THE WIDOW TAX is sold to the wrong households. It gets pitched to affluent couples as the reason to convert to a Roth or buy life insurance. The pitch says that when one spouse dies, the survivor files single, lands in a higher bracket, and gets clobbered. I ran the numbers for three couples at three incomes, and at the comfortable end the widow tax often costs nothing, or even less than nothing.
The real cost lands lower down,

WHEN IT COMES to financial decisions, many investors subscribe to an approach known as evidence-based investing. The idea, as the name suggests, is to base decisions, whenever possible, on data rather than on intuition or other informal methods.
This sounds logical. It isn’t perfect, though. Economic and financial indicators have weaknesses which are important to be aware of. 
Consider, for example, the Cyclically-Adjusted Price-to-Earnings, or CAPE, ratio, developed by Robert Shiller, a Yale professor and Nobel laureate,

She was a beautiful young girl, going through some hard times, living on the street and surviving by the good will of others. A middle aged man and his wife, well, he considered himself to be middle aged but was actually well beyond the half way point, offered to take her in. She was a little creeped out by the offer. 
Always on guard, she wondered what was the catch, what was expected in return. But they seemed to want nothing in return,

This author says is better than I ever could, great perspective:
https://www.meaningfulmoney.life/post/go-while-you-still-can

Hi HD Community, I need your help.  Today is my last official day of work, having been abruptly terminated with a fellow group of Sr. Managers as part of a corporate restructuring.  To be honest, I was not surprised or even particularly upset with the decision as I know the company is struggling and I have been unhappy in my role for some time.  Some quick background…I am recently 59, happily married for 35 years with two adult children who are both out of the house and on their own. 

Costa Rica is a beautiful country, but even more beautiful are its people: Kind, welcoming and almost always smiling. Joey and I had never visited before, and we couldn’t wait to discover a country that so many had spoken fondly about.
Among the excursions we’d booked was a white-water rafting trip. Our guide Carlos who was in his twenties expertly navigated the rapids, ensuring each stretch of river was as exhilarating as the last. Between the bursts of adrenaline,

My friend recently spent five days with us at our vacation home. At some point our conversation turned to his work situation. He’s an independent IT systems rollout contractor in his early sixties, based in London, with years of experience and a large network of industry contacts. The trouble right now is a prolonged downturn in the market, and contracts have been few and far between for the last fifteen months.
As a result, he’s been burning through his cash buffer faster than the occasional job can replenish it.

Can any HD reader conceive of paying $5,000 and way more for a seat at a soccer match? Sorry, football.
That seems to go against any financial logic. 😎
I wonder if such spending is on the budget spreadsheet?

THE OTHER DAY, WHILE walking to my mailbox, I noticed a summer class schedule for a private gifted youth academy lying on the ground. I assumed it belonged to one of my neighbors, who has elementary-aged children.
Their interest in extra academics didn’t surprise me. Many families move to this area because of its excellent schools. Parents here clearly value education. On any given day, it’s common to hear children practicing the piano or violin as you walk through the neighborhood.

A TOPIC THAT’S been in the news recently is the so-called K-shaped economy. 
Imagine a chart plotting the relative standing over time of those with higher incomes and those with lower incomes. Owing to a strong stock market and rising home values, the shape of the chart for those with higher incomes would extend up and to the right and has been moving increasingly in that direction since Covid.
Folks with lower incomes, on the other hand,

I’m not making this up. I once overheard a conversation in a bar by a couple guys who were planning something nefarious. They were discussing what was essentially the same kind of risk/reward conversation we think about when making allocation decisions; the major difference was that they were weighing time in prison should they be caught. 
I don’t know how things worked out for the pair, but at least they were considering the can-of-worms they were about to open. 

The nice lady in the card store told me I didn’t need to give her any information because it was on my coupon. I left the store wondering exactly what information that was.
According to Jose Lejin, a technical expert I contacted, I needn’t have worried. The barcode with my information told her the coupon belonged to me and might have been tied to a specific promotion. There is a privacy issue here in that the retailer may know the time and place I redeemed their offer.

I like to be humble, but I also like to be honest. I can’t deny that I ran a successful business for twenty-five years, that I own two homes, or that I had the resources to retire at fifty-seven. In short, I’ve been fortunate. It would be farcical of me to pretend money isn’t an important enabler in life, but it’s worth remembering that it isn’t the most important thing.
I’ve spent most of the last month at my vacation home,

Have any HumbleDollar readers who are subject to IRMAA filed a tax return more than 2 years late? If so, I’d love to hear your experience.

I read this article from Kiplinger online about the four ways couples should prepare for the Widow’s Penalty.
https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/tax-planning/how-to-prepare-for-the-widows-penalty
The article states that in an unfortunate twist of the tax system, losing a spouse may trigger a huge financial hit called the widow’s penalty.  The good news – you can plan for it.  It is a good read. Your thoughts and your plan.