stelea99

Comments

• Life is ephemeral. Every few years I ask google to find out how many other folks who were born in 1946 are still living. Unsurprisingly, each time I check, the % is smaller. Every year, I get older and feel older. Even in my diminished state, I am mostly happy to still be around. One of my friends in Arizona, where we used to go in the Winter, is a couple of years older and often texts me to tell me which of his friends just passed away. My spouse for what will soon be 57 years was recently moved into a memory care facility. Talk about hard things to do; that was one of the hardest. Yet, we are biologically programmed to fight for life. Expressions of the cruelty and inevitability and seeming unfairness of our passages through life abound. https://poets.org/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night

  Post: You worked a lifetime, you achieved your goals, you have it all-the next day it hardly matters

  Link to comment from November 25, 2025

• I am a long time user and promoter of PW managers to my friends and relatives. Unfortunately, there are a few sites, which in their very limited intelligence, don't allow you to paste in your complicated 20 character PW from your PW manager. I do not understand their rationale for doing this. And, they never explain what is happening when the copy/paste fails. So, you try repeatedly thinking you did something wrong, or that the site is broken etc. Or, perhaps the site doesn't like your browser. When you finally realize that these dumb asses have blocked the copy/paste function on their page you are generally a little UPSET. If you then find that this is also a site which sunsets your PW periodically, requires a symbol or two but doesn't tell you which symbols are acceptable, insists on using your email address for your logon ID, which just adds to your email spam volume after they are hacked, you might want to find another source of whatever you are trying to get from the site. And how about a few comments on security questions. More stupidity! All these folks use the same list of questions which after they have been hacked are out there in the dark web with the stolen PWs. At 79, I am also concerned about how to convey the power of my PW manager, authenticator apps, face id, fingerprint id, etc., etc. on whoever might have to deal with my affairs if I had to go into the hospital or died. It ain't easy. With passcodes sites want to have bio-metric confirmation that whoever is using your device is you. BUT, then, how do you keep things running when you need stuff to work and it isn't you?

  Post: Beefing Up Security

  Link to comment from November 14, 2025

• The thing about AI that I don't understand is how it is going to boost the overall US GDP. The US GDP is about 70% consumer spending. Yet if AI actually starts helping US businesses become more productive, generating more profits through lower costs and higher productivity, there will be fewer US workers(consumers) earning and contributing to the economy. I think of this as the AI conundrum. In the second quarter of 2025 the top 10% of the population in terms of income accounted for half of consumer spending. How much further can this trend go? When business executives dream of a perfect future, I believe they think that means having few or no employees. Who would then buy their products?

  Post: AI Rally Market Risks

  Link to comment from November 8, 2025

• The CPAs have been discussing these kinds of issues with regard to the creation of balance sheets for big businesses for a long time. On the personal side we all allow ourselves a kind of self-talk flexibility when we look at these numbers. And, when some entity tries to give us a broad view of how rich we are they too are mostly not playing hard ball. I will give you a few examples. First, when you put your IRA or other tax deferred account on the list, do you deduct the tax you will owe to actually get your hands on it? Or, do you just list the gross account value? Likewise, when you list your taxable account do you list the total value, or do you deduct the tax you would currently owe on your huge capital gains? Real estate has its own set of issues. Our county assessor shows the present assessed value of our house at around $1M. That is what we pay property tax for. What it would actually sell for would be just a guess. And then, you would have selling expenses, transactional taxes for the state, and also potential capital gains tax. So, on balance I am suspicious when reading about how many people are really worth a million, or any number. And, when you do your statement, do you captialize the word NET? Because that word really means a statement of what you could actually net?

  Post: What is your definition of a millionaire?

  Link to comment from November 4, 2025

• At 56000 miles, my 2009 Forester goes through about 8 gallons a month. I don’t like the new direct injection engines; short trips would lead to oil dilution in a new one. AND, certainly, the insurance for it is much cheaper than a new one.

