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Michael Flack

    Forum Posts

    Reason 65 not to buy individual stocks

    3 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 7/4/2025
    FIRST: DAN SMITH on 7/4   |   RECENT: Dan Smith on 7/5

    Ninety Nine, I mean Eight Retirement Tips

    29 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 6/26/2025
    FIRST: bbbobbins on 6/26   |   RECENT: Michael Flack on 7/3

    No TIME Left For You

    18 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 6/6/2025
    FIRST: eludom on 6/7   |   RECENT: mytimetotravel on 6/13

    Missouri Eliminating Capital Gains Tax on Stocks

    6 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 5/22/2025
    FIRST: Liam K on 5/22   |   RECENT: Michael Flack on 5/28

    Fishing for Feedback

    59 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 4/17/2025
    FIRST: Michael1 on 4/17   |   RECENT: G W on 4/26

    The Draw of Cash

    22 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 1/25/2025
    FIRST: Ben Rodriguez on 1/25   |   RECENT: Norman Retzke on 2/5

    The Inheritance

    10 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 1/2/2025
    FIRST: Jeff Bond on 1/3   |   RECENT: Michael Flack on 1/4

    NUA Anyone?

    5 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 12/21/2024
    FIRST: R Quinn on 12/21/2024   |   RECENT: Michael Flack on 12/23/2024

    The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

    29 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 12/2/2024
    FIRST: R Quinn on 12/2/2024   |   RECENT: Michael Flack on 12/13/2024

    Best Way to Sell Gold Eagles

    5 replies

    AUTHOR: Michael Flack on 7/15/2024
    FIRST: stelea99 on 7/16/2024   |   RECENT: William Perry on 7/23/2024

    Comments

    • unless they offered me $25 a month.

      Post: Favoring Fiber

      Link to comment from July 7, 2025

    • William Housley, same here. After I switched to Google Fiber I was inundated with offers from Spectrum for $30 per month. It was too late though as I’d never go back to the Spectrum Shylock (SS) . . .

      Post: Favoring Fiber

      Link to comment from July 7, 2025

    • Dan Smith, I like to enter my transactions one at a time so that I understand the exact details and exactly how they effect the amount of taxes I am paying. When you say “a company” are you referring to a broker generating a 1099 with incorrect numbers?

      Post: Reason 65 not to buy individual stocks

      Link to comment from July 5, 2025

    • Mark Ukleja, I stand corrected, as it appears there may be a fourth reason for rolling it. After review of my plan, it appears to be similar to yours.

      Post: Ninety Nine, I mean Eight Retirement Tips

      Link to comment from July 3, 2025

    • r r, According to my current "trusted financial coach" who's name is not Richard Quinn, but ChatGPT: "Most 401(k) plans are protected under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which provides strong protection from creditors. Under ERISA: Creditors cannot seize your 401(k) to satisfy most types of debt, even if you declare bankruptcy."

      Post: Ninety Nine, I mean Eight Retirement Tips

      Link to comment from July 1, 2025

    • Lester Nail, I just looked, and of course I don't use tide pods! Though what do you know about the Finish Powerballs I put in my dishwasher?

      Post: Ninety Nine, I mean Eight Retirement Tips

      Link to comment from June 30, 2025

    • R Quinn, I just gave you a green up arrow, as my official unofficial trusted financial coach, I’m counting on you “Being different.”

      Post: Ninety Nine, I mean Eight Retirement Tips

      Link to comment from June 28, 2025

    • DrLefty, I stand corrected, as it appears there may be a third reason for for rolling it.

      Post: Ninety Nine, I mean Eight Retirement Tips

      Link to comment from June 27, 2025

    • According to Wikipedia "Greenwood announced in the midst of the 2004 congressional election that he would not seek re-election and retire. He had already won the 8th district's Republican primary, and his abrupt withdrawal raised many questions . . . After serving six terms in Congress, Greenwood was appointed president and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a biotechnology trade association based in Washington, DC." I'm no fan of Medicare Advantage but some 22 years later, Mr. Greenwood suddenly admits "the program no longer lives up to that promise," but still believes "that private-sector participation can play a meaningful role in Medicare." Pardon me if I find his doe-eyed mea culpa a little late and a little weak. He's working an angle and I'd prefer it if everyone would just stop wasting my time by propagating his copy.

      Post: Author of Medicare Advantage Speaks Out

      Link to comment from June 18, 2025

    • Michael1, the Q was excellent and endless. As this was a buffet I could partake more than once (which I did). I think to keep costs down George III didn't offer any ribs, but a made up for it via the brisket and pulled pork.

