ONE OF THE MARKET’S worst-performing stocks over the past year was, not long ago, one of its best. Novo Nordisk is the Danish company that pioneered the hugely popular weight-loss drug Wegovy, also known as Ozempic. After it hit the market in 2021, the company’s stock rallied, tripling over the following three years. Since then, however, things have been far more challenging. Over the past 12 months, the stock has dropped 60%.
This highlights a key challenge for investors: On the one hand,

That question just popped into my head. The answer is part of a long journey that always included some form of saving albeit quite modest for many years.
When I was a kid, raising money for important stuff like miniature plastic soldiers, caps for my six guns, beans for the pea shooter and ice cream cones was a necessity. No allowance in my home. 
We acquired our wealth by selling Kool-Aid, collected empty soda bottles for the two cent deposit,

THE OBBBA WAS SIGNED on July 4, 2025. There are a lot of different changes in various areas, including student loans, Medicaid, SNAP, etc
My goal is to focus on reviewing the Title VII – Finance, specifically focusing on Subtitle A – Tax.
There are many changes and my goal is to focus on the most important provisions impacting individuals and small business owners.
Let’s get into it:
Section 70101. Extension of the tax rates.

Planning often costs nothing but time. Even then, the hours we devote to it can buy us buckets of happiness. Some plans may go no further. No matter. There’s no harm done. We’ve spent no money and taken no risk. 
A personal financial plan, on the other hand, can be costly–whether it’s implemented or not. For instance, if we don’t do what we know we ought, actions like making a Roth conversion or moving money out of a high-fee mutual fund,

I have a few hundred pounds of out-of-circulation notes. The Bank of England moved from paper to polymer notes a few years ago, and I had forgotten about some paper notes at the bottom of our safe. By the time I rediscovered them, they were no longer legal tender, and the period to exchange them at normal banks had ended.
Knowing I was flying to London, I decided to bring them with me and present myself at the Bank of England headquarters to exchange them for crisp,

So, Friday August 8th, the sale of our business settled. We had struck a 2 week delay, which was quite an annoyance, but ultimately didn’t prevent the sale and handover from going remarkably well. It’s wonderful to feel that we have given the new owners the very best chance of success. In the last few weeks customers and staff were spending more time talking with the new owners and less with us, exactly as we hoped!

If you own Treasuries, TIPS, or a well-diversified bond portfolio, you already know what safety looks like: steady income, predictable maturity dates, and the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
Stablecoins? They’re a different animal.
A stablecoin is a digital token pegged to the U.S. dollar and usually backed by assets like Treasury bills. It can be transferred instantly worldwide, which sounds great — until you remember there’s no FDIC insurance, no government guarantee,

While researching an article on the impact of the recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) I stumbled upon a very useful, free Social Security Taxability calculator. The calculator is a downloadable Excel spreadsheet. I found it while viewing a YouTube video presented by The Retirement Nerds. The video did a nice job of explaining some of the provisions of the tax bill, especially the new $6,000 bonus senior deduction. The presenter used the calculator to demonstrate the interaction between income,

I’m typing this early in the morning from my cousin’s lovely little courtyard garden in London. Everyone is still sleeping, and it’s a beautiful, sunny start to the day, perfect for contemplating and drinking coffee. The thought is playing through my mind: although my life is now different, I don’t feel “retired.”
My days are certainly different and definitely more enjoyable than when I was working, but I still have that sense of agency and direction that filled my time prior to retirement.

Warning: this post is more of a rant and a plea for sympathy than it is thoughtful or informative!
So as you know, I retired on July 1. Or did I? I retired from two university systems and was supposed to get one pension check from each starting August 1. On August 1, I got…nothing. And it was my birthday, too!
I already knew I wouldn’t be getting one of the checks that day; my retirement application had been in limbo for a while (not my fault) and is allegedly being processed.

When you sit down with an annuity salesperson, they’ll probably start with a question that cuts straight to your fears:
“What if you live to 100? Wouldn’t you rather have a guaranteed check every month?”
It sounds comforting — but the truth is, most annuity checks are just your own money coming back to you, with a little interest, minus their cut.
Let’s run some numbers.
Imagine you’re 65 years old with $500,000 in retirement savings.

We often hear that we are a consumer driven economy, with estimates that consumer spending provides as much as 70% of GDP. I read a recent article by Ben Carlson that indicated that, at least for this year, Big Tech’s capital expenditure spending on AI is approaching a similar level. The Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index (I had no idea this existed) is up about 39% over the past year, compared to about 19% for the S&P 500.

I’m turning into my mother more and more every day. Back when I was taking care of her, she’d hand me her credit card whenever we went shopping. She’d say, “I’m not qualified to carry this anymore.” She was afraid she’d lose it.
Now I catch myself doing the same thing. When Rachel and I go out, I sometimes give her my wallet to toss in her purse. I’m scared I’ll lose it. Since I’ve retired,

I just realized the only time I see my money is when I withdraw from an ATM. Ye gads, my wealth accumulated over 70 years is all in cyberspace.
I am at the mercy of computer systems and the folks who run them – and maybe someone in a tiny village in Mongolia. Everything hinges on a programing language which are all Greek to me. 
Even my last ATM attempt didn’t go well. There is only one branch of my bank on the Cape.

Since Trump’s return as POTUS everyone is inundated with the news about Trump’s tariffs on just about every country in the world. His reasoning is that other counties have always taken advantage of the USA, and it is time that the USA rights the imbalance of trade.  He has said that he has always believed in tariffs, harking back to before 1913 when income tax was implemented. Of course, any thinking person would know that these tariffs are paid by the importers,