Joe Kiefer

Comments

• Thanks. That jibes with what I read elsewhere, but more explicitly.

  Post: HSA Tips

  Link to comment from March 5, 2026

• My plan is self-only, so the $8,500 limit would apply if my having a bronze plan doesn't take precedence.

  Post: HSA Tips

  Link to comment from March 3, 2026

• I have had a Health Savings Account since I enrolled in Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) health insurance in 2021. The original post cites an $8,500 limit on a plan's out-of-pocket maximum for it to be HSA-eligible in 2026. That was news to me. My new ACA plan for 2026 has an out-of-pocket maximum of $10,000, yet it is labeled on healthcare.gov as HSA-eligible. I assume -- and hope -- that what I see on third-party websites is true: the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act's declaration that all ACA bronze plans are HSA-eligible in 2026 supersedes the $8,500 threshold. If not, I will regret having front-loaded my full-year HSA contribution in January.

  Post: HSA Tips

  Link to comment from March 2, 2026

• Jonathan wrote in July 2022 of being the victim of check-washing: https://humbledollar.com/2022/06/a-dirty-business/

  Post: The future of mail and how it affects finances

  Link to comment from January 3, 2026

• In today's Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig has a (related?) take on changes in target-date funds, saying: "Leave it to Wall Street to take a cheap, simple, elegant idea and junk it up with fees, complexity and opacity. ... Many of these funds are getting cluttered with extra holdings. Things might get worse if so-called alternatives managers have their way and start stuffing illiquid, risky and often expensive private-markets assets into them."  https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/do-you-really-know-whats-inside-your-401-k-c480ec9c?st=pda75i&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

  Post: The annuities are coming, the annuities are coming‼️

  Link to comment from December 5, 2025

• Morningstar gives an overview of continuing care retirement communities in this article published Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. I leave the task of assessing the accuracy and usefulness of the article to those of you who have experience with or at least more knowledge of CCRCs. Is a Continuing Care Retirement Community Right for You? | Morningstar

  Post: CCRC – continuing care retirement community

  Link to comment from August 6, 2025

• On a perhaps-related note, Morningstar's Christine Benz has another column out this week as part of her years-long examination of long-term care issues: The Hidden Crisis in Long-Term Care | Morningstar

  Post: Bankruptcies in continuing care

  Link to comment from July 11, 2025

• Here is a gift-article link (hoping it works for everyone; sometimes they do not.): https://wapo.st/463eDeC

  Post: Some people are never satisfied

  Link to comment from July 10, 2025

• Morningstar's Christine Benz wrote yesterday of speaking at a small overseas CampFI "camp meeting" in April: https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance/my-baptism-by-fire-lessons-financial-independence

  Post: Going too far with FIRE: The downside of being in the financial advice business – RDQ

  Link to comment from May 30, 2025

• In addition to index funds generally incurring less in capital gains because of low turnover, Vanguard's special mutual fund structure, which now can be copied by other firms, allows avoiding most if not all capital-gains distributions. Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX) has not paid a capital gain (short-term or long-term) since 2000. In contrast, State Street Core Equity Fund, an active mutual fund that looks a lot like the S&P 500, has dumped huge capital gains on investors in recent years.

  Post: The great uninformed and misinformed population worries Quinn

  Link to comment from April 20, 2025