park community. In addition to zoning problems another big issue has been developers and private capital. The units sit on land they rent, not own. What has happened in several communities in CA is the land gets sold and the new owners decide to drive out the residents by raising rent as leases renew. This happened in Palo Alto and San Diego, among other places.
I'd suggest a corollary that aligns with many of the points in the essay, humility. When the market crashed in 2008 as I was getting within striking distance of retirement age my portfolio went down a lot not just in percentage but in absolute dollar terms. I realized I didn't have any better ideas of what to do or special ability to predict markets so I just left things alone. I did stop looking at the portfolio for a while though ;-)
I feel like we’re locked into our current holdings because of the bid-ask spread, which is a transaction cost we’d incur if we sold our ETFs.
According to a Yahoo!Finance article the bid/ask spread on somewhat thinly traded EFTs is about one-half a percent and on popular ones like SPY it's 0.02% Even if all your EFT's are thinly traded. See https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-bid-ask-spread-costs-130014865.html
I looked at the price of business class flights, and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Everyone's different but once I received a cancer diagnosis I opened the spending taps quite a bit to enjoy more things while I can. Living on the West coast a 12-hour or so flight to Europe is much more comfortable in a lie-flat business seat than in coach.
according to the Morningstar article https://www.morningstar.com/columns/rekenthaler-report/cash-an-inflation-hedge-revisited (which actually suggests cash is a decent hedge against inflation compared to alternatives) from May 2021 to June 2022 cash lost about 8% of its value. Returns on money market funds lag inflation and cumulatively fall short, otherwise there would be no use for TIPS nor any purchasers of TIPS. Note TIPS bond funds are not the same as purchasing TIPS and holding to maturity.
Still, I don’t think our increased purchasing power and exponential increase in choices have resulted in a corresponding increase in life satisfaction for most people.Hedonic adaption is part of the answer, but so is the nature of the yardstick. It is not an absolute measure, it is based on comparison. Festinger in the 1950's called this Social comparison theory and there are numerous variants. Rockefeller could look around and see that nobody had it better. He had choices and privileges matched perhaps only by royalty in Europe.In absolute terms the present is better. And its fun to look back at how our ancestors lived. In 1940 nearly half of houses lacked hot piped water, a bathtub or shower, or a flush toilet. After WWII new houses were crammed with kids as the baby boom began but houses were only 1,000 sq feet. We may have actually known people who lived in this era, our parents and grandparents. Push back farther to the 1800's or 1700's and it's hard to think of any of us getting by in the era.
" We can always make more money. But we can’t make more time, and we never know how much more we have."We can trade off money for time. I could take public transit to work but I'd rather save an hour of time each way and go in my car which requires purchasing, gas, insurance, and maintenance. I can spend 1-3 hours a week on the yard or hire a company to take care of it. And so on...
The Roth IRAs have a considerably higher stock allocation than the 401(k). I’m pretty satisfied with the mix of low-cost index funds we hold.
Since trades in IRA and 401(k) accounts do not cause capital gains I long ago made my Roth 100% stock and hold a mix of stock & bonds in my 401(k). My thinking was that since the Roth is untaxed for withdrawal or inheritance and since stocks have a higher expected return they should be placed in the Roth. The downside is that should I want to take money from bonds in my retirement accounts the withdrawal from the 401(k) will be taxed as ordinary income.
We’re thinking about how to unwind this web of entanglements, which may eventually be too complex for our aging minds.
You might want to read the Bogleheads thread titled "Finding out your Power of Attorney is useless". Some major brokerages appear easier to work with than others, and many demand their own form instead of a properly drafted and notarized POA from an attorney.
After reading the thread and similar ones on Bogleheads I moved to Fidelity.
Comments:
As someone with a CLL diagnosis that isn't as immediately life-threatening but eventually may be (my dad died from the same cancer) one of the things I've done to get my affairs in order is to create a sheet listing accounts, subscriptions, and the like. It also lists common items that I don't have so people don't spend time looking for them (safe deposit box, life insurance, storage locker, etc)
Post: Four Questions
Link to comment from December 28, 2024
It sounds like you live in a RV or trailer park community. In addition to zoning problems another big issue has been developers and private capital. The units sit on land they rent, not own. What has happened in several communities in CA is the land gets sold and the new owners decide to drive out the residents by raising rent as leases renew. This happened in Palo Alto and San Diego, among other places.
Post: My Humble Abode
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
I'd suggest a corollary that aligns with many of the points in the essay, humility. When the market crashed in 2008 as I was getting within striking distance of retirement age my portfolio went down a lot not just in percentage but in absolute dollar terms. I realized I didn't have any better ideas of what to do or special ability to predict markets so I just left things alone. I did stop looking at the portfolio for a while though ;-)
Post: Advice for the Kids
Link to comment from November 9, 2024
Post: Second Guessing
Link to comment from November 2, 2024
Post: Looking Different
Link to comment from July 6, 2024
according to the Morningstar article https://www.morningstar.com/columns/rekenthaler-report/cash-an-inflation-hedge-revisited (which actually suggests cash is a decent hedge against inflation compared to alternatives) from May 2021 to June 2022 cash lost about 8% of its value. Returns on money market funds lag inflation and cumulatively fall short, otherwise there would be no use for TIPS nor any purchasers of TIPS. Note TIPS bond funds are not the same as purchasing TIPS and holding to maturity.
Post: Waiting It Out
Link to comment from May 25, 2024
Still, I don’t think our increased purchasing power and exponential increase in choices have resulted in a corresponding increase in life satisfaction for most people. Hedonic adaption is part of the answer, but so is the nature of the yardstick. It is not an absolute measure, it is based on comparison. Festinger in the 1950's called this Social comparison theory and there are numerous variants. Rockefeller could look around and see that nobody had it better. He had choices and privileges matched perhaps only by royalty in Europe. In absolute terms the present is better. And its fun to look back at how our ancestors lived. In 1940 nearly half of houses lacked hot piped water, a bathtub or shower, or a flush toilet. After WWII new houses were crammed with kids as the baby boom began but houses were only 1,000 sq feet. We may have actually known people who lived in this era, our parents and grandparents. Push back farther to the 1800's or 1700's and it's hard to think of any of us getting by in the era.
Post: Billionaire Next Door
Link to comment from April 3, 2024
" We can always make more money. But we can’t make more time, and we never know how much more we have." We can trade off money for time. I could take public transit to work but I'd rather save an hour of time each way and go in my car which requires purchasing, gas, insurance, and maintenance. I can spend 1-3 hours a week on the yard or hire a company to take care of it. And so on...
Post: Killing Time
Link to comment from March 27, 2024
Post: Letting It Ride
Link to comment from February 10, 2024
Post: Back to the Future
Link to comment from January 24, 2024