IN YIDDISH, CHUTZPAH  means audacity. Larry Ellison, the flamboyant founder and ex-CEO of Oracle, is the embodiment of chutzpah. I want to share a real estate caper that took place during my making-it stage when the river of my ambition was flowing swiftly and perhaps recklessly. The gambit called upon all the chutzpah I could muster. It worked famously, a highlight of family lore and my ambivalent career as a small residential property investor.

I’m not big on aphorisms—at least when talking to others. But there are certain things I say to myself all the time. Like what? Here are four mantras that I repeat to myself on an almost daily basis:
“First, do what you have to do, then do what you want to do.” This is my vegetables-first approach to the day. I have an ongoing to-do list that I typically revise each evening. When I look at that list in the morning,

We have all heard of the 4% rule. We know the S&P index has return an average annual return of  10.26% since 1957. Even considering inflation and sequence of returns, how is it possible to run out of retirement funds sticking to the 4% strategy and using cash during downturns. In fact, isn’t more likely assets will grow?

BEFORE 2022, OUR investments were held by multiple financial firms, more by chance than choice. Fidelity Investments was the 401(k) recordkeeper. My two individual stocks were held by separate transfer agents. My brokerage account was with Alight Financial. My two annuities and a small IRA were with RiverSource. It was a mess.

Each had different processes, websites with different functionality, and customer service that ranged from nonexistent to annoying. In one case, I couldn’t take a required minimum distribution online.

WE ALL HAVE NEEDS and wants. It’s easy to know our needs because we’re constantly dealing with them: buying groceries, paying rent, getting gas for the car. Our wants, by contrast, are only limited by our imagination.
Our wants are easier to satisfy if they’re close to our current needs. You drive an older Honda Accord. Want a new Honda Accord? Not too difficult. Want a red Ferrari? That’s a different story. Your usual car budget won’t pay for a Ferrari.

Last week, my family hosted my wife’s niece and family from California. The parents in this family are both in their 40s.
Prior to their visit, we resolved to ask them what plans they had made for their retirement. On their first evening with us, we were encouraged to learn they each had a pension, and were also saving additional money for retirement through their employer-sponsored plans. That was as far as the financial conversation got,

THE YEAR’S MIDPOINT is here, with the stock market on track for its second consecutive year of above-average gains. This has many investors asking about rebalancing. Below are some commonly asked questions.
What is rebalancing? Let’s say that, to get the right mix of risk and return, you’ve settled on an asset allocation of 50% stocks and 50% bonds. Now, suppose the stock market rises 10%. This would lift stocks to some 52% of your total portfolio,

Times have changed a lot since we graduated from high school or college. We have experienced many ups and downs in life and observed what works and what doesn’t. Some financial and life lessons we learned are still valuable to the next generation.
Let us share it here!
Sundar Mohan Rao
 
 

Note: This is the second Forum piece from my ‘shelved articles’ archive. It was written months ago but never submitted to Jonathan.
These days, people often debate the value of a college education, but what about the value of a good high school education? I was fortunate to attend high school in Moorestown, New Jersey, a community that has always valued having an excellent school system.
With the perspective shaped by over 40 years of life post-graduation,

I am not opposed to college and certainly not education.
However, college can be a waste of money. Completing college takes too long. College is too expensive and we are lured unnecessarily into a cost/prestige trap.
My college experience is not typical so I am not a good example. I got out of the army a few months early to attend college. I was 26. For the next nine years I attended a community college and then a state university nights and weekends.

Let’s play a hypothetical – a married couple 60 and 58, with a net worth of $10M.  No debt, no children.
What roles does a financial advisor play, assuming the couple is content on how they invest?
What role might a tax expert play for planning and managing cost avoidance over time?
 

WE MET IN THE GALLEY, the cafeteria in Vanguard Group’s nautical lexicon. Jack Bogle shook my hand. My pulse raced.
I’d learned about Vanguard’s founder while working at Morningstar. I’d read about him in Jonathan Clements’s Wall Street Journal columns. And I’d devoured his first book, Bogle on Mutual Funds.
“Where’d you go to college?” he asked. “Good board scores?”
We sat down, tucked into our meals—some sort of industrial casserole for me,

My husband and I are new retirees, age 63 and 61.  Fortunately, we have enough savings to wait until 70 to collect SS, but this means we need to spend from our savings to cover living expenses.  Which should be spent first? Taxable accounts or 401Ks (we have about 65% of our assets in tax deferred 401Ks, most of the rest is in regular taxable accounts, and some in Roth accounts.  Obviously we are saving the Roths and doing some conversions,

You have probably read the claim 70+% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. We usually interpret that to mean they have limited income, but tend to ignore spending which is half the equation.
Today is the last working day of the month. My pension arrived in my checking account. Money has been auto transferred to an account used to pay ongoing bills. Money has been transferred to an emergency fund as happens each month. I just paid two credit cards in full.

IT PAINS ME TO SAY this, but I hurt—everywhere. I’ll start at the bottom and work my way up. My feet hurt, my knees hurt, my hips hurt, my back hurts and my shoulders hurt. One more thing: I can’t remember. My memory is in decline.

Cataract surgery improved my eyesight. Hearing aids mean my grandkids don’t have to be two rooms over when we watch TV together. Exercise seems to reduce my pain slightly and increase mobility.