We moved to rural NH a couple of years ago to be closer to our children. Finding new Docs accepting patients and with seemingly assured competence has been a challenge. We reverted to concierge service with our long term Doc at our old location as she is reducing hours and patients. While this adds costs and time-consuming double-dipping with Docs, our concierge Doc already saved us from doing some risky invasive procedures with good second opinion advice on alternative testing.
Like Chris, I have come to believe the most critical retirement advisory decade is ages 15-25, not 50-60. I feel parents are wise to help their kids:
1) Fund Roths in their teen years. 2) Initiate the full 401(k) match or a bit more (10-15%) when starting full-time employment. 3) Lean toward Roth over tax-deferred in the early working years when in their lowest income years. Unfortunately, only 28% of eligible employees fund Roths. 4) Fund HSAs, if available, since these provide the best overall tax advantages. Young workers have the unbeatable advantages of their lowest-ever tax rates to fund Roths and the longest runway for Roth\HSA compounding.
Bill - If most concerned about SORR, you can always start shifting investments or withdrawing some tranches in the final years 5-10. Since the market goes up 2/3 of the time, it is still most likely best to maintain tax-free Roths in stock for the full 10 years and make adjustments elsewhere. For example, last year my aggressive Roth portfolio increased 31% while my after-tax portfolio increased 20%, my main IRA increased 22% and my smaller IRA increased 12%. I clearly would have been far better off if my whole portfolio were invested like the Roth or just 100% in the S&P (up 25%), but my non-Roth IRAs are set up with some de-risking particularly in the smaller IRA.
Bill - what a blessing to inherit a Roth account. I believe a Roth (inherited or otherwise) is the tax bucket that should be the most aggressively invested, and the after-tax and tax-deferred buckets can be adjusted to achieve desired overall risk. My Roth is 100% stocks split roughly 65% tech index funds and 35% S&P 500. I plan to keep my Roth at 100% stocks regardless of remaining life expectancy which is currently 14.4 years.
We've gotten to the point that politicians, regardless of affiliation, have no incentive to exhibit fiscal responsibility. They just shift monies on the margin. "Cuts" are nonsense and just a revisionist paper exercise for a reduction of someone's already planned or budgeted rate of increase. I can't see this changing anytime soon. My guess is that this leads to continued inflation, solid interest rates, and a weakening dollar versus recent decades. Inflation helps stocks, real estate and maybe gold. The world seems less stable which also favors others to invest in US assets. Someday a recession may temporarily pull the inflated asset valuations back a bit, but I'm not betting that elected officials will demonstrate fiscal responsibility.
Juan, Your money is well spent if your son is enjoying his sports journey. Youth sports should always be about the kid's journey and not ours as parents. Hopefully, you enjoy watching his games, catch some balls with him and take him to batting cages for hitting practice. I wrote an honest book about youth sports and the challenges here:
https://www.amazon.com/Win-Youth-Sports-Game-Ordinary/dp/1510763457/ More about the benefits and cost of youth sports in Humble Dollar here:
https://humbledollar.com/2019/03/no-free-ride/ Good luck and enjoy his journey as a child's sports experience can be one of the great joys of parenting. One last thing specifically for young pitchers is to make sure his Coach properly manages pitch count.
My start was my company's ESOP - Employee Stock Ownership Plan in the pre 401k era. The free-money company contribution match was a huge positive, but company stock was the only investment option. I still own these shares.
Adam - I too am scared as we nervously continue to hold a portfolio over-weighted in stocks. Worst case: if the market pulls back 30% or so, it merely reverts to expected trendline and more normalized valuations.
I also agree that since the 2008 crisis, the Fed basically has the market's back. The Fed can say it only worries about inflation and employment, but these two variables are data dependent on a healthy stock market. Here's another view suggesting that the Fed now has got the market covered:
https://pomp.substack.com/p/quantitative-easing-made-market-bears
Jonathan's of British origin, and Brits love and many prefer to take baths. Part of this results from the common British plumbing design in which an attic water tank feeds the house by gravity. This system delivers low shower pressure compared to US houses which mainly operate on city water pressure. Our UK rental house had shower pumps added to increase pressure sufficiently to enable showering.
When I was about eight-years-old, my older aunt once gave me a beautiful leather belt for Christmas, but it's size was about 40 inches long. My thank-you note, which my parents always made me write, was a total fabrication. :)
Comments:
We moved to rural NH a couple of years ago to be closer to our children. Finding new Docs accepting patients and with seemingly assured competence has been a challenge. We reverted to concierge service with our long term Doc at our old location as she is reducing hours and patients. While this adds costs and time-consuming double-dipping with Docs, our concierge Doc already saved us from doing some risky invasive procedures with good second opinion advice on alternative testing.
