One of my relatives lived on a pension of $23 a month. Of course that was his military pension in 1866. That’s $491 in 2024 –  poverty level for sure. 
In retirement I do a great deal of reading, listening to and viewing opinions and strategies about others planning to retire. Having managed pension and 401k plans for decades, I can’t let go. 
One thing I know for sure, views about retirement are as diverse as each individual.

BACK IN 1987, Nassim Nicholas Taleb was a trader on Wall Street. But unlike most of his peers, Taleb wasn’t pinning his hopes on a market rally. Instead, he’d positioned himself to benefit from a market meltdown. On Oct. 19, just such an event occurred. For no apparent reason—in the midst of an otherwise strong market—the S&P 500 dropped 23% in a single day. The result: Taleb made a fortune—enough to retire at age 27.

I have 10% of my portfolio in I-Bonds, 10% in Short term treasuries. With interest rates likely to go down, would long/intermediate bond funds make sense?

When you make out the form to contribute some of your income for a 401K or Roth 401K, your HR department will default to setting equal deductions for each pay period in the year. However, you can change this.
You can request a larger dollar amount per pay period so that your 401K contribution is complete before year end.
This can be helpful if you may be leaving your job, voluntarily or involuntarily, before year end.

How Long, a big rock hit in the seventies, opens with, “How long has this been going on?” A guy who suspects his lady is cheating on him declares “I’m not dumb.” I can’t say the same for  myself, because I’ve been having a five-year affair with the wrong size stock and I’m not so sure I can take it anymore.
While the whole world has been piling into large cap stock funds,

Note: The following is an abridged version of an article I wrote months ago but never submitted to Jonathan. It’s from my ‘Shelved Articles’ archive. 
RETIREMENT CAN BE a time for reconnecting with old friends. I’ve always enjoyed keeping up with pals from my early years. Of course, many friendships have fallen by the wayside as time passed, but I value the long-term connections I’ve been able to maintain.
I had a habit of saving nearly every personal letter I received—back in the days when handwritten missives were a thing.

I walked into the room and saw Freddie sitting on the exam table with a bloody gauze on top of his bald head. I asked him what happened and he told me that he had been snaking a clogged toilet in a rental apartment. He does maintenance on a lot of rental properties around our area.
All of a sudden the snake backed up on him and hit him on top of his head and caused a V-shaped laceration.

I hate change.  When Schwab acquired TD Ameritrade where I had my brokerage account, I knew at some point I would have to use the Schwab platform.  Well it happened a month and a half ago.  I am not thrilled by Schwab but it’s not as bad as I feared.  Anyone go through this?

I’m curious what you wish someone had told you when you were in your 40s – doesn’t have to be career or even financial advice.  Thanks.

My question is which would be better to use to pay down debt a 401k withdrawal (sell stocks) which would raise taxes (SS) at years end significantly a 0% credit card balance transfer (cost 3-5% annually) or a 9.3% home equity loan that hopefully the interest rate goes down next year.  I enjoy reading all your stories about finances and life. thank you.

What is the general opinion of TIPS in this current environment ?

Below is a copy of a review I left on trust pilot. It’s hardly any consolation that I was not the only person to experience their deceptive tactics. See link below: (https://www.trustpilot.com/review/troweprice.com)
This review is in response to T.Rowe Price’s (TRP) concerted efforts to prevent me from getting access to my parents assets after their passing. As an executor and trustee I had full and legal rights to these funds. My estate attorney was “quite frankly ASTOUNDED” by their refusal to share information with me in spite of my status of trustee.

Target date funds (TDFs) have similar risk until they approach their target date, which is intended to be your retirement date — typically age 65.  Risk at the target date ranges from 20% risky assets to 90% risky assets, with most in the 90% group. There are 2 groups — safe and risky.
So what is the “right” level of risk for those near retirement? Academics have addressed this question extensively, and their answer is “very safe”,

First a question and then the backstory.
Mid-60’s and nearing retirement with 80% domestic allocation of stocks (60% domestic/40% international) in tech heavy QQQ. Sold 20% of my shares yesterday, and now have $200k+ to reinvest. Tax basis is 13% of the current market price. Long term capital gain rate of 15% applies, plus 3.8% NIIT. Gain is $192.5k.
How would you reinvest the sales proceeds to slowly sell off this concentrated QQQ position in a taxable account?

I have a small employer that I have set up with a Simple IRA directly with Vanguard.  Now Vanguard is farming out their Simple and 401K business to a firm called Ascensus.  We are going to move the Simple business to Fidelity. The employees tend to not take a detailed understanding of finance and we look for simple fund of funds approach.  I have always been a fan of FBALX Fidelity and retirement date funds are always a choice.