William Perry

Comments

• I agree. For most of us the question is not if we will have large medical expenses in retirement at age 65+ but when. Much like a quality pillow choosing to go the traditional medicare route helps me to sleep better. Thanks for your post Richard.

  Post: Focus on the real healthcare financial risk in post age 65 retirement

  Link to comment from March 23, 2026

• He didn't. He made bequests lasting 200 years to help working tradesmen. The loans were able to accumulate tax free and without management fees as the cities he left the bequests to had agreed to do so as a condition of receiving the bequests. The summary from the book reads as follows - Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall. 

  Post: Trump Accounts – An Update

  Link to comment from March 9, 2026

• Today, 3/9/2026, initial proposed regulations were published in the federal register. The summary reads as follows- ... proposed regulations relating to the Trump accounts contribution pilot program under which the Trump accounts of eligible children can receive $1,000 pilot program contributions. Eligible children must be U.S. citizens with valid Social Security numbers born in 2025 through 2028. The proposed regulations would provide guidance on making an election for the Trump account of an eligible child to receive a $1,000 pilot program contribution. The proposed regulations would affect eligible children and individuals who would make elections with respect to those children. I also like the thought that naming the starter financial account for children in honor of Mr. Franklin would have been an appropriate tribute to the life Ben Franklin lived. I have read the book Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet and did so online through my access at my local public library. I feel I was following Benjamin Franklin's guidance to save a penny by my reading through a public library, actually 899 pennies for the Kindle version before sales tax.

  Post: Trump Accounts – An Update

  Link to comment from March 9, 2026

• It is unclear to me why Vanguard had taken the position they did in regards to previously not allowing beneficiaries to be appropriately named on their jointly owned taxable accounts. I feel the same way towards my state laws that still does not allow us an option for a transfer on death in our deed as many states do. I know that we could have a revocable living trust to accomplish the same objective upon our deaths, I just do not understand why the large organizations do not allow the simple options.

  Post: Vanguard’s Transfer on Death Plan Kit

  Link to comment from March 8, 2026

• I am glad I learned of the change and that sharing the change was helpful. Best, Bill

  Post: Vanguard’s Transfer on Death Plan Kit

  Link to comment from March 7, 2026

• In the other potential income sources grouping part-time work can provide a lot of tax decision flexibility. For 2025 I was able to choose to make deductible IRA and spousal IRA contributions to the extent of my 2025 earned income and to do so in 2026 after knowing our exact taxable income items and after mid year 2025 tax changes, in our case the $6K age 65 and over senior deductions.

  Post: Tax Smart Retirement

  Link to comment from March 7, 2026

• I am uncertain if I will choose LDRI or a treasury inflation product such as VTIP in the future and thus I used like in my statement. For now I plan to continue to annually buy 10 year TIPS at auction for our rolling ladder. The real return on 10 year TIPS currently is 0.50% or more higher than either LDRI or VTIP and I am assuming that better yield difference will continue because of the longer duration. I am building our TIPS ladder inside our Roth IRAs to cover specific contingencies I am concerned about and other factors. The first contingency occurs when either my wife or I dies. I will likely predecease my spouse but whichever of us dies first the survivor will then receive a SS benefit based on the higher earning spouse's benefit and my wife's current lower spousal benefit amount will effectively end upon the death of the first spouse. I am hopeful that the 10 years TIPS ladder proceeds paid out from Roth's to whichever of us survives will be adequate to replace the SS benefit money that goes away when the first spouse dies and given how TIPS work should provide an inflation adjusted cash flow on a income tax free basis to the surviving spouse. The second contingency I am concerned about is if somewhere around the year 2032 or so the SS trust fund becomes depleted and I need to replace the decrease in our social security benefit. One other factor I am considering is that by limiting our TIPS ladder to 10 years is that our children, who are our Roth beneficiaries, have, under current tax rules, 10 years to withdraw the remaining assets in the inherited Roth IRAs and such beneficiary distributions, if any, should be income tax free to them.

  Post: New to building a CD or Bond Ladder?

  Link to comment from March 5, 2026

• Hi Mark. Is your taxable account ownership joint? That might be the difference.

  Post: Vanguard’s Transfer on Death Plan Kit

  Link to comment from March 4, 2026

• Thanks Howard. Here is a link to LDRC at Morningstar. A 0.10% net expense ratio and a effective duration of 2.71 looks great to me for a bond fund. I am still buying TIPS at auction but there will be a point in life when I will likely stop buying individual TIPS and just choose to use a low cost short duration TIPS fund like LDRI (0.10% ER, 2.74 effective duration).

  Post: New to building a CD or Bond Ladder?

  Link to comment from March 4, 2026

• That was the case when I opened our joint taxable at Vanguard. Here is a link to the Boglehead's Forum that got me looking at the issue again.

  Post: Vanguard’s Transfer on Death Plan Kit

  Link to comment from March 4, 2026