One of the greatest benefits I received  from my last employer was the gift of health care insurance in my retirement years. At the time I was hired (almost 28 years ago), they offered an early retiree benefit: work for twenty years and, if you chose to retire after you turn 55, you could continue to receive coverage as if you were an active employee. Needless to say, it’s a benefit they no longer offer.
I retired on my 55th birthday,

I recently flew to Spain to meet a friend who was coming from London. We enjoyed a few lovely days together until disaster struck. After spending an hour at the pool, my friend went to check his phone for the time—only to realize he’d forgotten to take his phone out of his swimming shorts pocket. By then, it was too late: the phone had slipped out and been sitting at the bottom of the pool the entire time.

I’m blaming Nick for this post, which has nothing to do with retirement. Still, I thought you may enjoy hearing about the drinking culture in the beer business, in the 70s.
My first job in the beverage business was as a driver-salesman for Pepsi. After several years I decided to pursue a job selling beer. It was 1977, I was 24 when I applied for a job and was called for an interview at the beer distributor.

In an effort to simplify and consolidate my portfolio, I recently completed what’s known as a Section 351 exchange in a taxable account. This provision of the Internal Revenue Code lets investors transfer assets—such as stocks and securities—to a corporation without recognizing a taxable gain or loss, provided certain conditions are met.
With help from my financial consultant, I exchanged a portfolio of individual stocks in a separately managed account (SMA), held since 2020, for shares in a new exchange-traded fund (ETF).

We are a couple who retired early (early 60s) and like many are facing a big jump in our Healthcare costs (California residents). Has anyone here looked at alternatives to the marketplace, such as insurance brokers, for Healthcare? Any recommendation or insight would be welcome. Also, I searched the articles and couldn’t find anything about this. Thank you.

I just read a wonderful article about someone who quit drinking at the age of 70.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/its-never-too-late-to-quit-drinking-alcohol-i-should-know-cbaf6aea?st=tG27gv&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
I have been reading more and more articles about how dangerous even moderate  drinking is and I have been considering quitting completely.
I wanted to know how readers of HD handle drinking and if it has affected their life and finances.  I look forward to your comments.

My dad was the oldest child of a successful rancher. When my grandpa needed someone to help him with the farm, Dad reluctantly left his career as a fighter pilot in the Air Force and came back to Nebraska. He always made it clear that he did not enjoy ranching, but he loved the time he had to spend with his family.
Growing up, we never wanted anything but our expenditures were also not extravagant. My parents purchased new Chevy Suburbans,

Healthcare can be one of the biggest expenses you’ll face in retirement. That’s why it’s so important to make the right Medicare decision when you turn 65.
Medicare’s open enrollment for 2026  is October 15 to December 7, 2025 or 3 months before you turn 65. If you’re approaching 65 — or helping a loved one — here’s what you need to know before making a choice.
You Have Two Options at 65
When you sign up for Medicare,

With Roth conversions touted as a savvy move—pay taxes now, enjoy tax-free withdrawals later—it’s tempting to jump in. But what if the U.S. tax system shifts from income taxes to leaning heavily on tariffs? This idea, gaining traction in 2025 policy debates, challenges conventional wisdom and suggests a contrarian take: maybe we should limit Roth conversions.
Here’s why. Converting a traditional IRA to a Roth means paying income tax upfront at today’s rates. The payoff is tax-free growth and withdrawals,

Being a human being and a long term investor is ….. challenging.
I think we all probably know the accepted wisdom. Timing the market is almost impossible. Trading is a fool’s errand. Long term investing is the only way to reliably build wealth. The key is to determine your plan, set your allocations then stick to it.
But because we, as the HD community, take an interest in personal finance, we are also likely exposed to financial media.

We have a more than sufficient income. Our income is not dependent on withdrawals or the stock market. Our net worth is more than adequate. By standard measures we are into the 90th percentile for any age. So why do I still worry about money?
I have done some research and I’m convinced it’s all psychological, past experiences and unjustified fear playing with my mind. Maybe yours too. 
For many people, money isn’t just a tool — it’s a symbol of safety and control.

I was just reading an interview with Christine Benz from Morningstar. She recommends also having a portion of your portfolio allocated to bonds and cash. Here is her rationale:
“I can definitely see investors emphasizing dividend-payers in their equity portfolios, maybe going exclusively with dividend-payers, but I would augment them with some safer investments. Coming back to cash, coming back to a little bit in high-quality bonds.

…you’re protecting yourself in a few key scenarios. One would be that sort of market downturn if stocks are down and you have something else to pull your cash flows from in retirement,

I don’t know if there’s an academic term for one aspect of my personality. I honestly struggle to articulate what it is. The best I can do is describe it as a total lack of emotional investment in the political and economic situation in the world around me, an absence of the ability to deeply care about the personalities and themes of the great political and financial stage. It puzzles me that people feel so passionately about these events and figures.

Right now, the bulk of my US stock holdings are in my Rollover IRA, split unequally between VFIAX (Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares) and VEXAX (Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund Admiral Shares). The split has become more unequal than I originally intended. I am taking the whole of my RMD from the 500 fund (and investing it in other funds in taxable), but I’ll still need to move money to VEXAX to rebalance. I am wondering whether it wouldn’t be better (it would obviously be simpler) to combine both funds into VTSAX (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares).

Here is how we use Social Security benefits voluntary withholding to pay all of our estimated Federal tax obligation. This eliminates the need for quarterly filings and payments and is as painless as when taxes were withheld from our employee paychecks.  And since most of our income as well as expenses are on a monthly cycle (including a monthly RMD withdrawal moved to our brokerage account) the monthly automatic tax payment keeps everything in balance and on budget.