My wife started her professional career in 1979, and I in 1980.
I previously wrote an article on Humble Dollar where I tried to research the points covered below by Mark Miller who is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on retirement and aging. In a recent article on Morningstar’s website he warns of the effects of the bill recently signed into law. He writes that if congress does nothing to shore up Social Security the trust fund is projected to be emptied by 2032,

In recent years, I’ve regularly heard from readers who have faced service snafus at Vanguard Group. Many of these folks have stuck with Vanguard’s exchange-traded funds, but moved their accounts to Charles Schwab or Fidelity Investments, with an eye to getting better service.
Over the past 12 months, however,  I’ve heard far fewer complaints from readers. Does that mean service has improved—or does that just reflect the fact that the disgruntled have moved on and those who remain are willing to live with occasional poor service?

I thank everyone in advance for any assistance and advice you can provide regarding my Roth conversion scenario. I am currently 56 with a potential retirement age of 58 (approx. 2 yrs). My wife is younger and will continue working for another 8 years following my retirement. I plan on deferring Social Security as long as possible, age 70.  I have $850,000 in a regular IRA and an additional $600,000 in a company sponsored 401K.  My wife and I file jointly and are currently in the 24% tax bracket ($206,700- $394,600).

When news on the radio says that a given investment instrument’s price is up or down by some stated percentage or monetary amount, but it doesn’t say what that’s compared to, is there a convention defining this? For example, do they mean a year ago, a day ago, a minute ago, since the last opening or closing, or since some event that is in the news about that instrument, such as a board choosing a new company president?

Excellent article about DIY. My question to all HD readers: What are you willing to do instead of paying someone else to do it?

I like earning money. I like having it. I like giving it away. Still, it’s worth asking: How important is money?
Yes, money can pay for the necessities we all need—food, shelter, transport—and more of it has the potential to buy us a better life. The necessities are obviously (ahem) necessary. But what about the frills that more money can buy us?
That discretionary spending has the potential to bring big smiles. Still, it’s hard to imagine that these frills would do much to offset,

Suzie and I are packing a travel bag right now. Later this morning, we’re off to the Fermanagh Lakelands, a two-hour drive from our holiday home. We’re staying for three nights in a fancy hotel that’s also the wedding venue for the daughter of a very close friend. We’ll be attending the festivities there. I’m looking forward to the wedding, except, of course, for the suit I’ll have to wear.
I’m particularly interested in seeing the bride in her wedding dress because,

The recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act included a number of tax provisions of interest to HumbleDollar readers. Given the emphasis on retirement planning on HumbleDollar, the new bonus Deduction for Seniors has potential to provide a significant tax savings for seniors.
This has been discussed in previous posts over the last few weeks, but the details are worth a quick review.  Taxpayers who reach 65 by the last day of the tax year, starting in 2025,

I still help prepare tax returns for pay. As such I am required, among other things, to annually renew my preparer pin number.
I recently received the  following from the IRS in a email –
We have updated the Tax Professional PTIN System sign-in process for tax return preparers who have a Social Security number (SSN). You will now sign in using ID.me, a technology provider that conducts identity verification and credential management for access to IRS online services. 

Bill Perkins offers a radical goal: use your money to create the richest life possible, and aim to die with zero dollars left unspent. I’m told it doesn’t literally mean hit zero, just maximize experiences. I hope the book’s readers don’t take the title as a goal.
“Die with Zero” also advocates for intentional gifting to children or charities while you are alive. I agree, but for those trying to cover life’s what ifs during retirement (like the risk of LTC or survivor income) with their life savings that also presents a risk. 

I perhaps have a contrarian view of the utility of some higher education courses. This opinion has developed over the last 20 years or so, talking and interacting with younger staff I employed within my past business. Degree courses seem to have somewhat transformed into a business model, more influenced by volume over suitability of the course and proper weight being given to the future earning and retirement outcome expectations the course will achieve.
To use a fishing analogy,

There are an ever increasing number of ETFs available to investors.  There is also the “tokenization” of stocks, but that is for another post.
Jason Zweig addresses the proliferation of ETFs over at the Wall Street Journal:
“deworsification: cluttering a portfolio with too many investments.
I think many investors should worry instead about deversification…..That’s the opposite of diversification. Rather than spreading your bets, you concentrate them—and that can be dangerous.”
Over at another forum there has been a running debate about how many stocks to own to achieve diversification.

I have a grievance this morning. Strange as it may seem this involves a chicken and bacon burger, one of my favourite restaurants, the global market economy and golf. At first glance they seem odd bedfellows don’t you think?
Yesterday afternoon I was feeling peckish and decided to indulge myself with a chicken burger. Whilst about to order the offending item I was alarmed to discover the price had increased by 125% in a matter of a week.

Before I say what it is, let’s consider all the things Americans don’t like about health care – cost, availability, insurance companies, third-party involvement, high deductibles, premiums, etc.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 
NOW, the challenge.
Tell us why you will or will not support a form of Medicare for All replacing all the payment systems currently in place, public, employer and private plans to be funded by a combination of employer and individual taxes, income based premiums and cost sharing at the point of service. 

Today Morningstar released a very interesting article exploring how a 60/40 portfolio diversification limits losses during market declines. Of note is the fact that due to the 2022 bond market swoon this portfolio has still not fully recovered.
You can read the article here:
150 Years of Stock and Bond Market Crashes: How the 60/40 Portfolio Held Up | Morningstar
Here are some highlights:
There have been 19 bear markets for stocks and three bear markets for bonds over the past 150 years—that is,