My past writing on HD and numerous comments have made it clear my retirement is unique in that I have a good pension that together with our combined Social Security exceeds my working base salary the day before I retired. It also has been noted that my pension has given us a financial advantage by not being solely dependent on investments income. It’s all true.
But I have noticed that many people on HD are from couples with working spouses,

It would be nice to hear more from HD readers who have been there and done that. And to answer the question, “Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently?”

Glancing at the clock on the sunroom wall, I noticed it was 10:23, and the postman had just dropped a parcel at the door. I thought about going to investigate this mystery delivery but decided the second coffee was much more appealing. Anyway, my seat was comfy, the sun was kissing my skin and I didn’t have anything pressing to do until playing tennis at one o’clock this afternoon. Plenty of time to make a light breakfast,

Are you definitely sure I can’t tempt you?” my friend asked for the last time as we finished our phone conversation. Once again, I replied in the negative before a few pleasant closing words and then hanging up.
Thinking back on our chat, I realized this was the fourth invitation to various activities I’ve turned down in the last few months. The invitations ranged from an opportunity to provide tax reporting services for an old friend at a decent billable rate to this most recent inquiry today to play doubles together in a badminton league come September.

Although I have been retired over 15 years, I still receive employee benefit questions from a few employees and retirees of my old company. Sadly, many of those questions reflect the person not paying attention to their own situation, not planning, and thus putting themselves and family at risk.
Here is an example of a message I received recently.
“I retired in 2011 after around 35 years in Operations and Maintenance. I still stand confused on two things,

-During a dinner a year or so ago with some of my recently-retired but still working friends, talk turned to what toys the fellas were buying with their “bonus” income. Most of the guys had big-ticket items to report: expensive new trucks, recreational vehicles, motorcycles…things like that. I didn’t have a lot to add to that conversation, but when I was pointedly asked what I’d bought for fun, the most extravagant item I could come up with was a new Trek bicycle that cost me a little under a thousand dollars—far more than I’d ever paid for a bike previously.

Jonathan Clements, through his decades of work and his recent “Getting Going on Savings Initiative,” has inspired countless people—including me—to think about how to empower the next generation. The initiative’s core mission is to give young adults a tangible head start by funding their Roth IRAs, a concept that perfectly aligns with the most important lesson I’ve ever learned about money: time is a young adult’s greatest asset.
For many years I’ve been that person who talks to younger people about saving for retirement and investing for their future.

AGING IN PLACE (So we thought)
Our journey started in the late 1980s with our first remodel. It was our second marriage, and rather than asking our teenage children to share a bedroom when it was “my weekend”, we created two bedrooms and a full bath on the lower level of our split-level. It was a suite with adjoining bedrooms and a private bath. That brought our bedroom count to six, making room for everyone.

I was reading an article focusing on the caregiving burden on adult children. 
 Shocking statistics: 63 million Americans — nearly 1 in 4 adults — now provide care to an adult with health or functional needs, or to a child with a serious medical condition or disability — a record high. 
 Nearly half of caregivers are struggling with finances.  More than 20% have taken on more debt, about a third have used up short-term savings, 30% have stopped saving,

I am 65. I plan to execute ROTH conversions over the next 10 years before I hit  RMDs. Obviously, handling the taxes at the conversion is front and center, pay with cash on hand or take out from the conversion. I understand there is an option to ROTH convert into Fixed Annuities, where the bonus (15-18%) may cover the entire tax burden. The one I have looked at is a 5-year contract, then you can take the money and put it back into the market.

Something in the news recently caught my notice and has me wondering. I want to emphasize that I’m not trying to be political, and I would be disappointed if any comments were. As you may know, I’m not even from your country; I’m Irish and live in the UK. So the nuance is beyond me. All that aside, do you think the recent dismissal of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics should cause me any concern about the future accuracy of US economic data sources?

IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, before the invention of the printing press, the most common way to retain information was to build what’s known as a memory palace. The idea was to link words to images, because images are easier to remember.
I’ve found that this strategy works well in personal finance, and earlier this year I described some of the images that I rely on most. Below are several more.
1. Back in 2011,

Nearing the end of our recent catch-up with our financial adviser, the general discussion turned to how we ended up where we are now.  At 59 and 51 respectively, my wife Cindy and I are in a fortunate financial position. We never set out with aims of early retirement, or a target number that we wanted to reach. And despite that, we ended up in good shape.
It got me thinking about what we did right,

I’m three months retired today, my goodness the time has flown by!
When I managed my own business I always collated business figures into a quarterly report for better performance monitoring and to help give me a feel for how things were going. I guess the urge to do so is still ingrained within me, and I thought I’d do a similar but more holistic exercise with a first quarter retirement report for the quarter ending 07/31/25.

A July 31, 2025, article in The New York Times triggered this post. The headline reads: Saving for College Once Felt Essential. Some Parents Are Rethinking Their Plans.
The article is primarily about 529 plans, but also about saving or attending college at all. One comment caught my eye as it questioned the value of college because it didn’t guarantee a good job. I wasn’t aware college ever guaranteed a job or anything else for that matter.