A recent post on the Forum raised the issue of dealing with a cut in Social Security benefits – hopefully an unlikely or very temporary event. However, something still worth planning for. 
If the status of SS is not fixed, around 2033 benefits could be reduced by 23-24%. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects a 24% cut by late 2032 for retirees, equating to an $18,100 annual reduction for a typical dual-earning couple retiring in 2033.

I noticed a bit of a trend over the summer at my holiday home. Suzie and I were a part of it, as our 10 year old grandson stayed with us for a large portion of the school holiday period. It was wonderful to see so many grandparents helping out in this way.
Our holiday community is gated and has a large play park with extensive grassy areas and a few soccer nets for the kids.

I worked and earned income from 1963 to 2022. I always saved a portion of my earnings. Some was “parked” in real estate, some in the stock market, some in bonds and some in a traditional savings account.
Every dollar I saved represented many hours of true labor. Some was as a business owner, some as an engineer, some was “sweat equity” in my homes and RVs, and some labor was expended by maintaining a commercial property.

I might be hitting my head against a brick wall, but it’s a rather poor show that “RDQ” gets all the down arrow glory and doesn’t share. Maybe I need a few arrows with this doozy of a post.
Let me roll out my pre-retirement risk credentials. I quit a corporate job when I reached the level of director, with lots of stock purchase opportunities, a high salary, and a solid pension package. I left all that to start my own business—a very risky move,

Almost four years ago I wrote an article about the 2020 OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County report. The report is put out by the Social Security Administration (SSA), and provides a wealth of interesting statistics. Here is the link to the 2024 report where you can investigate detailed national and local data.
Here are some basic numbers for context. As of December 2020, the U.S. population was 329,484,123. Four year later it had grown 3.5%,

I’ve just encountered the first positive financial benefit of officially being retired from the workforce. My car insurance renewal notice appeared in my inbox, and being the person I am, I contacted the insurance company to inform them of my change in circumstances from employed to retired.
What’s particularly noteworthy for those of us just starting retirement is to remember to contact your insurer. Many people might just pay the renewal notice without thinking about updating their information.

I live in a paid off house in Kansas City Missouri and I have 2 paid off rental properties here also. I eventually would like to move to Delaware. My idea is that I either do a 1031 exchange selling one of the rentals and buying a more expensive rental property in Delaware by about $200,000 more and then some day in the future, maybe in 4 years, move to Delaware and have that property become my primary residence.

I’ve always been a minimalist – even as a teenager I had no interest in having lots of clothes, shoes, or other trappings of high school life in the 80s. That pull toward minimalism was reinforced during the 2 years I spent teaching English in Japan after college. No dedicated bedroom that sits empty and unused all day? My bed folds up and is stored in the closet? A tiny fridge forcing me to buy fresh fruit and vegetables every other day?

Like many HD readers, I really enjoy the writing of Morgan Housel. He recently wrote
“You should obsess over risks that do permanent damage and care little about risks that do temporary harm, but the opposite is more common.”
This tapped into a train of thought that I’ve been on recently – focussing on the important stuff. Or, as on old boss of mine use to say, “The main thing, is that the main thing, is the main thing”.

I want to ladder some CDs and the best rates are with online banks. There are so many to choose from—which banks have you used and would recommend?  I have not found my credit union or local banks to be competitive.  TIA

Suzie and I have been together for 44 years and married for 36 of them. It goes without saying that a relationship of that length is achieved by many means, but I think a fundamental characteristic is the ability to compromise and be mindful of each other’s wishes.
A strong partnership where both people work can also supercharge wealth generation through the decades, especially if you both think in lockstep on humble lifestyle choices and the importance of saving for the future.

I’ve always been a saver. From my first job singing in the church choir, I stashed earnings in a snap-top Band-Aid box. I added to my savings by sweeping the patio of a family friend.
Sometimes, I’d shake my savings onto my bedspread and count it. It gave me a great feeling to find that I had $10.50 or $15.65. The stacks of silver quarters gave me a sense of security as a child.
That’s why it’s been a bit of a letdown to start withdrawals from my 401(k).

The Dividend Irrelevance Theory

Today, I’m going to channel my inner “RDQ” and raise some peoples ire:
About one month ago, there was a post about dividends.  It contained quite a bit of what I will politely call, “magical thinking”. Despite my linking two excellent articles which debunk the dividend myth, clearly subsequent posters did not bother to read either of them and persisted in posting the dividend dogma that commonly persists.  I even resorted to asking Jonathan to chime in (which he kindly did) as too many folks seemed to still not be “getting it”,

ANDREW CARNEGIE USED to say that competitors were welcome to tour his factory, to see his production line up close. Why? Because of Carnegie Steel’s massive scale and complex operations, he was confident no one would ever be able to replicate what he’d built.
Hedge fund manager Seth Klarman is a modern-day Carnegie. Klarman founded the Boston-based Baupost Group in 1982, and while performance numbers aren’t publicly available, the firm’s track record is believed to be among the best in the industry.

“TRUMP ACCOUNT” WAS created as part of the OBBBA signed on July 4, 2025. But is this account anything special? And how could we use it strategically to build wealth?
There’s been a lot of confusion about how it works, who qualifies, and whether they’re actually useful. I’ll walk through the rules, highlight key opportunities, and give my take on when (if ever) this account makes sense.
First and foremost, I want to point out that no contributions are allowed before 12 months after the date of the enactment of the OBBBA,