Great article will help many. My overall opinion is our tax laws are way too complicated, but I persevere, as I have been doing them since age 16. I still prefer the post card tax or flat tax 17% of income. Done.
Great article, lots going on. I am 80 years old never made a quarterly payment. Here is my method, my RMD is done in Nov of each year. I have been doing my taxes since I have been 16. Currently I have developed a spreadsheet that mirrors Turbo Tax but just for my situation. I compare everything to the previous year. My entire withholding is taken from my RMD and in round numbers is 22% Fed, and 5% state. My method has avoided taxes for every year and I try to pay so I have a very small payment or small refund. I like to push the numbers, so at age 80, I take the maximum RMD without going into a higher tax bracket. As an engineer, I like to push the numbers.
Thanks for another important article. My view is debt cannot increase forever, and is already too high. We need to at least stop adding to the debt, balance the budget every year, but that seems to be poppycock in our current environment. It seems if we fix our healthcare system, then just maybe we can reduce some debt. This probably will not happen in my lifetime, but I sure am concerned for my grandchildren. This bubble will burst some day, and it will not be pretty.
Excellent Adam, keep the articles coming. As you get older that 5% rule gets more difficult for instance on a stock like Apple. Push the numbers, to see if you can make sense of it.
Excellent article and information. I find no easy resolution for someone like me at 80 years old. It just seems too tax costly to take the leap to say sell $600,000 of stock for IRA conversion, every items increases, IRMMA, higher tax bracket, etc, I just cannot make it work. Anyone have advice, please advise. Thank you.
Harold well said. I have taken care of all investments since I was 18 years old. At 80, my best investments except for Apple stock, has been the index VOO, the S&P 500. So happy my education, and reading investment books, along with Humble Dollar helped get me to a good place.
Excellent article R Quinn. Always a good idea to think about inflation, the killer of all investments. For me the only way to beat it, is to invest in the S&P 500. Fortunately for me, that has worked out very well over the last 60 years, and I plan to keep it that way. The S&P has nicely beat inflation over those many years.
Mark excellent article. However, I choose to ditch ALL bonds about 30 years ago and take the Buffett outlook. I switched to 85% Equities and 15% cash to tide me over on the lean years. Overall I have been all Smiles ever since.
Excellent article Andrew. I eased into retirement, less and less work hours from 55 on. Decided to keep my foot in the door until age 78, when I officially retired. My blessing was at age 48 my company decided to downsize me. Best thing that ever happened to me in work life. You just cannot plan everything.
And my investments increased nicely in the last 4 years, and it is difficult to spend more than what is coming in. I guess I am a slow learner, but very blessed.
Comments
Great article. The problem is this is a PROBLEM.
Post: Federal debt
Link to comment from August 22, 2026
Great article will help many. My overall opinion is our tax laws are way too complicated, but I persevere, as I have been doing them since age 16. I still prefer the post card tax or flat tax 17% of income. Done.
Post: Tax Complications – How SS Benefits interact with Other Income
Link to comment from August 22, 2026
Great article, lots going on. I am 80 years old never made a quarterly payment. Here is my method, my RMD is done in Nov of each year. I have been doing my taxes since I have been 16. Currently I have developed a spreadsheet that mirrors Turbo Tax but just for my situation. I compare everything to the previous year. My entire withholding is taken from my RMD and in round numbers is 22% Fed, and 5% state. My method has avoided taxes for every year and I try to pay so I have a very small payment or small refund. I like to push the numbers, so at age 80, I take the maximum RMD without going into a higher tax bracket. As an engineer, I like to push the numbers.
Post: If Retirement is Getting Close
Link to comment from August 22, 2026
Thanks for another important article. My view is debt cannot increase forever, and is already too high. We need to at least stop adding to the debt, balance the budget every year, but that seems to be poppycock in our current environment. It seems if we fix our healthcare system, then just maybe we can reduce some debt. This probably will not happen in my lifetime, but I sure am concerned for my grandchildren. This bubble will burst some day, and it will not be pretty.
Post: $40 Trillion of Debt
Link to comment from August 22, 2026
Excellent Adam, keep the articles coming. As you get older that 5% rule gets more difficult for instance on a stock like Apple. Push the numbers, to see if you can make sense of it.
Post: Risk and Taxes
Link to comment from August 8, 2026
Excellent article and information. I find no easy resolution for someone like me at 80 years old. It just seems too tax costly to take the leap to say sell $600,000 of stock for IRA conversion, every items increases, IRMMA, higher tax bracket, etc, I just cannot make it work. Anyone have advice, please advise. Thank you.
Post: Roth Conversions and Taxes
Link to comment from August 8, 2026
Harold well said. I have taken care of all investments since I was 18 years old. At 80, my best investments except for Apple stock, has been the index VOO, the S&P 500. So happy my education, and reading investment books, along with Humble Dollar helped get me to a good place.
Post: Today in Financial History
Link to comment from August 1, 2026
Excellent article R Quinn. Always a good idea to think about inflation, the killer of all investments. For me the only way to beat it, is to invest in the S&P 500. Fortunately for me, that has worked out very well over the last 60 years, and I plan to keep it that way. The S&P has nicely beat inflation over those many years.
Post: Inflation, prices, COLAs, retirement and the last 16 years
Link to comment from August 1, 2026
Mark excellent article. However, I choose to ditch ALL bonds about 30 years ago and take the Buffett outlook. I switched to 85% Equities and 15% cash to tide me over on the lean years. Overall I have been all Smiles ever since.
Post: Taking a Loss?
Link to comment from August 1, 2026
Excellent article Andrew. I eased into retirement, less and less work hours from 55 on. Decided to keep my foot in the door until age 78, when I officially retired. My blessing was at age 48 my company decided to downsize me. Best thing that ever happened to me in work life. You just cannot plan everything. And my investments increased nicely in the last 4 years, and it is difficult to spend more than what is coming in. I guess I am a slow learner, but very blessed.
Post: What I Retired To
Link to comment from August 1, 2026