Post: What Do You Do When Your PCP Closes Their Office
Link to comment from January 22, 2025
Like Chris, I have come to believe the most critical retirement advisory decade is ages 15-25, not 50-60. I feel parents are wise to help their kids: 1) Fund Roths in their teen years. 2) Initiate the full 401(k) match or a bit more (10-15%) when starting full-time employment. 3) Lean toward Roth over tax-deferred in the early working years when in their lowest income years. Unfortunately, only 28% of eligible employees fund Roths. 4) Fund HSAs, if available, since these provide the best overall tax advantages. Young workers have the unbeatable advantages of their lowest-ever tax rates to fund Roths and the longest runway for Roth\HSA compounding.
Post: Our kids do listen to us.
Link to comment from January 22, 2025
Bill - If most concerned about SORR, you can always start shifting investments or withdrawing some tranches in the final years 5-10. Since the market goes up 2/3 of the time, it is still most likely best to maintain tax-free Roths in stock for the full 10 years and make adjustments elsewhere. For example, last year my aggressive Roth portfolio increased 31% while my after-tax portfolio increased 20%, my main IRA increased 22% and my smaller IRA increased 12%. I clearly would have been far better off if my whole portfolio were invested like the Roth or just 100% in the S&P (up 25%), but my non-Roth IRAs are set up with some de-risking particularly in the smaller IRA.
Post: An Inherited Roth IRA… Now What?
Link to comment from January 14, 2025
Bill - what a blessing to inherit a Roth account. I believe a Roth (inherited or otherwise) is the tax bucket that should be the most aggressively invested, and the after-tax and tax-deferred buckets can be adjusted to achieve desired overall risk. My Roth is 100% stocks split roughly 65% tech index funds and 35% S&P 500. I plan to keep my Roth at 100% stocks regardless of remaining life expectancy which is currently 14.4 years.
Post: An Inherited Roth IRA… Now What?
Link to comment from January 13, 2025
We've gotten to the point that politicians, regardless of affiliation, have no incentive to exhibit fiscal responsibility. They just shift monies on the margin. "Cuts" are nonsense and just a revisionist paper exercise for a reduction of someone's already planned or budgeted rate of increase. I can't see this changing anytime soon. My guess is that this leads to continued inflation, solid interest rates, and a weakening dollar versus recent decades. Inflation helps stocks, real estate and maybe gold. The world seems less stable which also favors others to invest in US assets. Someday a recession may temporarily pull the inflated asset valuations back a bit, but I'm not betting that elected officials will demonstrate fiscal responsibility.
Post: Quinn ponders taxes, debt, interest payments and other minor issues we face
Link to comment from January 12, 2025
Juan, Your money is well spent if your son is enjoying his sports journey. Youth sports should always be about the kid's journey and not ours as parents. Hopefully, you enjoy watching his games, catch some balls with him and take him to batting cages for hitting practice. I wrote an honest book about youth sports and the challenges here: https://www.amazon.com/Win-Youth-Sports-Game-Ordinary/dp/1510763457/ More about the benefits and cost of youth sports in Humble Dollar here: https://humbledollar.com/2019/03/no-free-ride/ Good luck and enjoy his journey as a child's sports experience can be one of the great joys of parenting. One last thing specifically for young pitchers is to make sure his Coach properly manages pitch count.
Post: Playing Ball
Link to comment from January 8, 2025
My start was my company's ESOP - Employee Stock Ownership Plan in the pre 401k era. The free-money company contribution match was a huge positive, but company stock was the only investment option. I still own these shares.
Post: No Barriers to Entry by Jonathan Clements
Link to comment from December 27, 2024
Adam - I too am scared as we nervously continue to hold a portfolio over-weighted in stocks. Worst case: if the market pulls back 30% or so, it merely reverts to expected trendline and more normalized valuations. I also agree that since the 2008 crisis, the Fed basically has the market's back. The Fed can say it only worries about inflation and employment, but these two variables are data dependent on a healthy stock market. Here's another view suggesting that the Fed now has got the market covered: https://pomp.substack.com/p/quantitative-easing-made-market-bears
Post: Don’t Expect a Repeat
Link to comment from December 22, 2024
Jonathan's of British origin, and Brits love and many prefer to take baths. Part of this results from the common British plumbing design in which an attic water tank feeds the house by gravity. This system delivers low shower pressure compared to US houses which mainly operate on city water pressure. Our UK rental house had shower pumps added to increase pressure sufficiently to enable showering.
Post: Model Behavior
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
When I was about eight-years-old, my older aunt once gave me a beautiful leather belt for Christmas, but it's size was about 40 inches long. My thank-you note, which my parents always made me write, was a total fabrication. :)
Post: Am I the boring aunt?
Link to comment from December 21, 2024