I’d like to share my book review of Gautam Baid’s book, “The Joy of Compounding.” For those who prefer watching over reading, an enjoyable podcast is available here.
This book is a principles-based investing guide that focuses on psychology, behavior, and discipline rather than tactical market timing. Baid draws inspiration from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger and emphasizes the development of personal traits that reinforce discipline. He emphasizes the importance of history over forecasts and cultivating discipline in stock selection and portfolio management.

I’d like to claim that skill, but alas it’s not true. I’m closer to being a saver with patience, but I have little patience with detail. If I was a civil engineer like my son, you would not want to drive over one of my bridges.
I truly admire HD writers who can delve into the nitty gritty of investing and those who understand it all. I’m still wondering what happened to the American Stock Exchange. 

Back in the day when people actually got magazines in the mail, there was an axiom that said: “When Time magazine has a bull on the cover, it is time to sell; when it has a bear on the cover, it is time to buy.”   This was an easy-to-follow contrarian indicator. If the bull or the bear are so clear that the non-financial press picks up on it, the trend must be long in the tooth.

A recent article in Healthcare Business Today did an excellent job summarizing the current state of affairs in the independent primary care medical practice. I encourage everyone to read it.
Over the past year there have been posts asking if doctors are overpaid or if we are the college tuition bank for the doctor’s children. These are valid questions and I provided a lengthy reply sharing my thoughts regarding the college tuition bank post.
I have thought a lot about these previous posts as I continue to work two days a week dealing with the aggravation of electronic medical records,

I was reading an article about the US proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10%. As part of the piece, they interviewed a US woman in her thirties who had amassed over $6,500 in credit card debt paying for childcare AFTER she lost her job, apparently she decided to keep sending her kid to daycare so she could have some freedom. To me, this is an irrational financial choice.
Being a bit of a nerd on a wet Saturday afternoon with some spare time on my hands,

In November 2025 CalPERS, a $600 billion pension plan, announced it would adopt the Total Portfolio Approach.
The model rethinks portfolio construction. “Instead of starting with a fixed split, such as 60% stocks and 40% bonds, it begins by examining how different investments behave…..The goal is a portfolio that behaves more predictably when markets get rough.”
“The Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) is a holistic investment strategy that integrates all assets into a unified portfolio, focusing on overall performance rather than managing asset classes in isolation.”
To accomplish this,

I recently encouraged a couple to see a financial advisor because the couple could not agree on family finance issues and one spouse would not even discuss the matter. She (in this case, but not gender unique) just wanted to spend and ignore the matters of future retirement and college costs or how income from one spouse was generated for the family.
I thought an independent third party could evaluate their finances and then explain the situation and make recommendations to the couple in an unemotional way. 

I’ve been thinking of how I got interested in the HD ecosystem and was wondering your take. What proportion of your ideal HD would be dedicated to retirement content vs investment content (that’s general and not retirement related)?

IN THE EARLY 1950S, journalist Walter Winchell popularized the term “frienemies” when he used it to describe the fraying relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. Today, we’re seeing a similar dynamic in our relationship with China. This makes it an important topic for investors. 
Not long ago, the relationship between the U.S. and China was strong and mutually beneficial. Over the past 25 years, trade between the two countries has multiplied.

MY COWORKER RECENTLY retired. He is 50 years old and has been with the company for over 25 years.
The company offers a decent 401(k) match (100% match on 6% of your salary) along with other great benefits.
In his case, how can he generate income? How can you retire early if most of your assets are in retirement plans?
Most tax-advantaged accounts have restrictions on withdrawals, but there are a few strategies that many people don’t know of:
 

While life is good, there are a few things I have to work on. 
Let’s begin with the number 36. No, Chrissy isn’t trading me in for a couple 36 year old studs, 36 is the waist size I reached early in 2025. I was not happy with that. Now, sadly, some of my 36 inch pants are whispering into my ear; 38,38,38. It’s like an evil form of tinnitus that speaks instead of rings. It’s not that I don’t exercise,

Have you ever heard of a film called “Cash on the Barrel Head” or Chester A Riley or William Bendix?
William Bendix played Riley in a sitcom, “ The Life of Riley” the story of a middle class factory worker for whom life, including financial life, was an ongoing challenge.  Nothing seemed to go right for the good-hearted, but inept Riley. 
I remember the film from my early days in employee benefits around 1961. It was an educational/training film trying to make a point to workers. 

I’m an index investor, which obviously means I don’t pick stocks. It’s a comfortable position. When you own the entire market, you’re not making choices, you’re just participating in the market as a neutral observer.
My strategy has always been simple: buy broad index funds, reinvest the dividends, ignore the noise. No stock picking, no market timing, no cleverness required. The kind of investing you can explain at a dinner party without boring your guests too much.

Unusual events happen from time to time.  Since 2022 the S&P 500 has had some remarkable years.  Recently foreign stocks have also done very well.  This is a boon to retirement portfolios, and particularly welcome for those entering retirement.
The opposite situation is the “lost decade” which I recently posted about.  Some say these are rare and if we are lucky the timing will be such as to have slight impact on retirees.  But fingers crossed is not a strategy.  

I received this letter from Fidelity this morning. Interesting that they are now saying that some major index funds may not be diversified investments. What can you do about it? Invest your portfolio in other funds such as fixed income, international, value, or small cap?
 
Index Fund Policy Changes
Dear Shareholder,
Effective November 10, 2025, the “Principal Investment Strategies” and “Principal
Investment Risks” sections of the prospectus of each index fund shown in the table
below was modified to indicate that the fund may operate as a non-diversified fund,