Earlier this week, I asked readers, “If you could go anywhere in the world on your next trip, where would it be? If you could savor any experience, what would it be?”
I didn’t offer my own response—because I didn’t have one. At this point, I don’t have a strong urge to go to some exotic locale or try some new experience. On the other hand, there are places and experiences from my past that call to me.

I searched and searched the forum for a post about what HD readers are doing in response to the effect of the uncertainty of tariffs on the stock market but I found nothing.  It’s as if the markets did nothing today.  So, please tell me what you are doing regarding your investments in the face of this unprecedented economic assault on the world economy by someone who just discovered the quaint notion of “groceries”.

I’ve had April 1 on my calendar since last July. Today is the day I can apply for a July 1 retirement date from my university. It also happens to be the date I can apply for Medicare because of my 65th birthday on Aug. 1.
I knew how to sign up for Medicare and what to do because we just did so for my husband, who turns 65 in May. Last week, I reviewed the materials from the retirement webinars I attended at the university so that I’d be 

I have been pondering over this post for several days. I fear it will be misinterpreted, but here goes.
I don’t feel comfortable being wealthy. Like it or not, justified or not, planned or not I meet the typical definition of wealthy. These days that seems a dirty word – even though I’m not near the eight figure mark let alone ten.
I just finished our income taxes and it actually feels like we did pay our fair share.

Suppose money were no object. If you could go anywhere in the world on your next trip, where would it be? If you could savor any experience, what would it be?

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.