If you own a traditional IRA that has nondeductible and deductible contributions as well as earnings and you also have an employer sponsored tax deferred account like a 401(k) or Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) that will accept an IRA rollover, then here’s a way to do a tax-free Roth conversion. I learned about this maneuver from a comment to my comment on a prior HD article. It’s pretty slick although a little complicated, so I thought it deserved to be its own HD article.

A recent commenter requested that someone start a new post to discuss the apparent increase in credit card usage fees. I wrote about this almost exactly a year ago, so I thought I’d get it started. In the year since I wrote about how my wife and I were encountering more cash discounts, or credit card usage fees, it seems to have become a bigger topic.  One thing I’ve noticed is not every merchant follows the rules and makes the fees clear.

One of my pet issues is survivor income. Assuring a survivor, generally a spouse, is financially okay no matter what is very important IMO, but I rarely see it discussed on retirement planning sites.
I have many stories from my work experience where a spouse – typically the wife – was left floundering upon the husbands death because, except for Social Security, income ceased – these were people with the ability to select pension survivor annuities.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE whether to go with good, better or best?
My next-door neighbor always goes for the best, regardless of what it is. He pays more for everything. He’s a senior vice president, and I guess he feels he needs or deserves the best. God bless him.
That’s not my approach. I recently replaced my gas furnace and central air conditioner. My furnace was 23 years old and my air conditioner 10.

In addition to my dad, my mom wanted someone else to know of a stash of cash she had hidden in the hem of the bedroom curtains. A fall resulted in a hospital stay and rehab for mom, and my dad needed to move in with me due to his health. I went upstairs to retrieve mom’s mad money and found an envelope with 70 neatly stacked $100 bills.
A few years later my mother in law was forced from her condo by a fire.

I have become somewhat addicted to Threads. It is similar to X, but simpler and with generally shorter posts, but it is scary.
The misinformation and lack of understanding about taxes, wealth, Social Security, economics, and investing is staggering. If the posts reflect even a modest segment of our population, the financial challenges people face are easily understood. 
Nothing is fair according to these folks. Here is a recent complaint. I just paid $4 for a Gatorade at 7-Eleven…Why is everything so expensive?

Losing money was a great shame in my family, worse than not making any money at all. It was a shanda, Yiddish for disgrace. It didn’t take me long to learn the program. I’ve spent a lifetime trying not to be someone’s financial embarrassment, which includes managing money in my own family. I suffer from FOLM, or fear of losing money, not to be confused with FOMO, shorthand for the daredevils of the investment world afflicted with the fear of missing out on stocks hurtling toward glory.

DO YOU REMEMBER the headline, “Brooke Astor’s Son Guilty in Scheme to Defraud Her”? He swindled his famous mother out of millions, once by pocketing a $2 million commission on the sale of an Impressionist painting he purloined from her New York City apartment. She lived to age 105 but suffered from dementia.
F. Scott Fitzgerald purportedly said, “The rich are different than you and me.” But maybe not when it comes to elder fraud.

In 2024, it seemed like the stock market went in just one direction—up. That notion has been shattered in the past few weeks. The Nasdaq is well into correction territory. The Japanese stock market tumbled 12.4% on Monday alone. Legend has it that the great banker, John Pierpont Morgan, was once asked what was going to happen in the stock market. His answer: “It will fluctuate.”
Stock market volatility is nothing new. But investors have hardly mastered their nerves and emotions in the face of it.

I read here on HD and regularly elsewhere about Roth conversions. I never did one mainly because they weren’t available until after I retired at 67. 
My questions are:
is there an age when doing the FIRST conversion for the FIRST Roth account is no longer prudent —- and if a conversion is made is it typical to pay tax taxes from the account being converted or other sources?

I TOOK MY FIRST cross-country car trip in 1972. It was the summer of my junior year in college. I’d be graduating the following year and embarking on working life. This would be my last chance for a while to take a long trip. I was traveling by myself, so I had the freedom to decide exactly what I wanted to do.
That’s what brought me to Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, Colorado. One of the greatest auto races in America is the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

In the comment section of Jonathan’s recent newsletter, Dave Arey asks that I post the list of questions I referenced in my comment.
Background: Several months ago, my fellow deacons and I emailed a list of questions focused on personal financial readiness to the members of our church. Our small congregation includes single people, young families and older folk. A few are retired, but most still work. Also, most are not as financially sophisticated as the typical HumbleDollar reader.

“Stevie, it’s your number one brother calling.”
“You mean my only brother.”
“Very funny. Look I’ve been thinking about something important I want to pass by you.”
“Sure, but it sounds ominous. Not health I hope.”
“No, no, fortunately, my back situation seems to have stabilized. I can get around and I can walk about a block or two. I still have trouble getting up from a chair.”
“Better but not great. So what’s up?”
“I want to sell the Jacksonville properties.”
“Seriously? 

We’re once again suffering a bout of stock market indigestion–hardly surprising after a robust two-year market rally. We’ve enjoyed healthy returns since October 2022. Now it’s time for a taste of risk. Indeed, today, the Nikkei Stock Average fell 12.4%, its worst one-day performance since 1987.
No doubt market pundits will start focusing intently on what the Federal Reserve will do in September, and whether indications of economic weakness will result in a larger-than-anticipated interest rate cut.

THE CONTROVERSY over student loans has caught up with the latest federal government repayment program. That program is known as SAVE, or Saving on A Valuable Education.
SAVE is an income-driven repayment plan, or IDR. It’s the sixth iteration of an IDR plan. Due to the favorable terms and the high estimated price tag, it was recently halted by legal challenges.
IDR plans follow the same general formula to determine the monthly payment on student loan debt.