FREE NEWSLETTER
I am a retired Physical Therapist and Certified Athletic Trainer. I obtained my BS in Physical Therapy at the University of Vermont, and Masters in Physical Education with a specialization in Athletic Training. I retired in 2019, and my wife retired in 2020, and we have spent the majority of our lives living in New Hampshire. I have managed my own portfolio for the past twenty years and have utilized a fee only Certified Financial Advisor on occasion to provide input to my financial plan on a few occasions, especially deciding if my assets were sufficient to retire. My financial guidance has come from years of following the principles of John Bogle and being an avid fan of Vanguard. My other resources for decision making are Christine Benz/Morningstar, and of course Jonathan Clements!
A Great Article on the Role of Elder Law Attorneys
2 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 1/20/2026
FIRST: baldscreen on 1/20 | RECENT: G Mzz on 1/21/2026 at 5:36 AM
My Favorite Jack Bogle Quotes
2 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 1/12/2026
FIRST: Mark Crothers on 1/12 | RECENT: DAN SMITH on 1/12
What Would You Do?
22 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 1/7/2026
FIRST: quan nguyen on 1/7 | RECENT: achnk53 on 1/12
Actuarial Services' Estimates of Proposals to Change the Social Security Program or the SSI Program
5 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 1/5/2026
FIRST: Dan Smith on 1/5 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 1/5
Calculating the Maximum Income While Staying in the 12% Tax Bracket
28 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 12/7/2025
FIRST: Humble Reader on 12/7/2025 | RECENT: Randy Dobkin on 12/15/2025
How Has Living in a CCRC Affected Your Monthly Bills?
39 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/12/2025
FIRST: Bill C on 11/12/2025 | RECENT: smr1082 on 12/9/2025
Another Data Breach
11 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 12/5/2025
FIRST: stelea99 on 12/5/2025 | RECENT: parkslope on 12/7/2025
IRS Adds New Reporting Code for Charitable IRA Gifts
8 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/13/2025
FIRST: baldscreen on 11/14/2025 | RECENT: DrLefty on 11/15/2025
Information on Jonathan’s Memorial Service
35 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 10/2/2025
FIRST: David Powell on 10/2/2025 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 11/4/2025
Medicare Open Enrollment Information
3 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/2/2025
FIRST: R Quinn on 11/3/2025 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 11/3/2025
Wait Until We’e 70
48 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 10/22/2025
FIRST: Mark Crothers on 10/22/2025 | RECENT: Brian White on 10/26/2025
Are You an Entirely Dividend Investor in Retirement?
9 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 10/15/2025
FIRST: OldITGuy on 10/15/2025 | RECENT: Ormode on 10/15/2025
Are You Invested in International Markets?
17 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 10/9/2025
FIRST: Mark Crothers on 10/9/2025 | RECENT: youthbudget on 10/13/2025
Are You a Dividend Investor? If so Read This!
6 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 10/9/2025
FIRST: Jack Hannam on 10/9/2025 | RECENT: quan nguyen on 10/9/2025
Are You a Trader or an Investor?
32 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 10/6/2025
FIRST: David Powell on 10/6/2025 | RECENT: normr60189 on 10/8/2025
USA Senior Care Network
3 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 9/9/2025
FIRST: William Perry on 9/10/2025 | RECENT: William Perry on 9/10/2025
How Are You Planning to Pay for Potential Long Term Care Expenses?
84 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 2/4/2025
FIRST: R Quinn on 2/4/2025 | RECENT: stelea99 on 9/6/2025
Sequence of Return Risk
48 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 9/27/2024
FIRST: Dave Melick on 9/27/2024 | RECENT: Ormode on 8/28/2025
An Excellent Morningstar Article on CCRCs
3 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 8/7/2025
FIRST: mytimetotravel on 8/7/2025 | RECENT: parkslope on 8/8/2025
Bond Conundrum
24 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 7/7/2025
FIRST: Jim Burrows on 7/7/2025 | RECENT: S on 7/26/2025
How Was I to Know?
12 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 7/23/2025
FIRST: Mark Crothers on 7/23/2025 | RECENT: S on 7/26/2025
Selling Your House and Reaping Tax Free Capital Gains May be in Jeopardy
7 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 7/24/2025
FIRST: bbbobbins on 7/24/2025 | RECENT: stelea99 on 7/25/2025
Are You Going to Get the Social Security Benefits You First Started Paying For?
8 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 7/18/2025
FIRST: R Quinn on 7/18/2025 | RECENT: DAN SMITH on 7/18/2025
Morningstar’s Historical Review of the Benefits of the 60/40 Portfolios During Market Downturns
1 reply
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 7/14/2025
FIRST: normr60189 on 7/14/2025 | RECENT: normr60189 on 7/14/2025
Securing Lower Taxes
13 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 7/10/2025
FIRST: stelea99 on 7/10/2025 | RECENT: Nick Politakis on 7/11/2025
Increased Deduction for Seniors
43 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 7/4/2025
FIRST: eludom on 7/5/2025 | RECENT: Randy Dobkin on 7/7/2025
Does a Happy Country lead to Happy Individuals?
