I just dropped in here after it was referenced a year later. For me this is a reminder about my own restlessness and the challenge of appreciating exactly how things are at the moment. Some might call that the challenge of contentment. For me, that doesn't mean the absence of critical thinking, but rather an ability to relax, smile, and enjoy the present as best I can.
Consider that you gauge your happiness against your own standard when "not ...too happy of late" and "very happy," and you might be getting at the idea of a happiness set point. The set point idea is that we tend to hover around that personal range regardless of our own or other people's efforts to change it.
I (that should at least read we!) first invested when I got married to a wife with an excellent job. We got married in 1980 and heard about money market funds--I think it was with Kemper. At the time they were paying in double digits--11, 12, 13%. It was in a graduate level theology class that I saw a classmate open his mail from Schwab and asked what it was. Soon after that, we opened IRAs at Schwab. Our first stocks were Exxon and IBM, both of which we still own. We figured that with plans for a life in Christian ministry, we needed to invest right away, because things wouldn't be getting better! We also put the maximum into her available retirement plans at work.
Apparently the government of Taiwan is much more capable than ours, because we had a great national health plan there. But don't worry, Dick, people still complained :-).
Regarding traditional Medicare, I'm so glad I have it. While not a national health plan, I think it's the next best thing! And I feel a new sense of pride in paying IRMAA this next year, thanks to all the other comments.
At 68 with a 66 y.o. wife I know that the intensifying journey of care for her parents has now lasted over a decade, and it is not yet done. I also strongly suspect that it is impacting our own health as a family and especially that of my wife. Is it also building character, resilience, and other good things in her and all of us? I hope so. There is good reason to believe it might.
Still, finding the right balance is never easy.
If I understand your poetry, you are (perhaps sneakily) pointing out that passive investments are collecting opinions of the many but especially the very rich and influential, and while there may be a consensus, it is still very much a matter of opinion. This helps to explain why fanciful tech names with more hopes than stability are valued so much more highly than less captivating stories.
Thanks, David. Cruise control is a great way to drive an uncrowded interstate highway! I do wonder, though, for you and many others, whether a bond fund is actually an appropriate part of your investment strategy.
I think of it like this--bonds are in general loaning money to the very companies the other part of your portfolio is holding, so the diversification is in favor of a fixed return rather than a greater variable return. (True, some are loaning money to the government, which is a more indirect investment in our whole community.)
These loans ("bonds") essentially trade longer term performance for a shorter term guarantee. So what is your term? If you are in fact keeping this money for the long term, which seems to be the case, you likely would be better off exchanging the certainty of a lower return for the benefit of a higher, though variable, return. You might easily get this diversification with a dividend fund or a value fund, which would lower your skew toward risky companies based on capitalization and (yet unrealized) hopes for growth, or perhaps by paying off all your own debt, if you have any. I do both because I have very low earned income.
Returning to the driving analogy, if bonds are like stopping at rest stops, they certainly have some value, but they don't help very much in getting to the destination, so I usually spend a very low % of my trip there and spend most of that using the facilities.
My 403b has 1% net fees.* The rest has no fees, although there are transaction costs due to the difference between bid and ask prices. For my investments these are generally under .01%. This is because I directly invest in a list of securities, perhaps it's the Spinella Ramage Industrial Index?! *I have not rolled it over because I can take a tax-free ministerial housing retirement allowance from it. I thank the lawmakers who saw fit to give clergy a carve out, even though it probably isn't fair to the rest of you!
Comments:
I just dropped in here after it was referenced a year later. For me this is a reminder about my own restlessness and the challenge of appreciating exactly how things are at the moment. Some might call that the challenge of contentment. For me, that doesn't mean the absence of critical thinking, but rather an ability to relax, smile, and enjoy the present as best I can.
Post: No Satisfaction
Link to comment from January 5, 2025
Consider that you gauge your happiness against your own standard when "not ...too happy of late" and "very happy," and you might be getting at the idea of a happiness set point. The set point idea is that we tend to hover around that personal range regardless of our own or other people's efforts to change it.
Post: Why We Struggle
Link to comment from January 5, 2025
I (that should at least read we!) first invested when I got married to a wife with an excellent job. We got married in 1980 and heard about money market funds--I think it was with Kemper. At the time they were paying in double digits--11, 12, 13%. It was in a graduate level theology class that I saw a classmate open his mail from Schwab and asked what it was. Soon after that, we opened IRAs at Schwab. Our first stocks were Exxon and IBM, both of which we still own. We figured that with plans for a life in Christian ministry, we needed to invest right away, because things wouldn't be getting better! We also put the maximum into her available retirement plans at work.
Post: No Barriers to Entry by Jonathan Clements
Link to comment from December 28, 2024
Apparently the government of Taiwan is much more capable than ours, because we had a great national health plan there. But don't worry, Dick, people still complained :-). Regarding traditional Medicare, I'm so glad I have it. While not a national health plan, I think it's the next best thing! And I feel a new sense of pride in paying IRMAA this next year, thanks to all the other comments.
Post: Quinn’s last rant for 2024. Misinformation is frustrating. No, your wife is not a car!
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
At 68 with a 66 y.o. wife I know that the intensifying journey of care for her parents has now lasted over a decade, and it is not yet done. I also strongly suspect that it is impacting our own health as a family and especially that of my wife. Is it also building character, resilience, and other good things in her and all of us? I hope so. There is good reason to believe it might. Still, finding the right balance is never easy.
Post: The Oldest Daughter Dilemma
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
If I understand your poetry, you are (perhaps sneakily) pointing out that passive investments are collecting opinions of the many but especially the very rich and influential, and while there may be a consensus, it is still very much a matter of opinion. This helps to explain why fanciful tech names with more hopes than stability are valued so much more highly than less captivating stories.
Post: Oh, The Ironies Your Money Will Know! (The Paradox of Passive Investing)
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
Do it, Jamie!
Post: Oh, The Ironies Your Money Will Know! (The Paradox of Passive Investing)
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
Thanks, David. Cruise control is a great way to drive an uncrowded interstate highway! I do wonder, though, for you and many others, whether a bond fund is actually an appropriate part of your investment strategy. I think of it like this--bonds are in general loaning money to the very companies the other part of your portfolio is holding, so the diversification is in favor of a fixed return rather than a greater variable return. (True, some are loaning money to the government, which is a more indirect investment in our whole community.) These loans ("bonds") essentially trade longer term performance for a shorter term guarantee. So what is your term? If you are in fact keeping this money for the long term, which seems to be the case, you likely would be better off exchanging the certainty of a lower return for the benefit of a higher, though variable, return. You might easily get this diversification with a dividend fund or a value fund, which would lower your skew toward risky companies based on capitalization and (yet unrealized) hopes for growth, or perhaps by paying off all your own debt, if you have any. I do both because I have very low earned income. Returning to the driving analogy, if bonds are like stopping at rest stops, they certainly have some value, but they don't help very much in getting to the destination, so I usually spend a very low % of my trip there and spend most of that using the facilities.
Post: The Simple Life
Link to comment from December 21, 2024
Sorry, Mike.
Post: My Ozempic Nightmare
Link to comment from December 14, 2024
My 403b has 1% net fees.* The rest has no fees, although there are transaction costs due to the difference between bid and ask prices. For my investments these are generally under .01%. This is because I directly invest in a list of securities, perhaps it's the Spinella Ramage Industrial Index?! *I have not rolled it over because I can take a tax-free ministerial housing retirement allowance from it. I thank the lawmakers who saw fit to give clergy a carve out, even though it probably isn't fair to the rest of you!
Post: Costs Matter
Link to comment from December 7, 2024