Charles Schwab SCHW -2.73%decrease; red down pointing triangle reported a 34% increase in quarterly profit after trading and net interest revenue climbed.

Net income rose to $2.46 billion, or $1.33 a share, from $1.84 billion, or 94 cents, in the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share were $1.39 excluding certain one-time items. On that basis, Schwab fell just short of analysts’ average estimates of $1.40 a share, according to FactSet.
Individual investors flooded into financial markets last year, buoyed by back-to-back years of strong returns and empowered by expanded access to new assets and product types.

I saw a post on Bogleheads regarding a question on grandchildren accounts.. I haven’t set up an account there to post so here is a method we used when children were very young.
We started and gifted to gift-to-minor accounts.  Coordinate with the parents first so you don’t complicate financial aid packages for continued education.  Once the children had taxable wages we gifted to Roth accounts in their names.
We stuck with a balanced 100% equity,

I came across this article on a website called My Life Site. The website posts articles related to aging but their focus is on Continuing Care Retirement Communities. I find the articles useful as I am starting to research communities near us for getting on waiting lists in the next few years.
We hired an elder law attorney four years ago as we were beginning to travel a lot and figured we should get our legal ducks in a row just in case there happened to be a problem with a flight.

We talk a lot about downsizing, upsizing, and “right-sizing.” But I think the more useful question is: How well will your home support you 10–15 years down the road—and what are you willing to pay for that flexibility?
I’m planning a retirement build and I’m intentionally designing for aging in place—wide doors and hallways, single-floor living, an easy/step-free entrance, and a walk-in shower with a minimal curb (plus the usual goal: fewer maintenance headaches).

Many of us have decades of practice saving, budgeting, and optimizing. But retirement requires a different skill: spending confidently—not impulsively, but without unnecessary guilt when the plan supports it.
I’m curious how others handle the mental side of spending after (or near) retirement:

What’s the hardest part about spending money now?
Do you use a “permission system” (annual splurge, travel fund, monthly allowance, separate bucket)? Piggybacks off Dick’s topic.
What purchase meaningfully improved your quality of life long-term?

(I brought up ADUs in the “Retirement and Investment Content” thread and got several comments – particularly asking that ADU be spelled out. I wrote something there, but figured it deserves it’s own topic.)
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are not new, but their role in housing and retirement planning has expanded significantly—particularly in high-growth regions. In Seattle, where I live, nearly 70% of new single-family permits now include an ADU. Washington State explicitly promotes ADUs as a response to the senior housing shortage,

Since May 2024 I’ve “spent” approximately $8,000 on a strange concept called “peace of mind”. I think it’s been an absolutely excellent 20 month trade and well worth the cost, but a lot of people would take issue with my thoughts.
My wife Suzie retired at the end of May 2024 and insisted we pay off our small mortgage balance of $70,000 before she pulled the trigger. I wasn’t fully onboard with the idea, preferring to keep the money compounding in our portfolios.

IRR (internal rate of return) was the common term for the percentage rate of return on an investment until the early 1990s, when CAGR (compound annual growth rate) gained popularity. Today, CAGR is typically used for simple annualized returns of regular cash flows, while IRR is reserved for more complex cases involving variable cash flows and irregular compounding periods. CAGR can be considered a simplified subset of IRR. IRR is typically backward-looking (based on present value),

I’d like to share my book review of Gautam Baid’s book, “The Joy of Compounding.” For those who prefer watching over reading, an enjoyable podcast is available here.
This book is a principles-based investing guide that focuses on psychology, behavior, and discipline rather than tactical market timing. Baid draws inspiration from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger and emphasizes the development of personal traits that reinforce discipline. He emphasizes the importance of history over forecasts and cultivating discipline in stock selection and portfolio management.

I’d like to claim that skill, but alas it’s not true. I’m closer to being a saver with patience, but I have little patience with detail. If I was a civil engineer like my son, you would not want to drive over one of my bridges.
I truly admire HD writers who can delve into the nitty gritty of investing and those who understand it all. I’m still wondering what happened to the American Stock Exchange. 

Back in the day when people actually got magazines in the mail, there was an axiom that said: “When Time magazine has a bull on the cover, it is time to sell; when it has a bear on the cover, it is time to buy.”   This was an easy-to-follow contrarian indicator. If the bull or the bear are so clear that the non-financial press picks up on it, the trend must be long in the tooth.

A recent article in Healthcare Business Today did an excellent job summarizing the current state of affairs in the independent primary care medical practice. I encourage everyone to read it.
Over the past year there have been posts asking if doctors are overpaid or if we are the college tuition bank for the doctor’s children. These are valid questions and I provided a lengthy reply sharing my thoughts regarding the college tuition bank post.
I have thought a lot about these previous posts as I continue to work two days a week dealing with the aggravation of electronic medical records,

I was reading an article about the US proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10%. As part of the piece, they interviewed a US woman in her thirties who had amassed over $6,500 in credit card debt paying for childcare AFTER she lost her job, apparently she decided to keep sending her kid to daycare so she could have some freedom. To me, this is an irrational financial choice.
Being a bit of a nerd on a wet Saturday afternoon with some spare time on my hands,

In November 2025 CalPERS, a $600 billion pension plan, announced it would adopt the Total Portfolio Approach.
The model rethinks portfolio construction. “Instead of starting with a fixed split, such as 60% stocks and 40% bonds, it begins by examining how different investments behave…..The goal is a portfolio that behaves more predictably when markets get rough.”
“The Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) is a holistic investment strategy that integrates all assets into a unified portfolio, focusing on overall performance rather than managing asset classes in isolation.”
To accomplish this,

I recently encouraged a couple to see a financial advisor because the couple could not agree on family finance issues and one spouse would not even discuss the matter. She (in this case, but not gender unique) just wanted to spend and ignore the matters of future retirement and college costs or how income from one spouse was generated for the family.
I thought an independent third party could evaluate their finances and then explain the situation and make recommendations to the couple in an unemotional way.