RETIREES ENDLESSLY debate how best to draw down their retirement savings, and yet it all comes down to two simple rules: Don’t spend too much each year, and don’t sell stocks during down markets.
How do we put these two rules into action? Retirees can pick from a host of withdrawal strategies, including the five popular choices listed below. You’d likely fare just fine with any of the five strategies—but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick carefully.

I had read recently in the WSJ about an upcoming change in how brokerage cash is managed by Fidelity.
Once this change is effective, the cash balances held in your core transaction account option will be redeemed, and the proceeds of that redemption will be reinvested in FCASH. Any interest paid in your core transaction account on or after this change is effective will be paid in cash and reinvested in FCASH. Further, any other cash in your account will also be invested in FCASH.

I am sure that we have all been following the current tragedy going on in Los Angeles with the large fires burning there.  One of my friends in the insurance industry told me that he had heard from someone in the reinsurance business that the total insured losses from these fires will be more than Twenty Billion Dollars.  
So, I have been thinking about how a catastrophe of this magnitude could be financed.  In insurance,

Regular HD readers know how old I am, but just for fun how about a trip down memory lane to a very different time. 

When I was a child an ice cream cone was a dime, a slice of pizza was $0.15. There were no malls. Where there are malls today, there were dairy and cattle farms.
When I was really young our milk was delivered by horse and wagon kept cool by blocks of ice. 

STOCKS, BONDS, CASH—and a house owned free and clear. For many, that’s the recipe for a financially successful retirement. Our homes represent a central pillar of middle-class status. With a paid-off mortgage, we have an affordable place to spend our old age.
Yet signing up for decades of house payments has become controversial for its high opportunity cost—what you give up to pay the mortgage. Has a home mortgage, with its long, slow road to payoff,

Given the quality of the articles and the comments on Humble Dollar, I get the sense that people here are (A) much more financially literate than the average person, and (B) consequently, probably more financially secure. Yes – I’m painting with a broad brush regarding those assumptions, but I’ll bet they apply to the vast majority of regular content contributors /consumers on this site.
Given that, and given that I try to keep things simple, my question is this: Which are you more likely to run out of first: Money or time?

MY SON IS A FRESHMAN in high school, and I’m beginning to be more purposeful about his baseball aspirations. But after dropping $85 on a one-hour pitching lesson, I was wondering, was my money well spent?
My search for an answer began with the Netflix series Receiver. I tuned in to see football player George Kittle, a former University of Iowa Hawkeye and bigtime professional wrestling fan. Kittle was kind enough to send autographed memorabilia for a softball fundraiser we had a few years ago.

THERE ARE TWO TYPES of mistake I make: those that are unintentional and those where I should have known what would happen.
After an unintentional mistake, I’m perplexed by what went wrong. I might say to myself “I’ll never do that again” or perhaps “what the heck just happened?” These are genuine mistakes, and I try to learn from them.
By contrast, stupid mistakes are those that I should have known would occur. No matter how many college degrees we have or how many years on the job,

The three phases of retirement are often classified as “go-go”, “slow-go” and “no-go”. 
In the earliest phase (the ‘go-go’ years), it’s assumed many retirees will choose to focus on those activities that require good health and stamina. Often mentioned is the idea that most of the travelling a retiree desires to do should be done during these earliest years. 
As someone who retired at 55, I stand a good chance of spending more time in the ‘go-go’ years than most.

Adam Grossman’s last article, “Self Defense” really got me thinking. How would I deal with spending in retirement if my income was like most folks – investments and Social Security. I know the answer – not well.
In our house, the last workday of the month is still referred to as “payday,” the day my pension arrives at our bank. There are no withdrawal decisions, no looking at investments and thinking about the next month’s withdrawal. 

We sat down this afternoon and did an end of the year sort of recap of this year and started working on our end of year net worth. I wasn’t sure how things would go, but so far my estimates of how much we would spend were pretty close to actual spending. I was especially happy that the balances in our regular bank stayed pretty constant from last year to this. And all our investments grew.

Having never posted on HumbleDollar, you might say I’m a member of the 24,000 HumbleDollar “silent majority.” When I first began receiving the newsletter- by luck or accident- I would skip around in it to see if it was worthwhile or worthy of hitting “unsubscribe.” With ensuing newsletters,  I began reading more comprehensively and even seeking out older posts and articles, many not strictly pertaining to finance, my original interest when subscribing.

ONE SPRING DAY IN 2022, an elderly woman entered Paris’s Picasso Museum to see a new exhibit. Among the items on display was a decorative blue jacket, which was positioned on a wall next to a portrait of Picasso.
The woman liked the look of the jacket, so she took it down from its hook, put it in her bag and quietly walked out the front door. Only later did the museum discover the theft,

I appreciated the HD community’s responses to my November 2024 post regarding the decision to use either Roth or HSA (health savings account) funds to bridge some of my income needs until I receive SS benefits at age 70.  You swayed me first to use my HSA funds. I have several years of medical receipts exceeding the low five-digit account balance, so they will carry me through most of the “bridge” period.
With that decision, I realized that I could also use my HSA funds to leverage a federal Savers tax credit on my 2026 tax return.

Old age has its many downsides, but there are a few perks when you hit the “Golden Oldies” era.
The first time I remember one applying to me was years ago when I stopped by Taco Bell to pick up a quick lunch. The counter guy asked if I wanted a drink and when I declined, with a wink and a smile he said, “They’re free for seniors.” I was about 55 at the time, so I went home with a burrito and a bruised ego.