William Perry

Comments

• Thanks Don. I worry that we do not or will not have the people in Washington who will be willing to timely compromise to reach a good faith solution this time around. My memory and understanding of the 1983 Social Security fix is that Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill were personal friends despite being fierce political rivals and they shared life experiences such as WWII and the great depression that helped form their core beliefs which eventually allowed them to reach agreement.

  Post: Plan for a Pay Cut 

  Link to comment from December 30, 2025

• David, I do not have a past healthcare work background and lean on our single local pharmacy expertise to help avoid unwelcome drug interactions. While I try to understand relevant issues by reading drug specific warnings and I am aware some specific issues from dealing with our chronic health issues I worry that by using discount programs about what I do not know I am increasing our risk of an adverse medical outcome. Thus we rarely buy prescriptions from multiple sources. Do you have thoughts to help readers like me to get both the best Rx medical advice and reasonable prices? The best medical advice is worth the potential additional cost in my thinking. We chose years ago to use a premium part D plan and pay about triple the premium price but feel our total Rx out of pocket costs including premiums are reasonable. Best, Bill

  Post: Affordable is an interesting word – especially related to healthcare

  Link to comment from December 17, 2025

• I look forward to reading Money and Me. I looked at the pre-order link and currently there is not a Kindle version listed. I am hopeful that a Kindle format will be a option as my old eyes do better when I am able to adjust the font size upwards. I will read the book regardless of a Kindle version being available or not. I hope your process of finding peace has started.

  Post: One Last Book

  Link to comment from December 12, 2025

• I have recently completed reading both Two Sticks, One Path (2025) by Darrow Kirkpatrick and Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet (2022) by Michael Meyer. I enjoyed both books and will likely reread them at some future date as time is available. I am currently reading Pathfinders (2023), a recent book by J L Collins that reminds me of his first book that I read titled The Simple Path to Wealth. I borrowed his first book from my public library and I will check it out again to revisit some parts related to his thinking about keeping his simple investing plan related to equities to an all US broad based index fund. For my own equity investing I have been moving towards a total world equity index fund which in his Pathfinders book he recommends for non US investors. I have bought Beth Pinsker's recent 2025 book My Mother's Money but have only read the first thirty or so pages. The book focus is about her experiences being the financial caregiver for her mother. This is a topic I am concerned about. My reread I am currently planning is to reread in full is The Psychology of Money (2020) written by Morgan Housel. Not surprisingly the third chapter is titled Never Enough (When rich people do crazy things). Best, Bill

  Post: Enough Already

  Link to comment from December 12, 2025

• Well noted Cheryl. Bogle’s book “Enough“ is on my financial must read list and perhaps will appear on my annual reread list. Having read Bogle's book I also found my way to Mike Piper's 2023 Bogle inspired "More than Enough" which I found to be practical modern guidance for implementing Bogle's foundational financial writings in my decision making process.

  Post: Enough Already

  Link to comment from December 11, 2025

• I expect the "Translation, please?" comment reflects Jonathan's strong editorial guideline against just using stock symbols in articles, preferring we spell out company or fund names instead. I find myself thinking of his gentle nudge when I self edit a post or reply.

  Post: Where to Keep Cash

  Link to comment from December 10, 2025

• I try to think about sight, hearing and body protection when using a chain saw. Your point is well taken that we also need to be concerned about a pain in the wallet.

  Post: An Uncomfortable Retail Truth

  Link to comment from December 10, 2025

• Before the start of low-cost index funds in the mid-1970s driven by John Bogle at Vanguard, Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs) were a popular and inexpensive method for individual investors to build wealth where your first purchase was often a single share and then you could buy additional shares with a low dollar amount. My memory is that approximately 200 publicly traded companies had DRIP investment plans. Pre-internet everything was paper based and USPS was the medium of communication between investor and typically a single broker that the company being invested in would choose. Companies seemed to like drip's because the investors were typically long term and seemed to add stability to the turn over ratio as drip investors tended to never sell their shares. This was a time when some stock brokers would trade often. Typically share price was at the daily closing net asset value (NAV) on the day of purchase. Some companies we invested in even had a discount (from NAV) for buying shares in their DRIP. Decades ago I was a volunteer club treasurer for a small drip only investor club of about 20 members and when I tired of the bookkeeping for the club we dissolved the investment partnership. Unsurprisingly, no one else wanted the treasurer position. We had small taxable gains every year but we more than spent any gains at the fun investor club meetings we had. Our investment club was a subset of a group of good people originally known to each other by membership in a community service organization. I learned a lot about wanting simplicity in my investing life from my experience with the club.

  Post: You DRIP?

  Link to comment from December 9, 2025

• That Netflix presentation may very well be based on the famous "enough" quote which isn't directly by Vonnegut but comes from an anecdote he shared about his friend Joseph Heller: At a billionaire's party, Vonnegut noted the host had everything, and Heller replied, "Yes, but I have something he will never have... Enough.".

  Post: Enough Already

  Link to comment from December 9, 2025

• When I say "I know that currently for me" I am talking about my own 2025 personal tax status not yours. I noted in reading your post that you are not claiming or receiving your SS benefit in 2025 in your comments so while my comment does not apply to you in 2025 there may be other that read this post who are taking SS in 2025 and I was hoping to help them avoid the "SS tax torpedo" as this situation is often referred to. I should have included "in your future tax years", sorry that I was unclear. I have updated my prior post. The key take away for you or others is the strong advice to use good tax software in tax planning if part of your income includes any social security benefits. I like the free AARP tax calculator planning software as licensed by Dinkytown.net to the AARP. I agree that most HD readers income is over $44K but you really have to work through the taxable SS computation and also consider your standard deduction (or itemized deductions), the new senior deductions, IRA contributions, etc. to get to your own projected taxable income. As I have earned income in 2025 I have the ability to make deductible 2025 IRA contributions in 2026 and my last $1 will be taxed at either a marginal rate of 18.5% or 22.2 % depending on the size of my IRA contribution. I have until 4/15/2026 to fund my 2025 IRA contribution and I am waiting until 2026 to pull the trigger in case congress gives us a last minute surprise 2025 tax law change. I hope that we have no last minute tax changes or any 2026 change retroactive to 2025. I hope that clarifies my earlier comment. Best wishes for a happy 2026.

  Post: Calculating the Maximum Income While Staying in the 12% Tax Bracket

  Link to comment from December 8, 2025