I’m not cut out for individual share ownership. Through pure happenstance I’ve ended up holding shares in two separate companies, and the problem is I now feel obliged to make judgement calls. Should I keep them, sell them, how are they faring against their competitors? It’s all a bit of a hassle.
Compare that to my retirement portfolio, stuffed full of index funds representing thousands of individual businesses. I never give those a second thought. So why can’t I extend the same indifference to two measly company shares?

I check our investments daily, often more if the market is jumping around.  Why do I do that? There is no good reason. I don’t trade, I don’t even use the funds. 
If I am honest, I check the accounts only to keep proving to myself that I have been successful meeting my own financial goals. It’s just between me and me. 
Is there anything wrong with being proud of what you have accomplished when you started at the bottom with zero in hand?

I recently had my quarterly review with my financial advisor at a well-known national RIA with an office in my city. They prepare a thorough presentation with economic updates and detailed performance on all my holdings. While I follow my portfolio regularly, these meetings are valuable. They give my wife and me a chance to ask questions and stay aligned.
A little background: My accounts were previously managed by an advisor at a national brokerage firm in the city where I last worked full-time.

OVER THE PAST YEAR, a new term has entered the lexicon: “Sell America.” The idea is that investors are losing confidence in the U.S. economy due to persistent deficits and concerns about other policy choices. Owing to these fears, some investors are pulling money out of U.S. stocks and reallocating to international markets. Others are opting for gold and silver. The result: In 2025, for the first time in a long time, international stocks demonstrably outpaced domestic equities,

SOMETIMES WORLD events beyond your control create a hard reset point in your financial life. A before and after. For me, that point was the 2007 Great Financial Crisis (GFC). The psychological scars still reverberate into my current life.
 
Looking back, I was aware of something rumbling about in the financial landscape but didn’t take much notice due to being deeply involved in running my business. Little did I realize the impact heading my way.

Last February, just before I retired, I was wrestling with how to generate my retirement income. I flirted with the idea of moving 25% of my portfolio into a Vanguard UK equity income fund. I thought deeply about it—the fund historically yields above 4%, and combined with an annuity I was considering, it would have nicely solved my paycheck dilemma.
Eventually I decided against it, mainly because of the concentration risk. Betting that heavily on a single economy felt like too many eggs in one basket.

I don’t have the right stuff to be an engineer, as the math involved boggles my mind. But that didn’t stop my infatuation with spreadsheets in the nascent days of computer ownership. That was around 1990, roughly the same time-frame as the implementation of my employer’s 401k. 
Oh boy, enabled by my new love of Excel, my life was planned out via extrapolations of future earnings, savings rates, and stock market performance. My plan had me comfortably retired at age 55.

I spent 9 hours yesterday helping one of the three girls I’m buying a wedding dress for move into her very first house. It’s amazing how much stuff needs sorting during a move.
After the contract was signed and the keys were handed over, we drove to the house with our first load of stuff in a fleet of three cars. They were surprised that a letter had already reached the property from the mortgage lender—just a letter detailing the date and amount of the first payment.

Seems like a simple question until you think about it. “Means” as living within ones “means” may mean something different to different people😳.
To me, “means” means no debt other than a mortgage and maybe an auto loan (maybe). Certainly no credit card balance at the end if the month  
What makes up the “means?” I say it’s all earnings that are or could be subject to FICA taxes if there were no limit. That means,

I’ve listened to my friend Richard complain about being broke for years now. Every month, like clockwork, around the 20th, I hear the same thing: “Dude, I’m broke again. Don’t know what happened.”
I know exactly what happened. The same thing that happened last month, and the month before that.
Richard makes decent money, he’s a goldsmith for goodness sake. He shouldn’t be living on ramen for the final ten days of every month. He’s got a budget too,

I can’t help myself. I have to know.
For folks not retired and who use a budget — does your budget determine how much you can save or do you save first and then develop your budget and allowable spending funds available after saving?
No judgement, just curiosity.

So probably all of you with big wallets have discovered this years ago, but I just tripped over the NIIT for the very first time.  Like all good engineers with an interest in personal finance, I have spreadsheets of my spreadsheets.  I have been working the last few years to do some ‘bracket bumping’ with my Roth conversions and I thought this year I had it totally dialed in.  Like down to the dollar.  I put all of my numbers into freetaxusa.com and zipped right along…

Most personal finance advice is beautifully simple: save more.
Early in life, that advice is almost always right. But like most good rules, it has limits.
There comes a point in a saver’s life when retirement growth is driven far more by compounding than by new contributions. Past that point, continuing to save aggressively still increases your balance—but it may no longer be the best use of every additional dollar.
Recognizing when that shift has occurred can create flexibility without recklessly undermining your future.

Sharing an article from the NYT on 2025 Tax Changes.  A good overview, a few items have a bit more nuisance that the headline, e.g. “No Tax on Tips.”  Feels like the SALT changes will be the biggest opportunity for most filers.  I’m hopeful the charitable donations for those who don’t itemize ($1k single and $2k joint filers) will be helpful for the nonprofit world.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/business/2025-taxes-return-refund-income.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K1A.iHXT.kv9jMyWndiZh&smid=url-share
Happy Tax Filing!
 

Just a reminder, all those little charitable contributions that we make in 2026, outside of Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD), are deductible as an above the line tax deduction. The maximum deduction is $1000 single, $2000 married filing joint, and you need to save your receipts. 
Just to be clear, this isn’t for our 2025 tax returns. This is for tax year 2026.