Happy Thanksgiving from Kill Devil Hills, NC.  This is our family’s annual Thanksgiving vacation at the beach. It started on a whim in 1995. We rented a 7 bedroom house. Twenty-nine years later we are 46 strong, and rent a 27-bedroom house.  It’s a testament to my in-laws who founded a strong, loving family, who somehow manage to enjoy each other’s company. The family is also a shining example of the tenets espoused on HD –

IT’S THAT TIME OF year when people think about giving. For my wife, this is what she lives for. She loves buying presents. She’s a very giving person and puts a great deal of thought into the gifts she buys.
She’ll buy gifts all year round, even when the event—such as Christmas—is months away. Problem is, she frequently forgets where she’s stored the presents she’s bought. They’ll eventually be found, but in many cases long past the date when she wanted to give them.

Based on a Kiplinger e-mail I just received, this year’s Thanksgiving meal, including turkey and all the trimmings, will, on average, cost $58.08, or about $5.80 per person.
A 16-pound turkey now averages $25.67, or $1.60 per pound, 6% less than last year. 
Yesterday I paid $3.49 a pound for a 18 lb fresh turkey. I can’t be average with money matters even on a holiday. 🦃

“YOU WILL ROTH!”
“But Dad, I’m only 10.”
“Evan, it is never too early to start saving. Besides, this gives you 70-plus years of compounding.”
“Yes, Dad, but didn’t you tell me last week that I need a job and earned income to contribute to a Roth?”
“We can arrange to get you a paycheck. I’ll get a friend or neighbor to hire you. What would you like to do?”
“I like to play soccer.”
“Evan,

I recently read – again – that 401k plans are a scam. You can’t save enough, you can lose money, etc.
Consider these words of wisdom. “It is a scam. When I worked in corporate America I contributed the max amount each year. At the time it was $19k per year. It took 5+ years to hit $100k. When I stopped contributing it barely grew.”
We don’t know the years involved, but nevertheless it’s nonsense. Investing the $19,000 a year even in a GIC would get you over $100,000 in less than five years. 

Generally it’s reported that the more an investor makes changes to their portfolio the worse their returns are. I am guilty of this as I make several changes per year.
Morningstar’s most recent Mind the Gap report for 2024 reports the following:
We estimate that the average dollar invested in US mutual funds and exchange-traded funds earned 6.3% per year over the 10 years ended Dec. 31, 2023. That is approximately 1.1% per year less than the average fund’s total return (of 7.4%) over the same period assuming an initial lump-sum purchase.

I FEEL GRATITUDE for the life I’ve had. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few regrets: Friendships that turned sour or simply faded away. People who died before I got to see them one last time. Professional endeavors where I felt I could have done better. Purchases I made that didn’t live up to my expectations.
But my list of regrets has three glaring omissions.
First, it doesn’t include any of the investments I’ve made.

The Medicare Annual Enrollment period runs from October 15th to December 7th. I initially believed this was the only time I could switch my Plan G Medigap supplement. However, these dates specifically apply to those changing Part D or Medicare Advantage plans.
In contrast, Medigap plans can be changed at any time during the year, although underwriting may be required. I turned 65 in June and enrolled in Medicare Plan G, already changing plans once during my initial 6-month sign-up period.

What creates a family tradition? Why is a certain vacation spot more special than another with the same basic attributes? Why must the family Christmas celebration repeat the annual ritual to seem authentic? Chances are, these events evoke memories of happy times, perhaps shared with loved ones who are long-gone. Traditions often become fixed in our minds as children, when we’re still learning how things ought to be done.
We’re entering the season of traditions. In the physical therapy clinic during this time,

November is my birthday month. A good time for reflection. With advancing age, we can all give more thought to how we can improve the quality of our lives—enjoy our days and gain peace of mind. When we don’t have as much life left, we want to maximize the time we have.
One of my pet peeves has always been dealing appropriately with rude and disrespectful people. With maturity, we are motivated to avoid jerks and futile conflicts.

BENJAMIN GRAHAM, the father of investment analysis, made this observation: “The investor’s chief problem—even his worst enemy—is likely to be himself.”
Why? One reason is our intuition can sometimes lead us astray. Things that seem like they make sense, and seem like they ought to be true, often turn out not to be supported by the data.
Perhaps the best-known example is the divergence between growth and value stocks. Intuition suggests that growth stocks—companies like Apple and Amazon—would deliver better performance than their more pedestrian peers on the value side of the market.

If this happens what are your thoughts? Will it change any financial strategy, such as a ROTH conversion? … Maybe something else?

American credit card debt just broke the trillion dollar level.  Taking on  debt, “ bad” debt, credit cards , auto loans and similar, is a like attending a raucous party ,  taking in too much alcohol , etc.
The aftermath , paying off high interest loans, is like the worst hangover, ever. It can take decades to recover from it.
Often,  too much alcohol can kill you, quickly or long term, * alas , debt can kill you,

Be careful what you ask for or at least understand it.
The words “living wage” keep popping up in my reading, even on HD, but mostly on social media when complaining about pay. It’s also a good trigger phrase in politics.
Everyone should earn a living wage we may be told. Of course, typically without understanding what that means, how it could be achieved or the possible consequences. 
After I wrote the following, I read and re-read it and concluded I was going in circles.

I was going through some files this morning and happened upon a printout of my portfolio on 4/1/99, probably because this was the first time it totaled 100k.
This is what I held:
These were the Vanguard funds:
20% Healthcare (I was a physical therapist, buy what you know)
22% Growth and Income
19% Growth Index
20% Total Bond
6% Small Cap Index
5% Pacific Stock (I believe the Japan market was hot)
8% Janus Worldwide (it was the hot Janus fund)