Dan, Great life story! Very inspiring to readers trying to climb over hurdles or see through challenging times. Your positive attitude, humility and gratitude shines through in your (excellent) writing - it’s so genuine. You’re lucky to have found Chris, but it’s also true she’s lucky to have found you. Cheers to you two 🍻
Mark, Getting rate movement right twice was certainly impressive. I’m curious if you know or care to share, when did the move to ultra-short occur and how did the advisor determine it was time; (e.g., I know you’re UK right, but for USA timing I would guess @Nov2021 when FOMC signaled rate hikes might be coming and then started hiking Mar2022)
And then how did they determine when to shift short/intermediate?
I agree with RQ.
Wealthy or not, folks with no wages shouldn’t be required to contribute to SS system. There are other tax mechanism to shift wealth to support society.
Would you mind describing your asset allocation and general (or as specific as you care to) your current funds - index vs active, or specific funds - given it sounds like you don’t include income producing assets in your allocation?
Thanks for throwing a couple nominations out there for consideration ;). Being in the position to look forward to a correction/bear dip or not be disappointed that it didn’t happen is a good place to be. In anticipation of no new cash coming in I’m trying a little “creating alpha” experiment with my S&P 500 index allocation. I am using VUG (approx S&P500 growth) & VTV (approx S&P500 value) for about 25% of my S&P 500 allocation. Periodic rebalancing between the two if they material diverge in performance to possibly create alpha. I don’t have a set divergence rule yet, I did rebalance several weeks back when VTV was up ~8% and VUG was down ~5%. I may find this is not worth the squeeze or may just get board with the concept. It’s mostly for curiosity without much performance risk.
Mark, Historically, I haven’t really suffered from recency bias - I either tell myself it’s temporary or stop looking at my statements 🫣. I’m close to retirement, but not yet retired, so still in the accumulation phase - still have the opportunity to DCA…adding to the portfolio during those dip periods. I think what I’m going to miss most as an investor in retirement is not being able to buy with new dollars when the market is down. I will have to adjust to this new situation of a “closed system of money“ during the distribution phase. I don’t think the periodic rebalancing process will be as enjoyable as DCAing during those down-market periods. Not sure if there’s a term for that :-). (Although there will be social security at some point down the line, so that may help with this unnamed condition.)
Comments
Dan, Great life story! Very inspiring to readers trying to climb over hurdles or see through challenging times. Your positive attitude, humility and gratitude shines through in your (excellent) writing - it’s so genuine. You’re lucky to have found Chris, but it’s also true she’s lucky to have found you. Cheers to you two 🍻
Post: Around the Obstacles
Link to comment from April 25, 2026
Wow, great example that the U.S. tax code is exhausting!
Post: The IRA Decision That Affects Your Kids
Link to comment from April 24, 2026
Great questions!
Post: One Good Call?
Link to comment from April 24, 2026
Mark, Getting rate movement right twice was certainly impressive. I’m curious if you know or care to share, when did the move to ultra-short occur and how did the advisor determine it was time; (e.g., I know you’re UK right, but for USA timing I would guess @Nov2021 when FOMC signaled rate hikes might be coming and then started hiking Mar2022) And then how did they determine when to shift short/intermediate?
Post: One Good Call?
Link to comment from April 24, 2026
I agree with RQ. Wealthy or not, folks with no wages shouldn’t be required to contribute to SS system. There are other tax mechanism to shift wealth to support society.
Post: Fixing Social Security once and for all
Link to comment from April 24, 2026
Rick, Wow! What a professional journey. Thanks for sharing. I found the customer-interaction nuance difference between GE and RCA quite interesting.
Post: Navigating a Turbulent Career
Link to comment from April 22, 2026
Would you mind describing your asset allocation and general (or as specific as you care to) your current funds - index vs active, or specific funds - given it sounds like you don’t include income producing assets in your allocation?
Post: Staying Rational
Link to comment from April 22, 2026
Andrew, What a wonderful piece, beautifully written.
Post: Carrying Humble Dollar Forward
Link to comment from April 21, 2026
Thanks for throwing a couple nominations out there for consideration ;). Being in the position to look forward to a correction/bear dip or not be disappointed that it didn’t happen is a good place to be. In anticipation of no new cash coming in I’m trying a little “creating alpha” experiment with my S&P 500 index allocation. I am using VUG (approx S&P500 growth) & VTV (approx S&P500 value) for about 25% of my S&P 500 allocation. Periodic rebalancing between the two if they material diverge in performance to possibly create alpha. I don’t have a set divergence rule yet, I did rebalance several weeks back when VTV was up ~8% and VUG was down ~5%. I may find this is not worth the squeeze or may just get board with the concept. It’s mostly for curiosity without much performance risk.
Post: Recency Bias (or: You’re Running Buggy Software)
Link to comment from April 16, 2026
Mark, Historically, I haven’t really suffered from recency bias - I either tell myself it’s temporary or stop looking at my statements 🫣. I’m close to retirement, but not yet retired, so still in the accumulation phase - still have the opportunity to DCA…adding to the portfolio during those dip periods. I think what I’m going to miss most as an investor in retirement is not being able to buy with new dollars when the market is down. I will have to adjust to this new situation of a “closed system of money“ during the distribution phase. I don’t think the periodic rebalancing process will be as enjoyable as DCAing during those down-market periods. Not sure if there’s a term for that :-). (Although there will be social security at some point down the line, so that may help with this unnamed condition.)
Post: Recency Bias (or: You’re Running Buggy Software)
Link to comment from April 16, 2026