Social media is loaded with videos, posts and memes with a common theme- seniors deserve to pay little or no taxes and they deserve higher Social Security and Medicare benefits. Neither are generous enough for retirees they say. And then there is the standard living on a “fixed income”rhetoric- which virtually nobody does.
Many of the posts claim that Social Security is not enough to pay the bills and does not keep up with inflation. 
I am not opposed to assisting anyone in need regardless of age,

My London based daughter came home again on Thursday for a long weekend, this time to go wedding dress shopping with the ladies of the family. The girls had a get-together the evening before the big dress shopping extravaganza, and since wedding talk was firmly on the agenda, I was duly exiled to my sunroom for the night. I’m pleased to report it was a successful mission and the bride said yes to a dress.
One of the greatest benefits of the wedding planning has been the regular visits home of my daughter.

“Never cross the street when you hear an ambulance coming, it’s very dangerous, because it’s you it’s trying to run down.”
– Ernie Souchak (John Belushi), Continental Divide, 1981
I just returned from “a free, no obligation presentation on how to protect yourself from expensive emergency ambulance bills and related costs not covered by your primary insurance,” or I like to call it, a free steak.
While this may have been my 15th free one,

We would all like to be happy, right? And there is no shortage of advice on the internet about how to get there, often by buying someone’s book or online course. The trouble is, does any of that advice actually work? Is there anything behind the claims?
After selling our business last year, I had a “void” that I imagine many experience in their early phase of retirement. I was keen to work again, and sent out lots of applications.

A relative couple of mine is living close to the bone. I’m not sure exactly why as they have two pensions (one military with COLA) plus Social Security and no mortgage. Even their property taxes are cut in half with subsidies. He had a good paying union job with good benefits his entire working life. Nevertheless, they seem to be scraping by. Both are in their 70s.
I recently learned they don’t have any income tax withheld from pensions or Social Security,

About 10 years ago, my financial advisor suggested I open a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF). I had never heard of one—and assumed it was something only the very wealthy used. I was wrong.
In essence, a DAF allows you to give to charities more effectively by taking advantage of federal tax deductions—assuming you itemize rather than take the standard deduction.
A DAF is simple to operate. You can contribute cash or, in my case, appreciated securities, take the deduction in the year of the contribution (if you itemize),

Is anyone else seeing their comment on a post being marked
“Awaiting for approval”  what’s going on?
 
 

TRUMP ACCOUNT WAS created as part of the OBBBA signed on July 4, 2025. I’ve been getting a lot of messages about it, because there is a lot of conflicting information. The IRS has also posted some instructions for the account.
My goal with this post is to walk through the rules and give my take on when (if ever), this account makes sense.
Timing & Creation
First and foremost, no contributions are allowed in this savings account for children until 12 months after the law’s enactment,

LAST YEAR, an unusual story made the news: The University of Chicago was reportedly looking to sell an entity known as the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP). The story came and went quietly, but it’s worth pausing to understand it.
CRSP’s origins date back to the 1960s. Its initial goal was to build a database of historical stock prices. This is harder than it might seem. Before trading was computerized, stock prices were maintained on paper.

No one wants to see a rollback. But we all know it occasionally happens.
As of February 20, 2026, the all-time high for the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) is about $642.
If we experienced a decline from that level:

A 20% drop would take VOO to roughly $513 — about where it traded in September 2024.
A 30% drop would land near $449 — roughly January 2024 levels.
A 40% drop would bring it to about $385 — prices last seen around May 2023.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers, if they had an opinion, would consider me a bit of a waste of space. Other than the very rare occasions when I pop a few generic paracetamol in the throes of man flu, I’ve had the good fortune of never taking any regular medication. I’m not enhancing the pharma industry’s bottom line in any meaningful way…”must try harder” would be on the report card.
That might be about to change. Recently, when I visited my doctor to whine about my inability to play tennis at a level high enough to compete against players twenty years younger than myself,

I like the idea of writing my obituary in the first person. I have composed a few drafts of such an obituary. It has been fun recalling memories from my youth and of raising my children, and thinking about the 8,590 or so days that Chrissy and I have been together, even former occupations and the friends I have made along the way. 
It would begin something like this; If you’re reading this, you waited too long to call me;

For all the cash back friends, BoA is changing its “Preferred Rewards” program.
Most people were parking $100,000 with Merrill Edge to get “Platinum” rewards status. This status allowed you to receive a 75% cash back boost (e.g. 5.25% on online categories or 2.62% unlimited).
Starting on May 27, BoA is changing the program. To get the 75% cash back boost, you now have to maintain a $1M balance. The new boosts are:
10% for the Member tier (any account except a credit card,

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Medicare Part D out-of-pocket limit of $2100.
When I went to fill Connie’s prescription last week I learned it was not on our plans formulary. I previously wrote it would cost $500 a month. It turned out it was almost $600. She needed the drug as it was giving her relief so I said I would pay cash. However, I used GoodRx The cost was then $529.
That meant no credit toward the $2100 out of pocket limit.

David Bach has an interesting whitepaper that proposes the government offer a program where withdrawals from retirement accounts are taxed at 12% from ages 60 to 68. The thesis is that 83% of the boomer generation do not tap into their IRA until RMDs forces them to.
What do you think?