31 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 6/20/2025
FIRST: bbbobbins on 6/20/2025 | RECENT: R Quinn on 6/24/2025
Interesting White Coat Investor on Lessons Learned Dealing with a LTC Company
6 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 6/17/2025
FIRST: 1PF on 6/17/2025 | RECENT: smr1082 on 6/20/2025
Let’s Stir Up the Bee’s Nest Again- Another Way of Calculating Net Worth
76 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 6/13/2025
FIRST: David Mulligan on 6/14/2025 | RECENT: bbbobbins on 6/19/2025
Medicare Advantage with No Premiums vs Traditional Medicare with Plan G Deductible
32 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 6/14/2025
FIRST: R Quinn on 6/14/2025 | RECENT: DrLefty on 6/15/2025
“Most Revealing Question in Personal Finance”
22 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 6/4/2025
FIRST: Jo Bo on 6/4/2025 | RECENT: normr60189 on 6/8/2025
Jonathan Is Everywhere on the Internet
1 reply
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 6/4/2025
FIRST: Andrew Forsythe on 6/6/2025 | RECENT: Andrew Forsythe on 6/6/2025
Lesson Four From Taking Care of a 102 yo in Her Last Year of Life- The Final Hours of Life Can be Beautiful
13 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 4/12/2025
FIRST: Edmund Marsh on 4/13/2025 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 5/29/2025
Another Great Post by Mike Piper
7 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 5/6/2025
FIRST: luvtoride44afe9eb1e on 5/6/2025 | RECENT: Rick Connor on 5/7/2025
Lesson Five From Taking Care of a 102 yo in Her Last Year of Life- Politics and the News Has the Potential to Ruin Relationships
14 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 4/19/2025
FIRST: DAN SMITH on 4/19/2025 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 4/20/2025
What to do as the Bear Approaches
15 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 4/8/2025
FIRST: DAN SMITH on 4/8/2025 | RECENT: Michael1 on 4/13/2025
Lesson Three From Taking Care of a 102 yo in Her Last Year of Life- The Role of Faith in Dying
8 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 4/6/2025
FIRST: Jonathan Clements on 4/6/2025 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 4/7/2025
Lesson Two From Taking Care of a 102 yo in Her Last Year of Life- Preparing Oneself for Death
2 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 4/4/2025
FIRST: mytimetotravel on 4/4/2025 | RECENT: DAN SMITH on 4/4/2025
Lesson One From Taking Care of a 102 yo in Her Last Year of Life- Be Grateful
6 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 3/30/2025
FIRST: Edmund Marsh on 3/30/2025 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 4/3/2025
Lessons Learned from Taking Care of a 102 Year Old in Her Final Year
10 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 3/28/2025
FIRST: Rick Connor on 3/28/2025 | RECENT: Dan Wick on 3/30/2025
How Do Allocate the Bond Portion of Your Portfolio?
20 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 3/20/2025
FIRST: R Quinn on 3/20/2025 | RECENT: Casey Campbell on 3/23/2025
Great Ideas from Ed Slott for Estate Planning Using Roth Savings
12 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 3/20/2025
FIRST: William Housley on 3/20/2025 | RECENT: William Perry on 3/22/2025
The Status of Inherited IRAs in 2025
13 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 3/17/2025
FIRST: William Perry on 3/18/2025 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 3/20/2025
A Simple Way to avoid Phone Scams
11 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 3/17/2025
FIRST: DAN SMITH on 3/17/2025 | RECENT: mytimetotravel on 3/18/2025
Morningstar’s Report on Comparing 10 Year Returns on Active vs Passive Funds
8 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 3/12/2025
FIRST: Jonathan Clements on 3/12/2025 | RECENT: Edmund Marsh on 3/12/2025
Acorns
9 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 2/23/2025
FIRST: David Powell on 2/23/2025 | RECENT: bbbobbins on 2/25/2025
Is There a Change Coming in the Direction of the Markets’ Winds?
20 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 1/14/2025
FIRST: normr60189 on 1/14/2025 | RECENT: normr60189 on 1/18/2025
Costs Matter
28 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/30/2024
FIRST: Rick Connor on 11/30/2024 | RECENT: Jack Hannam on 12/31/2024
How Often Do You Calculate Your Net Worth And Why
57 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/29/2024
FIRST: Patrick Murphy on 11/29/2024 | RECENT: Will Schenk on 12/5/2024
What is The 10 Year Return on Your Portfolio?
22 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/26/2024
FIRST: stelea99 on 11/26/2024 | RECENT: Steve Spinella on 12/2/2024
What Was in Your Portfolio?
4 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/23/2024
FIRST: R Quinn on 11/23/2024 | RECENT: evan rayers on 11/24/2024
HELP, I Want My Money Back!
10 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/16/2024
FIRST: DAN SMITH on 11/16/2024 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 11/18/2024
Who’s Comments Do You Look Forward to Most?
30 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/14/2024
FIRST: Randy Dobkin on 11/14/2024 | RECENT: mytimetotravel on 11/15/2024
Two to Follow
6 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/14/2024
FIRST: R Quinn on 11/14/2024 | RECENT: Ken Shelley on 11/15/2024
T Rowe Frequent Trading Policy
11 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/11/2024
FIRST: 1PF on 11/11/2024 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 11/12/2024
Who is on Your Personal Investing Mount Rushmore, and Why?
