At age 74, I like to think our retirement is pretty much set in stone. Most of the big health and financial decisions—Medicare, Social Security, Roth conversions—have already been made. But there’s one concern I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: how will Rachel and I get the help we need if we can no longer take care of ourselves?
Our family is spread out across the country, and we have no plans to move closer to them.

I know nothing about buying gold or in any way holding it in a portfolio. TV is full of ads to buy gold coins. If you buy them, how do you sell them and to who?
Anyone have any words of wisdom about buying gold in any form?
Is gold a viable investment for most people?

In tracking how your investments are doing, there are several ways to measure performance, but they don’t all tell the same story:

Simple Average Return
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate)
TWR (Time-Weighted Return)
IRR (Internal Rate of Return / Dollar-Weighted Return)

Each method offers something different depending on the context, lump sum vs. ongoing contributions, investor vs. fund manager perspective, etc.
1. Which return metric do you personally rely on most and why (IRR, CAGR, etc.)?

As a calming influence, here’s the latest about moving averages. The S&P 500 closed May with a monthly gain of 6.2%, the largest since November 2023.   However, Morningstar published an article today “Has the Stock Market Reached Peak Optimism on Tariffs? – Strategists say equities have already priced in the good news on tariffs as the trade war grinds on.” I’ll periodically post if I become aware of changes of merit. [Currently posting an update via comments at the end of the month].

My first encounter with Jonathan was at an annual client appreciation event in Hershey, PA hosted by my in-laws’ financial advisor, Tim Decker. My wife Lisa and I attended as guests of her parents. The snacks served were nothing special, but the evening was still very worthwhile. Tim gave an “state of the union” update for his many clients in attendance and then turned the microphone over to Jonathan for the keynote presentation.
I can’t recall any details from Jonathan’s talk that night a decade ago but I remember finding it quite interesting.

When you were in your 20s and 30s, what did you dream of doing—and why weren’t those dreams realized? Here are four of the daydreams I had, but which remained just that:
Buy a sports car and drive across the country. This one got nixed by a host of factors—not enough vacation time, lack of money, the arrival of my first child at age 25. But truth be told, what seemed like a fun adventure slowly lost its allure,

I’ve been investing since the early 1980s. I have a business degree and took investing classes. A close friend of my parents wrote the first investing book I read at age 10, called Stock Market ABC by Joanne K. Friedlander and Jean Neal, published in 1969 and given to me on my 10th birthday in April of that year. This started my interest in investing. I also have a background in technology, going back to 1982.

BITCOIN HIT A NEW high last week, topping $112,000. Over the past 12 months, it’s climbed an impressive 55%.
What’s driving this gain, and what should you make of it? I believe there are three key factors. Two are new. One is not.
The first factor was a policy change last year. The federal government approved the launch of new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that offer easier and more direct access to bitcoin. Following this rule change,

I always thought the glowing stories of FIRE folks were a bit dodgy. Much of the time they aren’t even retired in the traditional sense. Sometimes they go too far sharing their acquired wisdom for cash.
I followed one blogger for several years. She shared her frugal ways, extreme in my view like buying her two-year olds shoes in a second hand thrift shop. She wrote a book, gained a lot of publicity, was featured in news articles and gave advice. 

I recently posted on the forum (thank you for the responses) about getting out of the market, but that wasn’t the full story….
We’ve been invested 100% in stocks for a number of years and have reaped the rewards, however, general anxiety and market fluctuations don’t mix. I hated giving up the gains by migrating to a 60/40 (I am a victim to recency bias) and after reading Gary Antonacci’s Dual Momentum, I thought I had found the solution to my quandary.

Towards the bottom of Mr. Quinn’s lengthy thread on spreadsheets and budgets I mentioned that I expect to spend a bit under 1% of my portfolio this year. Dick said that he would feel nervous in that situation. I am not currently feeling nervous, but since that percentage will increase over time, maybe I should be. I thought I would ask my fellow contributors what they thought.
Some background: I agree with Dick in seeing my income as just Social Security,

I worked up quite an appetite at the gym late this morning. Luckily there is a great little diner just 2 doors down in the same strip. I’ve always enjoyed great food and friendly service at the Sunrise Skillet, but today was a little different, as service was a tad slow. Honestly I was preoccupied perusing my smart phone and barely aware of the time. Eventually my waitress, Britt, came to my booth, empty handed, telling me that she was paying for my lunch because she forgot to put in the order. 

MarketWatch posted that the Trump administration is rescinding Biden administration’s guidance that discouraged cryptocurrency investing by 401(k) plans.
The 2022 guidance directed plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” before adding cryptocurrency to investment menus. That caution has now been removed.
I’m thinking removing urging “extreme care” for 401k plans is not such a good idea. Is the 401k the place for such an investment?
 How many people actually understand cryptocurrency? Not me 
I can just see some employees (like the ones taking the financial literacy test) jumping on the bandwagon if they have the opportunity.

Want to help a young person get started on a lifetime of investing? Hear all about the Jonathan Clements Getting Going on Savings Initiative on this podcast hosted by Rick Ferri. My fellow guests on the podcast were Morningstar’s Christine Benz and The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Zweig. Please give a listen—and please consider donating. One way to donate: Buy copies of  The Best of Jonathan Clements, a collection of my Wall Street Journal columns.

AARP updated their 1040 free Tax Estimator for 2025 today. The calculator is before any changes in the H.R. 1 bill passed by the House recently.
One easy work around to see how the proposed law change may impact your 2025 taxes is plugging into the AARP calculator itemized deductions – interest the H.R. 1 additional $4K and $2K (if you are filing MFJ status) if you think the additional senior standard amounts will become law in 2025 plus your standard deduction for 2025.