A couple of years ago, as I started to plan my retirement, I published an article called “When and Where?” Later, I followed up with a post explaining that I’d chosen the “when” (July 1, 2025) and that my husband and I were still thinking about the “where” but were inclined to stay put in the college town in Northern California where we’ve lived for almost 35 years.
One option we’ve been seriously considering is purchasing a home for ourselves with a floor plan that could accommodate our adult daughter,

My portfolio is about as eventful as it gets right now — I’m on the verge of a threshold rebalance. My Vanguard Developed Asia Pacific fund is flirting with my 15% rebalance trigger, sitting at -14% as of Friday evening.
What makes this one interesting is that I’m sitting on an unusually large cash balance in my money market fund. Right now it’s actually my star performer — the only holding in the green. Bonds are a close second,

IF YOU HAVE a Money Market Fund (e.g. VUSXX, VMFXX), Treasury fund (e.g. SGOV), or any other Treasury ETF (e.g. VBIL), you need to know how to report it on your taxes correctly. If you don’t, you are overpaying on your state taxes unknowingly. 
How and why?
These funds hold U.S. Treasury Bills. Treasuries are exempt from state and local taxes. Of course, this only matters if you hold these funds in a taxable brokerage account,

WHEN PAUL EHRLICH’S obituary appeared a few weeks ago, it came and went without much notice. But during his lifetime, he was enormously influential.
By training, Ehrlich was a biologist, but he was most well known for his 1968 book, The Population Bomb. It opened with this dire prediction: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death.”
In his writings and speeches over the years,

I just spent the last two months with a bunch of nerds. This was my second year as a volunteer tax preparer for AARP, in Bowling Green, Ohio. If I wasn’t a nerd when I signed up, I certainly am one now. Just kidding, I’ve been a nerd all along.
I’ve jotted down some comments from clients as well as some things that made a mark on my memory from the season. 

In preparation for the phasing out of refund checks in the mail next year,

It was not a wise thing to do—and it’s not an example I’d want my kids or grandkids to follow. But I’ll tell you a tale anyway. It’s a story of loss and comeback, of fear… and, truthfully, more fear. I guess confession is good for the soul.
Quite a few years ago, I noticed something simple: the price of gasoline was falling. From that observation, I made a leap. I began buying oil companies and energy ETFs.

The up/down vote system on HD seems to generate a surprising amount of heat for something that’s essentially just two triangles. But I’m less interested in the usual back-and-forth from the vocal few, wouldn’t it be cool to know what the silent majority actually thinks?
So here’s a little experiment in wonderful irony: use the arrows to vote about the arrows. No comment needed, no essay required.
⬆️ if you’re pro-arrows. ⬇️ if you’d happily see the back of them.

While many retirees know that waiting until age 70 can maximize their own retirement check, applying that same logic to Spousal Benefits is a costly mistake. If you are eligible for a spousal claim, waiting too long could mean losing three years of benefits for no gain.

Why Age 70 doesn’t work                                                                                                              A worker’s personal retirement benefit increases by roughly 8% per year for every year they delay filing past their Full Retirement Age (FRA)> However spousal benefits stop increasing once you hit your own FRA.

As best as I can tell, I’ve transitioned into the early stage of my life’s fourth quarter. Certainly, I could be at the tail end of my third quarter and, not to be presumptuous, there’s a chance that I’m closer to the end of the fourth quarter without realizing it.
At this stage, there’s no new financial wisdom for me to share with HumbleDollar readers. The Forum and Article archives are filled with much better advice than I could give.

Prices are not coming down, inflation is rising, mortgage rates are rising, the stock market is near bear territory.
Given all the planning and various strategies that have been discussed on HD, do those retired have any concerns about weathering this storm?
How about those within a few years of retirement? Anything happening that may change your plans.

I noticed in the financial section of my local paper another story about a private credit fund restricting withdrawals. This time it’s an outfit called Apollo Global Management. Apparently investors tried to redeem around 12% of the fund’s capital base within a short period of time, and the fund responded by doubling down on its 5% quarterly cap. The result? Investors can’t access their own money.
This is the third story along the same lines I’ve read about recently,

I have written that for the past few years I have been diligently performing Roth conversions spreading my conversions out on a monthly basis to sort of dollar cost average. In my reading I have learned that when the markets are down it is advantageous to do conversions as when the price goes down you can convert more shares per dollar. With the recent downturns I have been taking advantage of this phenomenon. However I think I may have found an error in my thinking.

I find it sad that several  of the women who were long time writers and commentators on HD have not been heard from recently.
I miss their commentary and challenging points of view. Just because you don’t agree or don’t like questions is no reason to leave us. I hope.
We need to be taken to task sometimes. To be challenged.
So, if you are still reading HD, come back to us and comment. If you read HD,

One of the big mistakes retirees make with healthcare coverage is focusing on premiums. The real risk is out of pocket costs, especially if catastrophic medical events happen. 
For example, Medicare Advantage may look great with low, even no premiums and perhaps extra benefits like dental. But MA typically has out of pocket costs, up to $9,250 (sometimes less) per year. That expense can occur year after year.
MA plans generally use deductibles and copays of some type while the lower OOP costs may also mean limited choice of health care providers.

My recent Friday Thoughts article on Linkedin.
The past few weeks have deepened an anxiety that already weighs heavily on so many of us. War. Rising prices. Relentless layoffs. Job applications met with silence.
In my post-retirement life of volunteering and coaching, here is what I am seeing and hearing every day:

Low-income families struggling to pay rent, put food on the table, and simply feel safe.
Middle-income families — employed, but gripped by fear about their jobs,