If you read headlines saying Social Security isn’t going bankrupt or insolvent, they are right, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing to be concerned about.
Social Security is headed toward depleting the retirement benefit trust, but as long has there is incoming tax revenue, reduced benefits will be paid.
However, many retirees with feel the impact of an immediate 19-20% reduction in benefits. That will put some into poverty.
According to the latest projections from the Social Security Trustees Report,

Around two years before I retired, I found myself giving a piece of advice to one of my most financially responsible younger employees that felt, quite frankly, absurd: “You need to go out and get a credit card that you don’t want, to charge things to, just to prove you can pay for them.”
She was a great employee, diligent, organized, and disciplined with her money. She lived entirely within her means, used a debit card for everything,

I received an alert from Fidelity today showing new tax issues to consider when planning a Roth conversion.
Essentially, the 2025 tax act added new benefits such as the senior tax deduction and higher limits on SALT deduction. Both have income limits based on MAGI income and thus both could affect the short-term value of a Roth conversion. The car loan interest deduction may also be a factor.
Could there be a short-term loss with a conversion? 

My son-in-law (sil) bought his folks smart watches for Christmas, and linked them to his own smart watch. Monday evening the kids had just finished grocery shopping when my sil’s watch pinged, alerting him to a ‘hard fall’ from his dad’s (Bill) watch. He immediately phoned his mom (Sue), who went into the basement to check on Bill. Bill had suffered a stroke and had been unable to call up to Sue for help. The kids were literally minutes from the house.

A few weeks ago, I saw an embroidered dishtowel that said, “This too will pass. It may pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass.” I thought to myself, this is how I feel about this month. Normally a festive time, much of our attention was focused on getting my father transitioned from independent to assisted living on short notice and making some other associated changes.
Dad went into the hospital in November. We were already planning to come for a visit in February but decided to get ourselves to the U.S earlier.

Five hours earlier, I’d been drinking coffee in my sunroom, the heat of a log fire lightly toasting my legs as I looked out at the snowy garden and thought about finding a good book and settling in for the day. At the current moment, I was struggling against a 50mph blustery wind with a wind chill of 13 degrees, hailstones beating against my face while I carefully made my way across a frozen landscape toward a 2,790-foot waypoint.

Several times in the recent past I have extolled the HumbleDollar archives as a place to find some great information. I just came across a six year old Grossman article that is relevant today. Private Equity investments are finding their way into 401K and other investment vehicles that are accessible to common folk like you and me. Adam provides some great information about Private Equity, as well as some great questions to consider if considering such an investment. 

Charles Schwab SCHW -2.73%decrease; red down pointing triangle reported a 34% increase in quarterly profit after trading and net interest revenue climbed.

Net income rose to $2.46 billion, or $1.33 a share, from $1.84 billion, or 94 cents, in the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share were $1.39 excluding certain one-time items. On that basis, Schwab fell just short of analysts’ average estimates of $1.40 a share, according to FactSet.
Individual investors flooded into financial markets last year, buoyed by back-to-back years of strong returns and empowered by expanded access to new assets and product types.

I saw a post on Bogleheads regarding a question on grandchildren accounts.. I haven’t set up an account there to post so here is a method we used when children were very young.
We started and gifted to gift-to-minor accounts.  Coordinate with the parents first so you don’t complicate financial aid packages for continued education.  Once the children had taxable wages we gifted to Roth accounts in their names.
We stuck with a balanced 100% equity,

I came across this article on a website called My Life Site. The website posts articles related to aging but their focus is on Continuing Care Retirement Communities. I find the articles useful as I am starting to research communities near us for getting on waiting lists in the next few years.
We hired an elder law attorney four years ago as we were beginning to travel a lot and figured we should get our legal ducks in a row just in case there happened to be a problem with a flight.

We talk a lot about downsizing, upsizing, and “right-sizing.” But I think the more useful question is: How well will your home support you 10–15 years down the road—and what are you willing to pay for that flexibility?
I’m planning a retirement build and I’m intentionally designing for aging in place—wide doors and hallways, single-floor living, an easy/step-free entrance, and a walk-in shower with a minimal curb (plus the usual goal: fewer maintenance headaches).

Many of us have decades of practice saving, budgeting, and optimizing. But retirement requires a different skill: spending confidently—not impulsively, but without unnecessary guilt when the plan supports it.
I’m curious how others handle the mental side of spending after (or near) retirement:

What’s the hardest part about spending money now?
Do you use a “permission system” (annual splurge, travel fund, monthly allowance, separate bucket)? Piggybacks off Dick’s topic.
What purchase meaningfully improved your quality of life long-term?

(I brought up ADUs in the “Retirement and Investment Content” thread and got several comments – particularly asking that ADU be spelled out. I wrote something there, but figured it deserves it’s own topic.)
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are not new, but their role in housing and retirement planning has expanded significantly—particularly in high-growth regions. In Seattle, where I live, nearly 70% of new single-family permits now include an ADU. Washington State explicitly promotes ADUs as a response to the senior housing shortage,

Since May 2024 I’ve “spent” approximately $8,000 on a strange concept called “peace of mind”. I think it’s been an absolutely excellent 20 month trade and well worth the cost, but a lot of people would take issue with my thoughts.
My wife Suzie retired at the end of May 2024 and insisted we pay off our small mortgage balance of $70,000 before she pulled the trigger. I wasn’t fully onboard with the idea, preferring to keep the money compounding in our portfolios.

IRR (internal rate of return) was the common term for the percentage rate of return on an investment until the early 1990s, when CAGR (compound annual growth rate) gained popularity. Today, CAGR is typically used for simple annualized returns of regular cash flows, while IRR is reserved for more complex cases involving variable cash flows and irregular compounding periods. CAGR can be considered a simplified subset of IRR. IRR is typically backward-looking (based on present value),