My investing strategy is closely aligned with the game of darts. Aim and hope my picks land in the right place. Does it work?
I make no claim to investing acumen. However, I am proof that even those who know little of what they are doing with no patience for nitty gritty analysis can make money. 
Since all my investments are with Fidelity I used their analysis of my account to evaluate where my darts landed.

As a compulsive list maker, I’m updating my list of finance-related
action items and analysis to do around year-end. Here are a few things on my list:
– Estimate taxes
– Consider year-end contributions
– Target income levels to maximize ACA credits
– Consider Roth conversions
– Assess prior year’s returns
– Analyze last year’s spending
– Project “safe spending” for the coming year
– Re-balance investments if needed
What’s on your list?

THE OLDER WE GET, the easier it is to see the progress we’ve made, both as individuals and as a society. But I’m not just thinking about personal wealth, higher standards of living, better health care and extraordinary technological advances.
As I look back, I also see impressive progress in our financial thinking. Here are eight notions that were conventional wisdom half a century ago—but which today aren’t universally accepted and, in my estimation,

If you’ve ever wondered whether Vanguard’s S&P 500 or total stock market fund is the better core holding in your portfolio, you’re probably not alone. Each ETF has over 400 billion in net assets, each has an expense ratio of .03, each has essentially the same dividend (1.25%) and each is categorized by both Vanguard and Morningstar as large blend. Both funds trade at very high volume, making the spread on purchases and sales all but nonexistent.

The Forum has been live for more than two months, and it’s been a hit with readers. Each day brings an impressive number of comments and often at least a few new discussion threads. But—as your most irritating boss would remind you—there’s always room for improvement.
Here are six suggestions for Forum participants:

Don’t refer to stocks and funds by their ticker symbols or, at a minimum, not on first reference. I’ve spent my career focused on this stuff,

When we set up our Trust our lawyer instructed us to change our children as our secondary beneficiaries to our Trust. I was just reading Ed Slott’s The Retirement Savings Time Bomb Ticks LOUDER, and he states that there is no reason to have your trust named as a beneficiary for most people unless you have questions about the recipients responsibility. Also notes that your beneficiaries may have to empty the trust in less than 10 years.

I started listing the various taxes Americans pay, but gave up rather quickly. It’s a long list and some of them are a bit obscure like hotel room taxes, taxes on phone bills, a tax on scrapped tires and such. Of course there are Social Security and Medicare taxes as well. I paid $98,080 in Medicare taxes during my working life – one of those big scary numbers. 😎
What the US doesn’t have is Value Added Tax (VAT) –

I WAS A VICTIM OF identity theft. It wasn’t anything I did. Rather, it was what my former employer did.
During the pandemic, many employees were working remotely, including a member of the human resources department. She received an email from the CEO requesting that she send him the W-2s for all employees. So she did. Unfortunately, the email wasn’t from the CEO. It was sent from a shopping mall in Saudi Arabia.
As soon as she hit send,

As I approach retirement, I have utilized several free retirement calculators to help answer the question, “Can I retire?”.  The exciting thing is they all seem to be confirming it’s okay for me to punch out when the time is right.  Of course, like any model, these are only as good as the accuracy of the input and assumptions.
Below are the calculators I have used.  Do you have any comments in general about these tools or have you used something you found useful that’s not on my list?

Beautiful opinion piece, Jonathan  I tried to share as a gift article, but not sure if I figured out how to do.  Maybe someone else can?  Chris
 
 

The search for a bond substitute has been about as lunatic as Don Quixote’s quest for a fantasy world. Why a substitute for the Great Diversifier anyway? Because when interest rates move higher, bonds and stocks disintegrate in tandem. In the scourge of 2022, Vanguard’s total bond ETF lost 13%, not much better than the broad market’s -18%. Seeming more like de-worsification than diversification, the twin collapse spooked adherents of the venerable 60/40 portfolio.
But almost all of the vaunted replacements for bonds put forward by fixed-income detractors have come to naught.

WHEN I ASKED MY brother what to bring to my newly purchased winter home in Tucson, his response was succinct: “Money. Lots. And extra credit cards.”
The voice of experience, he bought a so-called park unit five years ago before home prices soared, up 47% since early 2020 . My expenses in buying my place—and making it into what I wanted—had me selling beaten-down shares in a total bond fund to refill my cash accounts.

Looking up at the ceiling recovering from major surgery has this 70+ boomer rethinking life. Everyone on here has an intense interest in personal finance. Most of us are boomers.  Our parents were the Greatest Generation who lived the Depression and fought the war then shared their stories of sacrifice. We’ve read the Wall Street Journal, especially when Jonathan was there, financial papers, magazines and websites galore. My guess is that our playbook is pretty much the same:  get an education,

I know what a mutual fund is. I can even engage in a semi-literate discussion involving things like alpha, beta, inverted yield curves, and etc. On the other hand, I’d be lost in an in-depth conversation with the likes of a Grossman, Clements, or certain other HD contributors. So how much knowledge does one actually need to manage their own investments without the need for paid help?

A lot of us claim to be frugal, including me at times, but I wonder, are we all on the same page defining frugal?
Frugality is typically defined as  a mindful approach to spending that prioritizes value, efficiency, and sustainability. It’s about making conscious choices that align with your financial goals and values.
That doesn’t sound like fun, seems like work.
Do we limit discretionary purchases in favor of necessities? Are we focused on finding the best deal or seeking low-cost alternatives?