Part 1
I sold my tax business 3 seasons ago, the year I turned 70, or as I often refer to it, the 30th anniversary of my 40th birthday. Besides the volunteer tax prep I do with AARP, I still prepare a dozen or so returns for friends and family. I don’t want to take money for my efforts, I will work for food. So far this season I have been compensated with burgers, steaks, chicken,

When I experience an issue with a food product, I don’t suffer in silence. While eating lunch at work in the late 1980s, I found what I thought to be a bug in my frozen turkey dinner. I mailed the specimen to the manufacturer, along with a cover letter that included a subtle attempt to mimic the comic style of the Lazlo Letters. I received some coupons and a boiler-plate apology, along what I thought was an unsatisfactory reply: “We sent your exhibit to our lab and they have informed us that it was a piece of fatty tissue with dark brown meat fibers adhering to the piece of fat.”
I showed the company’s letter to my co-workers and–goaded on a bit by them–I sent a response that stated in part: “Madam,

Many folks are unnerved by what’s happening in Washington, DC, and predictions of doom are widespread. Are you now in the forecasting game? Let’s find out how good you are. Six months from now—as of Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025—what’s your best guess for these eight:

Trailing 12-month inflation? Current reading is 2.8%.
Unemployment? Today’s reading is 4.1%.
Whether we’re widely considered to be in a recession? Typically, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth,

I was having breakfast recently in a small cafe when three people were seated at the next table. The server handed out menus and a woman asked her, “Between the pancakes, waffles and French toast, which is the best?”
I felt like saying, what a dumb question, but the quiet, reserved me said nothing. They are three different things and the “best” is highly dependent on personal taste. 
I was waiting for the customer to say,

You can learn a lot about history by studying it but to truly understand it, you had to have lived through it.   This holds true for the popularity of financial instruments as well.  This is a companion piece to Jonathan Clements’s recent post, “Seeking Uncertainty,” in reference to Savings Bonds.
Savings Bond mania was in full swing during World War II.  They were introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, before I was born. 

Note: This was a late comment to an earlier post that some may have missed. It’s still too early to post other lessons as there are more family gatherings to host.
Here is my take on being grateful: My mother in law is in the hospital now for the last time. When I was riding my stationary bike to relieve some stress the other day (That’s when my mind wanders and I do my best critical thinking/reflecting) I had an epiphany. 

Back in the 1960s I processed health insurance claims. Employees came to me with their receipts and I helped them put a claim together and then submit it for payment. 
One day an employee presented a receipt from a hardware store- for rat poison. I thought it was a mistake or a joke. I almost laughed. However, he was quite serious. Rat poison is a blood thinner and it was prescribed by his doctor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t eligible for reimbursement. 

OSCAR WILDE ONCE made this observation: “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” In other words, the only way to truly learn something is through experience.
When it comes to investing, this is easier said than done because learning through experience can be expensive. As Warren Buffett once quipped, “It is good to learn from your mistakes.

As I have written before in April of last year my wife and I decided to take in my 102 year old mother in law when her second husband, whom she married at 93, was sent to a nursing home. Amazingly that resulted in moving her out of their independent senior housing apartment.
Well she peacefully passed way yesterday morning at the age of just days past 103 1/4. As my wife’s cousin said in call yesterday,

WE WANT OUR STOCKS to behave like bonds, and our bonds to behave like cash investments. That leads to all kinds of portfolio contortions—some of them damaging to our investment results.
Remember, risk is the price we pay to earn higher returns. Many folks want those higher returns, but they’re anxious to avoid risk. Chalk it up to loss aversion: We get far more pain from losses than pleasure from gains.
Result? Think about stock-market strategies like purchasing equity-indexed annuities and writing covered call options.

For years I’ve used Vanguard’s “Portfolio Watch” feature, which provides portfolio analysis of assets held at Vanguard as well as those held at outside investment firms.
I’ve liked the Vanguard analyzer since, by agreeing to its aggregator feature via Yodlee (now owned by Investnet), it will update on a daily basis all your holdings’ values and analyze them as far as stock/bonds/cash; foreign/domestic; large cap/midcap/smallcap; growth/blend/value; etc. And it likewise analyzes your bond holdings as to credit quality,

I know the markets go up and down. I know anyone living from investments knows that as well. I know many people say they plan for it with various strategies.
However, we seem to be living in an environment like never before. Chaos and uncertainty is the norm on a daily basis here and around the world. The stock markets are reflecting it all.
I’ve seen my investments drop and it concerns me even though they are not providing living income.

There have been a number of articles and forum questions on best strategies for managing finances during retirement.

The choice, of course, depends on the individual situation. I came across this “three bucket” strategy that is intriguing.
First bucket is cash that meets near term needs ( one to two years of living expenses other than guaranteed income like social security.  This avoids withdrawal of investment funds during market downturns, particularly in early retirement years, which could cause “sequence of return risk”

I spent 30 years working for a US megacorp: however, I joined the company in the UK. I was on the UK payroll for about six years, and therefore a very small part of my pension is paid by the UK company (with COLA). I was astounded, when I applied for Social Security, to find that the US government was going to reduce my benefit by the amount of my UK pension.
How did that make sense?

When I was working, I saved the maximum to my 401(k) account. So, I always kept up with the plan’s savings limits. If you haven’t heard, there are higher savings limits for 401(k) plans in 2025, plus a new “super catch-up” category. And it’s still early enough in the year for salaried workers to take advantage of them.
Thanks to an inflation adjustment, the maximum regular contribution to a 401(k) plan has increased by $500 to $23,500 in 2025.