IN THE BIBLE, YOU’LL find the parable of the talents. Talents were a form of money. The story goes that, before a master left on a trip, he entrusted money to three servants. Two of the three doubled his money, and are praised for the intelligent way they handled the master’s money. The third worker simply buried the money, so it wouldn’t lose value. The master criticizes the third worker for being lazy, and takes the money away from him.

The 401k plan is often maligned by pension and retirement advocates. There’s is no guarantee with a 401k and it requires participants to take responsibility, contribute and to take the investment risk. That’s all true but there is more to the story.
I live on a pension as do some HD readers and writers. Would I trade my current fixed pension for a 401k plan, would you?  Not back in 1961 I wouldn’t have, but if I was entering the workforce today,

Do you rebalance your retirement portfolio?  Many studies have shown that you should. The folks at Hartford Funds compared the results of a 70/30 buy-and-hold strategy with annual rebalancing of an $100,000 lump sum investment from 1999 through 2023. The asset manager found that the rebalanced portfolio produced a nest egg over $13,000 greater than simple buy-and-hold.
But rebalancing does much more than just improve performance. It encourages you to sell high and then buy low,

A recent forum post explored the topic of how to financially protect a surviving spouse. Several commenters mentioned they either had, or were planning to, delay the higher earners Social Security (SS) retirement benefit until 70 to assure that the surviving spouse received the maximum benefit. This is the plan my wife and I are employing, delaying my benefit until I reach 70.
We are currently updating our estate documents, and during a discussion my wife asked me what would happen if I died before I turned on my SS benefit.

Health care costs, taxes, or general inflation?

I retired from a 38-year engineering career with a large electric power generation company on September 5, 2023. On September 11, 2023, I began an encore career—part time, on-call—with a small engineering firm. In the winter, I worked very few hours. Some weeks I only logged a single hour. I felt like a retiree and started to self-identify as one. As we moved into spring, more contracts came in and I started working more hours. For the past several months,

This is a major financial decision for retirees. 25% of retirees over 60 still have their savings in a 401k plan, 5 years after retirement.
There are advantages for each option.
IRA

More investment options. Easy to implement complex investment strategies
Consolidation of multiple 401K accounts into one IRA simplifies finances.

401K

Costs and fees are normally lower.
Better protection against law suits, creditors and bankruptcy.

There are many more pros and cons for each. Much will depend on individual situation.

There has been a time or two I wanted to continue conversations started in discussion threads that may not be of general interest (e.g. swapping backpacking stories with Jeff Bond. Jeff. Look for my LinkedIn invite:-))
Asking someone publicly for contact info seems inappropriate (opening up to spammers etc).
It would be useful if messages could be marked private to a single member.
Other options? New feature (Jonathan?).  Personal friendships often grow out of meeting in group settings.

MARKET OBSERVERS have been predicting a recession for the past two years. Why? They’ve pointed to what’s known as an inverted yield curve, when short-term interest rates are higher than long-term rates. Historically, this has been a bad omen for the economy. The yield curve has been inverted since 2022—and yet, despite that, the economy has remained strong and stock markets have continued to hit new highs.
That all changed on Aug. 2, when a little-known indicator known as the Sahm rule began flashing red.

I’m curious about how many HD readers have arranged for long term care in some way, shape, or form.  My policy seems overly complicated, unsurprising since it is an insurance policy.  I know it was explained to me at the time.
In the year I turned 60 I used the cash value from a whole life insurance policy to purchase a long term care plan.  I no longer needed that life insurance.  The actuaries computed a maximum total long term care benefit,

WE MAKE FOREVER PLANS—and often end up shredding them in a few short days.
Think of the folks who hike their portfolio’s allocation to stocks, only to turn tail when the next market downdraft reminds them of their true risk tolerance. Or the families who are forced to move because of a job change, or the arrival of children, or the need to help aging parents. Or me, who thought he might have 30 more years,

My good friend Irving was about to open a Roth IRA with a $10,000 lump sum he had squirreled away in a savings account at his local bank. At thirty, he had just been promoted to manager of the production division of Widget Sure Repair, a manufacturer of easy-to-use tools for do-it-yourself homeowners. The promotion came with a large salary increase and my friend felt confident he could afford to make monthly contributions of $250 to the plan.

We’re probably financially independent (FI).  Based on multiple retirement calculators and hours upon hours of studying the issue, I’m confident, if my wife and I were to quit making money today, our nest egg, along with Social Security, would provide us a comfortable living for the remainder of our lives.  The only reason I’m still working is because my wife has the desire to travel more frequently and spoil our grandchildren in various ways.  I’m not certain we could safely generate the kind of income that would allow enough travel and spoiling to suit her. 

We live in a hyper-partisan world, and I’m not just talking about politics and cultural issues. Even among financial questions, I’m constantly surprised by what turns out to be controversial.
There are the obvious choices that affect retirees, such as when to claim Social Security and whether to annuitize part of a nest egg. These decisions involve significant dollars, so maybe it’s no great surprise that folks get hot and bothered.
But it isn’t just fairly straightforward financial issues that get fiercely debated.

Do you think we are moving toward a competency crisis in this country? I told this story in a comment on an article a few months back:
“Seven years ago, I bought a 2005 Outback. Despite the pink slip being clearly written by the dealer, the title came back with ‘Culter’ as my last name. I went to AAA for advice and they filled out a correction form for me. The title was revised to read ‘Renneth Culter’.