WOULD YOU BASE important financial or life choices on false or misleading information? Of course not. Yet, when deciding on key economic and social issues, that’s exactly what people often do.

I’m addicted to social media. I follow advocacy groups focused on Social Security, health care and taxes, as well as the politicians who are especially engaged in these issues.

Some tweets and memes reinforce what people want to believe or provide the easy answers they seek.

IN HINDSIGHT, MY WIFE and I made a mistake by over-saving in tax-deferred accounts. It’s not that we saved too much overall. Rather, we ended up with retirement savings that aren’t diversified among different account types. In fairness, this was caused by the limitations of our work-sponsored retirement plans, coupled with the stock market’s handsome appreciation in recent years.
The classic approach is to build a three-legged stool for retirement—Social Security, a pension if available,

JUST HOW CRAZY WERE some of last week’s market moves? The Wall Street Journal detailed how Amazon.com (symbol: AMZN) recorded the biggest-ever one-day market cap gain in stock market history. The largest company in the consumer discretionary sector was valued $191.3 billion higher after posting better-than-expected earnings Thursday evening.
Amazon’s monster move came just a day after Meta Platforms (FB) notched the single-biggest market cap decrease in market history. More widely known as Facebook,

MY FATHER-IN-LAW was an avid tennis player and an astute coach. The first time he observed me play, he commented on how I—a soccer player growing up—had good speed and quick reactions. I had a terrible swing, however. As he put it, “You can get to any ball. You have no idea what to do when you get there.”
He was correct. To this day, what looks like a great shot is often actually a mishit off my racquet frame.

I’D LIKE TO START with a seemingly simple question: If you purchased an investment for $19,000 and later sold it for $287,000, would there be a gain or a loss? If you answered that there would be a gain, I’d agree with you. Specifically, it appears the gain would be $268,000. But what if there was no gain and the investment was actually sold at a loss? Could that be the case?

I’VE BEEN WAITING since late last year for a stock market correction. No, I’m not sitting on a pile of cash and looking to time the market. Instead, I’m simply hoping to trim my tax bill.
Last October, I sold the recently vested shares of my company stock and used the proceeds to buy Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (symbol: VTI). This sell-high-buy-high exchange was meant for diversification, but I also hoped that the market would drop later.

IMAGINE PUTTING your teenager behind a steering wheel to take a driving test without any prior preparation. The result is predictable—she would fail and you’d be lucky if she didn’t crash. Would you reprimand her for this result? Of course not.
So why is it that so many of us are merciless—both to ourselves and even our loved ones—when it comes to our investing blunders? You know what I’m talking about: putting money into a meme stock that subsequently cratered;

WHEN A FRIEND TOLD me about his newfound interest in buying and selling sports trading cards, it reminded me of the joy that collecting brought me in my childhood. And when he asked me to explain the relevant taxation, it got me thinking: The core of the tax code is more logical than we give it credit for. It’s the ever-changing details that make it squirrelly.
If you buy and sell collectibles—whether it be sports cards,

LAST AUGUST, I wrote about the retention bonuses I scored by simply initiating a transfer of assets from one brokerage firm to another. Back then, I said I’d wait six months and then try again to capture this free money.
This time around, one broker offered me a promotion simply to stay put, but two others wouldn’t. I did some quick Google searches and found offers elsewhere, so I initiated the transfers and collected those bonuses.

I GREW UP IN INDIA. There, it’s quite common to have outside help for household chores. Most middle-class families hire someone to help with washing, dishes and cleaning. Affluent households typically have a cook, driver and housekeeper.
After coming to the U.S., I noticed that most households weren’t dependent on domestic help, thanks to appliances like a dishwasher, vacuum cleaner and washer-dryer. A few coworkers went as far as building their own cabinets and decks,