      Post: No TIME Left For You

      Link to comment from June 13, 2025

    Articles

    Making Me Earn It

    Michael Flack   |  Nov 13, 2024

    NOW THAT I’M RETIRED and have all the time in the world, I often use that time to worry about money. That brings me to a recent offer from Wells Fargo to get a $525 bonus for depositing $25,000 in a savings account for 90 days.
    My immediate concern was whether the $525 would more than compensate for the paltry interest rate that Wells Fargo pays. A quick calculation determined that investing $25,000 in a Wells Fargo savings account and getting the $525 bonus—rather than the 4.25% I could then earn with Capital One 360 Performance Savings—would still leave me almost $260 ahead.

    Favoring Fiber

    Michael Flack   |  Jun 21, 2024

    IN AN EARLIER ARTICLE, I detailed how Charter Communications wasn’t so much my internet provider as my extortionist. I thought I’d dealt with it all in an equitable manner. But then, exactly two years after our relationship began, Spectrum abruptly increased the price it charged for internet access by 67%, from $29.99 a month to $49.99. I guess we didn’t have a relationship so much as a contract.
    While I didn’t take too kindly to that,

    Risk at Every Turn

    Michael Flack   |  May 30, 2024

    DEAR DAVID: LAST WEEK, you emailed me, “If you had $20,000, didn’t want to take risk and wanted the best return, how would you invest?” It’s a timeless issue, most likely first asked the day after money was invented.
    You may be wondering why, besides asking where your money is currently invested, which turns out to be Bank of America at 0.2%, I haven’t asked about your risk tolerance, current financial situation and future financial needs.

    Settling Down

    Michael Flack   |  Dec 15, 2023

    THESE WORDS STRIKE fear into the heart of any husband: “Honey, the [insert: A/C, heat, refrigerator, roof, foundation] doesn’t seem to be working.” But from 2017 to 2021, they were mere words to me, no different than, “Honey, let’s go out for coffee.”
    For four glorious years, my wife and I traveled around the world and the country, unfettered and unburdened. If we ran into any equipment issues, they were immediately referred to the landlord for rectification.

    On the Road to Home

    Michael Flack   |  Oct 18, 2023

    WHEN MOST PEOPLE retire, they have a good idea where they’ll live. It might be where they currently reside, or where they vacation, or a place near their children or grandchildren. Whatever the case, there’s usually a limited number of possibilities.
    But what if you move to a new city for the last two years of your working life, never vacation in the same place twice, don’t own a vacation home, are childless and—upon retirement—sell your home,

    Stick to the Classics

    Michael Flack   |  Sep 18, 2023

    THERE’S ONLY ONE THING I like more than writing about personal finance, and that’s drinking a salubrious cocktail. When I realized I could combine both, this article almost wrote itself.
    Two decades ago, I read the best cocktail book ever written, The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks by Dale DeGroff. He thought so highly of my bartending skills that he even inscribed my copy, though that’s a whole other article.

    Not Cool

    Michael Flack   |  Aug 31, 2023

    SHOULD A REASONABLE real estate buyer expect the multiple listing service (MLS) to provide a reasonable description of the property being purchased? What if it doesn’t?
    All the previous times I’ve purchased real estate, the MLS accurately described the property I was buying. I realized that disclosures were also provided by the seller, and those specified the finer points of what was being purchased. Still, I’d come to expect a certain amount of integrity from the MLS listing itself.

    The Frugal Flaneur

    Michael Flack   |  Jul 28, 2023

    MY WIFE BELIEVES travel is an adventure filled with new food, new adventures and new friends. Others believe it’s a never-ending series of negotiations, surcharges, taxes and exchange rates, and these need to be painstakingly managed to minimize cost and the deep-seated shame associated with overpaying.
    I guess I lean a little more in one direction, as evidenced by my recent travel adventure: a road trip to the East Coast followed by a flight to Chile.

    The Proof You Need

    Michael Flack   |  Jun 23, 2023

    I HAVE WRITTEN THIS article about bourbon because, when HumbleDollar’s editor previously asked me to write about my travels, I thought, “Hey, if someone wants to pay me $60 to write about travel, I’m in. I’m hoping he’ll next suggest I write an article about drinking bourbon.”
    Sadly, this site’s editor didn’t ask me to write about bourbon. But I went ahead anyway.
    I “spiritually” came of age when I was 19 years old.

    Other People’s Money

    Michael Flack   |  May 30, 2023

    ACCORDING TO OXFORD Languages, the word invest means to “expend money with the expectation of achieving a profit.”
    I like this definition better than some others because it includes the word “expectation,” which therefore should exclude casino gambling and sports betting. But what if you have an expectation of winning? Couldn’t casino gambling and sports betting both be considered investments? As Zach Galifianakis’s character said in The Hangover, “It’s not gambling if you know you’re going to win.”
    How can one create this expectation?

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