William Perry

Comments

• My little voice is also talking to me about my asset location and makes suggestions about how my holdings should be split between taxable, traditional IRA and Roth and also between the legal ownership being my spouse or me. Not knowing which of will die first or how long both of us will live also keeps my little voice busy. Presentations such as Adam Grossman's The Center Lane and your article helps me to quiet the voice when I split the difference on my actions whenever the answers to the questions are mostly unknowable in advance of the outcome. Thanks Mark.

  Post: The World’s Least Useful Financial Adviser

  Link to comment from May 29, 2026

• I am half way through the book as of yesterday evening. Enjoyable read and classic Jonathan Clements.

  Post: Money & Me (Kindle version) has dropped

  Link to comment from May 27, 2026

• Thanks Ben. I enjoyed listening to the Morningstar interview with Adam you linked to. Besides the writings Adam has contributed to Humble Dollar he also has a blog on his Mayport website that I enjoy and he was also a presenter at the Boglehead 2024 conference with a 501 session titled The Center Lane.

  Post: Adam Grossman on The Long View

  Link to comment from May 26, 2026

• Thanks for the interesting article Adam. I believe your article thinking parallels the Bogle Center YouTube post titled Financial Historian Mark Higgins in Fireside Chat with Bill Bernstein from the 2025 Bogleheads conference. That chat and the Higgins book, Investing in U.S. Financial History, concluded that the best practice following the U. S. historical guidance, which started with Alexander Hamilton, was to pay off our national debt accumulated during war or emergency as soon as possible. In the interview Mr. Higgens noted the last time such a pay down of such national debt occurred was after WWI, long before any of us were alive. Higgens and Bernstein's conclusion for how should we as individuals invest given where we are today is that history argues for humility, diversification, low-cost indexing, and staying the course through crises in our own investment decisions.

  Post: Inflation and Innovation

  Link to comment from May 23, 2026

• The Bogle Center posted a YouTube video titled Bogleheads Hall of Fame 2025 Induction Jonathan Clements about six days ago recorded on October 18, 2025 at the 2025 Bogleheads conference. I am looking forward to one more visit with Jonathan's writings in Money and Me.

  Post: Money and Me by Jonathan Clements

  Link to comment from May 17, 2026

• After reading a bit I found out that the primary incentive given was from the EPA in the form of "off-cycle" emissions credits starting around 2012, which allowed automakers to meet federal greenhouse gas standards on paper without having to meet the full, strict reduction targets through engine performance. The incentive was eliminated in early 2026. In also appears that manufactures changed the engineering standards making starters and electrical systems stronger so that the starter failures mostly went away.

  Post: HumbleDollar’s HumbleDrivers

  Link to comment from May 13, 2026

• My first car was a 1950 Plymouth that did not have seat belts, we have certainly come a long way with safety features. My favorite is the automatic breaking that is highly effective at avoiding an accident not only if I do something stupid but also when another driver does. As a former beer truck driver Dan maybe a few comments from you about what a large truck driver can't see may save someone from financial and physical disaster.

  Post: HumbleDollar’s HumbleDrivers

  Link to comment from May 13, 2026

• Around 2015 the IRS added an additional reporting requirement for taxable estates in addition to Form 706 with Form 8971. Form 8971, titled Information Regarding Beneficiaries Acquiring Property From a Decedent requires (per the IRS instructions) for Executors file this form to report the final estate tax value of property distributed or to be distributed from the estate, if the estate tax return is filed after July 2015. This form, along with a copy of every Schedule A, is used to report values to the IRS. One Schedule A is provided to each beneficiary receiving property from an estate. I recall one taxable 706 where the decedent had three adult beneficiaries where in essence the large number of individual stock holdings at death as reported on the Form 706 had to be split three ways with a full description of each stock including # of shares, full stock name, CUSIP and date of death value on the 8971 with three schedule A's (multiple pages), one for each beneficiary. I am grateful that the broker was able to provide a detailed schedule of date of value. As the client had died on the weekend the FMV of each individual share holding was determined by the average of the high and low on the Friday before his death and the Monday after his death when the stock markets were open. IRS instructions for 8971 - Due date. Form 8971 must be filed with the IRS and each required Schedule A (see Required Schedules A, later) must be furnished to only the beneficiary listed on that Schedule A, no later than the earlier of: • The date that is 30 days after the date on which Form 706 or Form 706-NA is required to be filed (including extensions) with the IRS; or • The date that is 30 days after the date Form 706 or Form 706-NA is filed with the IRS. Also required - The executor must certify on Form 8971, Part II, column (d), the date on which Schedule A was provided to each beneficiary and should keep proof of mailing, proof of delivery, acknowledgment of receipt, or other information relevant for the estate's records. In cases where a trust or another estate is a beneficiary and has multiple trustees or executors, providing Schedule A to one trustee or executor is sufficient. Final 8971 hurdle (Per the 2025 instructions) - Form 8971 cannot be filed electronically; it must be printed and mailed to the IRS. While electronic signatures are permitted on the document and Schedule A can be delivered to beneficiaries electronically, the final Form 8971 must be submitted via paper mail to the IRS (at the appropriate address, not currently the address the address the 706 is sent to.) So if you are fortunate enough to be able to amass sufficient wealth that requires a federal 706 to be filed after you die I hope you have taken appropriate actions to make the administrative burden lighter and your estate administrative costs less on those you care the most for. Best, Bill

  Post: Direct Indexing Anyone?

  Link to comment from May 11, 2026

• I also have not personally used direct indexing but I was exposed to 1040 tax clients who did. Clients liked the tax savings in the early years after they first adopted such a direct indexing program. What clients did not like -

  • that the direct indexing benefit quickly deteriorates over time
  • the additional fees associated with the direct indexing program
  • the choice of feeling of being stuck with a particular broker or leaving and having hundreds of the individual stock positions distributed to them
  • the potential or actual additional tax preparation cost for reporting the hundreds of sales on their 1040
  • headaches when changing to another broker when the basis of hundreds of stock positions do not easily transfer
  • headaches when the client dies and the beneficiaries have hundreds of stock positions that have their basis changed to the fair market value at date of death and if not a single beneficiary the basis has to be split among multiple beneficiaries
  I see tax direct indexing as a unneeded complexity best to avoid. Just my thoughts. Bill

  Post: Direct Indexing Anyone?

  Link to comment from May 10, 2026

• My understanding of the IRMAA impact in two years after the year the gain is realized is the same as yours and Dan's - typically a one year impact. Other non IRMAA tax matters to consider - The previous method of depreciation selected on a rental property may significantly impact the gain via the Section 1250 gain rules where the previous depreciation is recapture realized upon sale. Potentially, if your friend selected accelerated depreciation instead of straight-line depreciation then the sale may result in a portion of the gain being taxed at a maximum 25% federal income rate rather than lower capital gains rates. Other elective tax considerations less frequently considered are installment sales which can defer recognition of gain based on current year collection of sale proceeds if the rental property is not being replaced with another rental property or a IRC 1035 like kind exchange if the current rental property is being replaced with a new rental property. The factors in such decisions and needed actions are beyond the scope of a simple blog post. As the friend is potentially subject to IRMAA on the gain then the friend is over age 65 and consideration of holding the rental property to death is also a option where the person inheriting the property could get a partial or complete step up in tax basis upon death and could then be sold without gain. Hope these thoughts help. Bill

  Post: When a One-Time Rental Sale Triggers an IRMAA Surprise

  Link to comment from May 10, 2026