11 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 11/8/2024
FIRST: luvtoride44afe9eb1e on 11/8/2024 | RECENT: Steven Duncan on 11/10/2024
IRAs in a Trust
3 replies
AUTHOR: David Lancaster on 8/29/2024
FIRST: William Perry on 8/29/2024 | RECENT: David Lancaster on 8/29/2024
Comments
Simple. I saved my entire adult life to have a comfortable retirement. I have money, I’m going to spend it. Ironically it was me always concerned about not spending liberally while we were saving for retirement. Now that we’re retired it is my wife that is concerned that we’re spending too much. This despite my updating her quarterly on where we sit financially after calculating our portfolio and net worths. We have been retired for five years depending exclusively on our retirement accounts for income and our portfolio level is slightly higher then when we first retired. I’ve also pointed out to her in two years when we claim Social Security at 70 that income alone will exceed our yearly spending. If she thinks we’re spending too much now she’ll be shocked at how much we will be spending after we claim SS.
Post: Spending Without Guilt: An Overlooked Retirement Skill
Link to comment from January 20, 2026
“My preference and what I have written about for eight years is life experiences and the impact of money and financial decisions.” Many of Jonathan’s writings were in the same realm.
Post: Retirement or Investment Content
Link to comment from January 20, 2026
Dan, We buy diet soda in the very small cans and not more than 1 per day, usually when I get sick of drinking water 5-6 water bottles full/day).
Post: DIET, Did I Eat That
Link to comment from January 18, 2026
My wife and I don’t spend even $100 without consulting each other. This probably came from not having much discretionary money while raising our children. We continue this pattern even today with decades of inflation. I guess old people, with old habits die hard.
Post: Are you and your spouse synchronized?
Link to comment from January 18, 2026
Well Mark, you have just discovered the American mentality.
Post: Irrational Financial Choices
Link to comment from January 18, 2026
“I’m doing well cutting back on the white carbs; but why do they taste so darn good?” The answer Dan is that we are an ancient species and our body is still designed to crave excess energy to store as fat in case we go a long time before eating because we can’t find food. The brain craves carbs, sweets (carbohydrates essentially) to fuel itself. Problem is in our modern society we do not have difficulty finding these components of a diet, in fact they are too easy to acquire. in a nutshell were are an ancient species living in modern society. Quite a mismatch!
Post: DIET, Did I Eat That
Link to comment from January 18, 2026
Thanks Norm, I am aware of Christine’s guidance. I have been reading he columns for probably a decade now. At this point I’m maintaining a 45/45/10 portfolio until we turn 70 and claim Social Security. At that point I will switch to the pure bucket approach. Over the past 10 years my current allocation has returned 8.6% per annum. I am very satisfied with this plan as we have been retired for six years while living off of 100% of our income coming from our portfolio. Because of the great market returns to date during our retirement our portfolio is currently at an all time high.
Post: RMDs, account withdrawals, 4% simplified- MAYBE?
Link to comment from January 18, 2026
“If I had to use withdrawals, I would be afraid to break the constant percentage for fear of accelerating the depletion.” Dick, You have to understand that a most retirees do not have so much income they can save some of it like you. However I’m sure there are plenty of retirees who have to take more than their RMDs to make ends meet but still do well in retirement.
Post: RMDs, account withdrawals, 4% simplified- MAYBE?
Link to comment from January 17, 2026
I hear you Dan! I keep a daily calendar of weight and activities. I just finished tallying up the numbers. her are the numbers 84 stationary or outdoor bicycles for over 1,300 miles. 99 trips to the club for lifting weights. And finally 71 days of yard work (only counting at least one hour of activity- the lawn takes 1 1/2 hours with a self propelled lawn mower-all hills). All tolled I exercised on 254 days, keeping in mind 5 weeks of vacationing with some exercise. And my reward? I gained 7# this year, all from too much on the intake side of the equation. 😢
Post: DIET, Did I Eat That
Link to comment from January 16, 2026
“We see 5% or more market swings every year, and they are not predictable.” I would say a 5% drop in the market is a big nothing burger. When there is a correction (a 10% drop from the most recent high) it starts to pique my interest and possibly stir me to rebalance to my base allocation. A bear market (a 20% drop) is a definite buy opportunity to the point where I generally increase my equity allocation 5% above its target allocation. Then sell back to my target allocation occurs when a new all time high is reached. The two instances where I have made a move since establishing the plan were during COVID (I kept buying a few more percentages every 5% drop beyond the bear market level with the last buy within days of the bottom, but in this case sold at every 10% gain from the bottom as I was not sure how long it would be until the market would totally recover from the drop), and the tariff tantrum. I don’t consider this market timing per se as the buys are such a small percentage. I did not try to wait and predict the bottom of the market then jump in, just try to buy when stocks were continuing to be further discounted. I will continue this plan in the future as well.
Post: Market Concentration in Index Funds
Link to comment from January 16, 2026