In late November, I wrote an article that encouraged readers to stick with foreign stocks. I suspected the article would receive a mixed reaction. I wasn’t disappointed.
Meanwhile, there’s a move afoot to put out a compilation of my old Wall Street Journal columns, which will likely appear after my death. The book’s royalties will be used to fund what I hope will be a unique financial-literacy effort geared toward young adults from less-affluent families.

I want to ditch my great 401(k).
When BrightScope rankings of 401(k) plans were available to individual investors, mine ranked very highly. By most measures in this Morningstar article on whether to keep your 401(k) in retirement, mine merits keeping. Besides these factors, I have a few of my own reasons that I like it.
First, I like its stable value fund, which is managed to keep a $1 per share price (not guaranteed) but with a higher return than any money market I’ve seen.

In the 80’s when I started to learn about investing and mutual funds I would devour magazines and books on the subject. I even fell for some goofy newsletter that claimed to have market timing figured out. Now at age 72, with investments in index funds I’ve lost my passion for ways to get rich quick. I’m content with my investment mix, just doing the minimum to manage allocations.
I used to stay on top of changes to tax law each year and did my best to convey pertinent information to my friends and clients.

Health care, the cost of health care, is a hot topic. Many theories exist on what causes high health care costs. There is a great deal of misinformation  out there and people tend not to connect the dots as to cause and effect. 
The cost of health care is driven by use and the price of each service provided. Utilization is both justified and excessive. Some people demand more care, some doctors provide extra care as defensive or on occasion to generate revenue.

AFTER WATCHING MY wife bake a loaf of wheat bread, I thought I’d try making my mother’s cornbread. Luckily, I kept her recipe, along with those for some of her other delicious dishes.
My mother’s recipes can bring back cherished memories—like the time I visited my parents when they still had their dog. Brandy would always greet me when I walked in the front door. She’d jump up and down knowing I would give her a treat.

I have been checking the Bogle Center looking for the release of the 2024 conference videos. I have enjoyed and learned from the prior year conference videos. The 2024 conference videos are now available.
https://boglecenter.net/2024conference/

I have a write up that includes some math formulas.  Does this discussion forum support entering math formulas in these text boxes?  Simple stuff like a superscript for a square of a number.  My guess is it’s simple text only.
 
Alternatively, if it’s acceptable, I can provide a link to a public Google Doc that has my write up.  I’d rather not do that as it will cut down on the number of readers as they will be required to click a link.

WHEN I WAS 24 YEARS old, I took a weekend trip to Reno, Nevada. My hostess for the visit wanted to go to a casino. I had no interest in gambling. But not wanting to be impolite, I agreed to go with her.
I was making $16,000 a year back then. I decided I could afford to lose $20. I got two rolls of quarters and sat down at a slot machine. As I was getting close to losing the last of my coins,

WE RECEIVED A PHOTO Christmas card from a guy I used to work with. The picture was taken at his daughter’s wedding, with my old colleague standing next to his wife, son and daughter-in-law. Picture perfect.
The only problem: His story isn’t picture perfect. When he and I first met, we worked in the same division at an insurance company. Right before the division was closed down, I transferred to a different department. Eventually,

And by that, I mean shopping for 2025 health insurance.
For my 2024 coverage  (57-year-old male, zip code 64108) I’ve used HealthCare.gov to get coverage via Ambetter Standard Expanded Bronze for $803/month ($7,500.00 deductible/$9,400.00 max out of pocket/$50 copay).
For 2025 Ambetter actually reduced my premium to $731/month.
Since I’m quite healthy I wanted to get a plan with a lower premium and tried ehealthinsurance.com but the best they could offer was $827/month for an Ambetter Health Solutions Bronze HSA ($6,400 deductible/$8,050 max out of pocket/20% Coinsurance after deductible copay).

As someone who has never done a QCD, this article by CPA Mike Piper (www.OpenSocialSecurity.com, Bogleheads speaker, etc.) was very helpful. Anyone with experience on making QCDs, IRS inquiries about QCDs, etc., have any wisdom or personal experience to add to this?

THE GAP BETWEEN theory and practice will never be wider than in the world of networking. And you will not find a finer example of this hard reality than in the rollout of Wi-Fi 7, the latest version of wireless networking from the Wi-Fi Alliance and IEEE.
A quick web search today turns up no end of stories from bloggers and journalists who breathlessly repeat the same promises of Wi-Fi 7: higher bandwidth, lower latency,

ThinkAdvisor has a list of the 12 cheapest states for retirees to live a comfortable retirement. The estimated income needed ranges from about $63,000 to $58,000 a year. 
Their report defines “comfortable “as individual’s spending on housing, groceries, transportation and health care in each of the 50 states to determine the average retirement income necessary for a comfortable retirement lifestyle.
There is no single definition of comfortable retirement. Alabama is one of the states on the list.

MORGAN HOUSEL, author of The Psychology of Money, once made this observation: “Before the 1700s, the richest members of society had among the shortest lives—meaningfully below that of the overall population.”
It was counterintuitive, but Housel cited a hypothesis, developed by historian T.H. Hollingsworth, to make sense of it: “The best explanation is that the rich were the only ones who could afford all the quack medicines and sham doctors who peddled hope but increased your odds of being poisoned.”
Housel then added this thought: “I would bet good money the same happens today with investing advice.” Wealthy folks,

I’m starting to see sites offering passkeys. There’s a good explanation at this link of what passkeys are, how they work, and why they’re even better than passwords with two-factor authentication.
If you’ve begun using passkeys, what has been your experience?