SOME MILESTONES are auspicious. Others are not.
This week, the Treasury announced that the federal government’s debt had topped $40 trillion for the first time.
Government debt is nothing new, but the problem is now of more concern, for two reasons. First, the scale has grown. An apples-to-apples way to look at the government’s debt load is to compare it to GDP—the economy’s total annual output. On this basis, outstanding debt now exceeds 100% of GDP,

NOT TOO LONG ago, Treasury Inflation Protected Security (TIPS) was a relatively obscure investment for safe long-term fixed-income investments. For the first twenty years of the new century, consumer prices were mostly stable or rising at a too-slow-to-notice rate. Why bother with anything related to inflation?
Sadly, persistently low inflation made us complacent on the biggest long-term risk of bond investments — the insidious unexpected inflation that robs us of the purchasing power of our “safe” investments.

My wife Suzie and I have been travelling around the Iberian peninsula for three weeks now, moving between hotels as we go. Last night, over a brandy nightcap, she asked whether the one in my hand was cheaper or pricier than the ones we’d had at our previous two stops. I had no idea. Worse, I couldn’t even tell her what this one cost.
That’s not like me. I’m normally frugal to a fault, so not knowing the price of a drink I’m actively holding is close to a personality violation.

We all get notified on near regular basis on the compromised data but these numbers are staggering. Clark has some common sense advice on how best to play defense.
https://clark.com/credit/data-breach-credit-freeze/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=ClarkDailyNewsletter&_bhlid=909bb4deb2191a6a5b918be72d6953a9308bf113
I would add freezing your SSN via the e-verify site (so your SSN can’t be misused), and I think this is especially true for those of us who are retired.

In 2002 the Social Security Trustees explicitly called on Congress in their report summary to act sooner rather than later fixing SS funding
They emphasized that taking early legislative action would allow changes to be phased in gradually and give workers time to adjust. They issued the same warning in every report since.
For twenty four years Congress and each administration has ignored those warnings.
Those trustees reports were signed by the Secretary of the Treasury,

The US Treasury Department announced that the debt has increased to 40 Trillion dollars. In the articles explaining the debt, I keep reading about how Social Security payments are adding to the debt. Can someone please explain to me how that is? My understanding is the payments are made from collections of  Social Security taxes from current employees and employers, as well as taking money from the Social Security trust fund. So please explain how a self funded program adds to the deficit.

The national debt just hit $40 trillion and rising. Seems like possible dire consequences for the markets perhaps the economy as more borrowing may raise interest rates.
’What is the general consensus on the risks we may be facing. Time to go into bonds?

When my 76-year-old mother-in-law was told she needed a dual-chamber pacemaker, our family’s attention shifted to one thing: getting her safely through the surgery. Joey was especially anxious. Living thousands of miles away, he struggled with not being there for his mother. Thankfully, the surgery went well.
As relief replaced worry, I found myself thinking about something entirely different. Her surgery took place in the Philippines, and her family’s share of the cost, after government health insurance paid its portion,

If you are expecting a 2025 tax refund that has not yet arrived and/or you have received a IRS CP53E notice then the Taxpayer Advocate Service has the following guidance –
There has been a lot of information in the news about how the IRS is moving away from paper checks. While direct deposit is a safe and secure way to get your tax refund, there are scammers out there looking to capitalize on any confusion about updating your bank account information.

This post is an extension of Rick’s and Richard’s recent posts regarding taxes in retirement. 
A recurring issue I dealt with as a tax preparer was calculating a (unpleasant) surprise the first year that someone retired. While working, the employee typically gets a paycheck with adequate tax withholding. When he leaves the job behind for the greener pastures of retired life, things can get a little more complicated. Now, instead of a single W2 to deal with,

A recent post about the taxation of Social Security (SS) benefits provided an example of the complexity of the way that SS benefits are taxed, and how they interact with other sources of income. I’ve read innumerable articles on this complexity, and experienced it first hand while preparing hundreds of tax returns for AARP TaxAide. Clients were frequently surprised and confused by this.
The referenced post’s example posits a couple, 65+, MFJ tax status, with $50,000 in combined SS benefits.

Per the TreasuryDirect website –
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/idme-one-month/
ID.me will replace your TreasuryDirect traditional login and will be required after October 28, 2026.
As was noted today on the Boglehead’s Forum if you have holdings directly with the US Treasury and decide to and are able to sell all such holdings before the login change over you would still need to be able to login in 2027 to get your 2026 tax documents like 1099-Int., etc.

I will be starting to receive my SS benefit when I turn 70 this October.  I understand that my first check will be issued in November. Since I began Medicare when I retired several years ago I have been paying my quarterly-billed Part B premium through the Medicare.gov website.  I anticipate my next invoice (for Oct.- Dec. of this year) will be mailed to me in the next couple of weeks, with a due date of Sept.

WALMART SELLS FOOD. They sell car tires. Board games too. You can stop at any Walmart in the world and buy the same plethora of consumer goods. One roof, dozens of product areas, thousands of individual items.
This “cross-vertical” strategy has many perks to consumers like us. But it’s not without flaws. From brand dilution to in-store clutter, down to a lack of item expertise when you ask questions of employees – there are issues with “selling everything to everyone.”

BY NOW, YOU’VE probably heard the story of the 25-year-old wunderkind Leopold Aschenbrenner. After graduating as valedictorian from Columbia University at age 19, he worked for FTX, the crypto trading firm, then found his way to OpenAI, where he worked as a researcher for about a year, until mid-2024.
In the months after he left OpenAI, Aschenbrenner wrote a 165-page paper titled “Situational Awareness,” in which he detailed his views on the future of artificial intelligence.