I’m a first time poster and long time reader (including WSJ Getting Going) and saw an article today with behavioral finance observations.  It may be of interest to some.
The names of equity-income funds imply that they are aimed at investors who desire to withdraw their higher dividends as cash flow for spending. On the other hand, equity funds are aimed at investors who seek to reinvest their lower dividends for capital appreciation. However, more than 74% of equity-income investors reinvest their dividends—a reinvestment rate similar to that of investors in equity funds.

Over the several years I have been writing and commenting on HD it has been made clear that the HD community includes many sophisticated investors and planners. People who use budgets, track expenses, do their best to investigate and then make financial decisions based on information they develop. They use various type of software programs and, of course, their own spreadsheets. They analyze risk and investment expenses. They like details. They think about the future. And,

Suzie and I have a strange little anomaly in our mainly index tracker portfolios. This came to mind when I got a reminder to vote in the AGM of one of them. Our little anomaly is owning real shares in two separate businesses. We can’t seem to let go of them although I always think of breaking up. One is in the UK banking sector and the other is an asset management business. The banking shares have posted an impressive 53% capital gain on a rolling year basis with a 2.3% dividend and the investment company has had a more average 6% gain but an excellent near 8% dividend yield.

If you thought my posts on family estrangement and supporting adult children were doozies, wait until you dig into this one.
My musings on all three of these topics are specifically related to how complicated the interaction between family dynamics (especially if it’s a “difficult” family) and our finances can be. This one focuses on how caring for parents as they age can raise challenging questions.
Like many of you, I’m at the stage of life where I view these questions both as a daughter and as a parent.

Two  roads diverged in a wood,
and I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
–Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken, 1915
I have volunteered to teach a module on stock fund investing for students taking a new elective course at a small private high school in Sacramento. Here is a fleshed out outline of what I’m thinking about presenting. I want to educate “my kids” about the factors that ushered in the advent of the index fund and ETF and how to distinguish between the virtues and vices of their investment options.

I’ve been in a bit of a financial funk these last three months, and I’ve finally managed to overcome my heart and listen to my head. I’m really surprised how difficult I’ve found it, especially with my business and financial background. I mean, truly difficult.
It all started when I was setting up a 10-year fixed-term annuity before retirement. I had initially decided on a purchase amount and, to fund it, liquidated some of my developed world index tracker.

A few weeks ago I wrote about relocating upon retirement and concluded it isn’t for us. 
This summer we are getting to test that conclusion. We are spending the entire summer at our place on Cape Cod, which means several months away from our routines, church, friends, golfing buddies and mostly family. I suppose if we moved here we would become accustomed to many things, but not being six hours away from family, let alone a three hour plane ride,

I have heard and seen many commercials for YRefy.
Is anyone familiar with the company or invested in it?
Our investments are all in stock index funds but we do have extra monies that I’d be willing to invest in something with a higher return than it money market accounts

We often read those poignant articles about never truly knowing when we’re experiencing something for the very last time—that final hug, or the last time we carry our child. A bit sad, I tend to skip them. But I’ve been thinking from the opposite viewpoint: those “OMG, thank goodness I don’t have to do that again!” moments.
As a recent retiree, I can easily recall a few such glorious moments. Early starts, for instance, never bothered me much at the time,

We’ve all been told that index funds are the smart investor’s secret weapon. Low fees. Broad diversification. Market-matching returns. What’s not to love? But here’s the thing: not every fund labeled as an index fund behaves like one.
In fact, sometimes an “index fund” is not truly an index fund at all. Let’s unpack what that means—and why it matters for your money.
The Original Promise of Index Funds
When Jack Bogle launched the first index fund for ordinary investors in 1976,

Looking for a Retirment Planning tool that supports modeling of different income sources, forecasts Medical Expenses and LTC costs, Expected Returns in Monte Carlo. I’ve read reviews about a few – Maxifi, Boldin, Wealthtrace.  Has anyone tried those tools or know of others?

Almost half of working-age adults are not paying into a private or workplace pension, the government revealed this week. This headline caught my attention while browsing the BBC News website the other day, and it really made me think!
This is an awful lot of people imperiling their future lives, and with the UK’s pension auto-enrollment system, now in its tenth year of operation, seeming to be pretty successful, it would suggest people are actively going out of their way to opt out of the system.

After just being hit with an almost 30% premium increase from Mutual of Omaha (MOO), I’m shopping around for a new Medicare Supplement carrier.
I actually like MOO for their generally good customer service, user friendly website, and fast claims processing. Twice in past years, I’ve been able to stay with MOO but avoid a price hike by switching to one of their sister companies, which I wrote about here.
It seems that option is no longer available,

STOCK MARKET Investing requires a near superhuman ability to withstand pain. That’s the conclusion of a recent report by investment researcher Michael Mauboussin.
Mauboussin surveyed all stocks trading on U.S. exchanges over a 40-year period, between 1985 and 2024. He found that the median stock experienced a decline of 85% at one point or another. Worse yet, more than half of these stocks never fully recouped their losses. The median stock recovered to just 90% of its prior high-water mark.

The best financial advice I know is “live on less than you earn and save the difference.” But what if there’s no daylight between what you earn and what you spend?
Many of us confront this problem because of four scary expenses: housing, healthcare, student loans and child care. Take housing alone. By my calculations, it would take a six-figure income to buy a $435,300 home, which is the median cost of a U.S. home today according to the National Association of Realtors.* The median U.S.