  Post: The Point of Diminishing Returns

  Link to comment from November 2, 2025

• In 2005 I became the successor trustee for a CA Living Trust. This was for my spouse's parents. The key issue from an investment management point of view was that the CA Probate Code required me to abide by the Prudent Investor Act. The atty for the trust advised that I could not manage their investments (in true Boglehead Index funds fashion) without a review by an investment professional. Your state rules are no doubt different to some degree.

  Post: Handling Aging Aunt’s Finances

  Link to comment from October 27, 2025

• Good article. I have just one caveat; just as they changed the withdrawal period for inherited Roth to ten years, the government could change any aspect of the current Roth program. I am a big user of Roth, but the government of the US is sovereign. They could put a limit on balances in Roth, or just end the option.

  Post: Roth Hidden Benefits

  Link to comment from October 25, 2025

• We all, I am sure, you see the homeless beggars with their cardboard signs on busy street corners. While they don't have a place to live, they avoid the hassle of owning stuff. Whether your property is a "candominium", or singlewide, or condo, RV, van, or home, all create a burden that takes both time and $$ to continue to be livable. Just like a PC, smart phone or tablet, you must keep updating the operating system and apps to get the value. I call this additional investment of time/cost, the "Futz Factor". So far this year, our primary residence has needed a new refrigerator, washer, 2 new garage door openers, and I am about to order 9 new window blinds to replace 40+ year old versions. Additionally, I have replaced 3 46 year-old toilets. Every year, I have such a list. It is easy to brag about what a great investment this house has been with its taxable value increasing 11X over our 46 year ownership. When you factor in the cost of the Futz Factor it ain't so wonderful..... Early next month I will be headed your way to my other home in Oro Valley. The purpose of this visit is to clear the place out so that it can be sold. After 12 years of coming down for a five month Winter stay, we can't continue to go. I have to check my spouse into a Memory Care Respite facility so that I can make the trip to Tucson for two weeks. Our house in OV has appreciated but who can predict how we will do with the sale. I have two weeks to get the job done and arrange for it to go on the market. Two weeks in a respite facility is going to cost around $5k.....But the fact that such care is available is pretty wonderful. Later on, I may author an article on my travails of the last couple of years...

  Post: Money Pit

  Link to comment from October 22, 2025

• There is a reason that Schwab just announced record customer account growth. With an IRA at Schwab you can get a checkbook to write your own QCDs. It is very convenient. All you have to do is do your QCDs before you do RMDs. I like Vanguard products, and most of our assets are in Vanguard ETFs, but I don't have to deal with poor service. And doing RMDs at Schwab which include the ability to do withholding is easy as well. Finally, Schwab has actual offices that you can go to to get help...

  Post: Disappointed (and annoyed) with Vanguard.

  Link to comment from October 22, 2025

• The first thing to remember about assets in tax deferred accounts, is that(assuming a reasonable allocation to equities) they will accomplish the goal that putting them into the account contemplated. The values will grow. The longer the time, the greater the growth. The Rule of 72 is immutable. The second thing to remember is that, under current law, after the owner and spouse pass on, all the funds will come out of the account within ten years. (Let us not quibble about special rules for disabled children etc.) And when the funds come out the deferred tax will be collected. This is how $1.3M at age 55 retirement in mid-2001, which declined to $1M one year after retirement can become $2M at age 65, $3.1M at 70.5, and $4.3M (despite RMDs) at age 79. Everyone lives a different life with different circumstances. Whether Roth conversions will be an attractive strategy for you depends on your circumstances, and the financial situation of the ultimate beneficiary. In any case, you should ask yourself who will ultimately take the funds out and pay the tax, and what will the effect be on the tax owed by the recipient? In our situation, our very successful children will ultimately recieve 53% of these funds from Roth, and the balance from Traditional.

  Post: Contrarian Thinking About Roth Conversions

  Link to comment from October 17, 2025