Retirement

ACCORDING TO THE World Happiness Report, Finland ranks as the happiest nation in the world, a title it’s held for eight years in a row.
Each time this report is updated, it makes the news for a day or two but then fades. That’s for good reason, I think. As much as Finland might be a nice place, it isn’t necessarily practical to suggest that anyone pick up and move.
The good news, though,

An article in Commonweal Magazine is a bit unkind to 401k plans from the interesting perspective that asking people to save on their own takes away from other uses.
“But there’s increasing evidence that our current approach is not only economically inefficient but also a key contributor to the precarity and isolation unraveling the social fabric. “
“What was once a balanced system of collective and individual support has come to rely on a single,

MANY PEOPLE FOCUS on building wealth through asset allocation and investment choices. Far fewer think about asset protection. In my opinion, protecting wealth is just as important as building it, especially since decades of disciplined saving and investing can be undone in one unfortunate event.
In this article, I wanted to discuss some of the strategies and tips that I’ve learned, and implemented in my personal finance journey.
Quick disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer,

I recently read the HumbleDollar guidance suggesting retirees consolidate old 401(k) accounts for simplicity. My husband and I are both retired (age 62) and are wondering whether that advice still holds when the existing plans are high quality.
We each have a former-employer 401(k):
– Mine is with a large financial institution
– My husband’s is with his union
Both plans have low costs (~ 65 bps all-in), solid investment options, and no required distributions yet.

Six months ago Scott Dichter wrote a forum post (Coast FIRE! Who would have thought that FIRE could have so many flavors? – HumbleDollar) about Michael Kitces’s blog post about Coast FIRE.  For those unfamiliar with the term, please check out the articles.
In a nutshell, Coast FIRE is when one accumulates enough money whereby the money currently saved for retirement is sufficient to meet one’s future goal to retire early without the need to continue adding to retirement savings.

Nothing like Christmas and the rolling of one year into the next for a little reflection. A chance to think a little more broadly than the daily minutia. And to catch up with friends and family that we haven’t seen for a while.
For me, this included a lot of us in our early fifties. I sensed a common theme in the discussions – everyone seems pretty sick of striving for a promotion or more money.

I am on schedule to retire in 18 months, at the age of 65.  But I have decided to allocate our assets now.  The stock market indexes are near/at all-time highs, so why put it off?   Within all of our necessary accounts, we have put 5 years worth of projected expenses into cash/cash equivalents.  5 years of spending and taxes in my Traditional retirement accounts.  5 years of Medicare/medical expenses in our HSA accounts.  5 years of QCDs in my wife’s Traditional IRA for charitable giving. 

When did you retire (what age), and what was the deciding factor that made you retire at that time—finances, health, job satisfaction, family needs, benefits timing (pension/SS/healthcare), or simply “I was done”?
Looking back, was it the right age for you, and would you do it the same way again?
 
Jeff

If you could go back to 5 years before you retired, what’s the one decision you’d change that would have made the biggest difference in your first 1–3 years of retirement and what do you wish you’d done sooner? Examples:
When to claim Social Security?
How you structured withdrawals/taxes
Whether you carried a mortgage?
Where you lived?
How you planned for healthcare/long-term care?
thanks,
Jeff

LOOKING FORWARD TO some downtime over the holidays? Below are some favorite new personal finance books and articles to consider for your reading list.
A Richer Retirement by William Bengen – Back in the 1990s, financial planner William Bengen developed what’s come to be known as the 4% rule. It’s a framework to help retirees determine a sustainable portfolio withdrawal rate. This year, Bengen updated and expanded his research. The most compelling addition: Bengen addresses the question of asset allocation.

Vanguard has announced it will be offering an annuity option to 401k plan sponsors next year. It will allow the participant nearing retirement to elect a portion of their account to be an annuity payment.
Let’s hope plan sponsors add the option
A steady income stream and still keep investments. I have been advocating for this for years.
HALLELUJAH ‼️‼️‼️

IN THE SUMMER of 1966, author John McPhee spent two weeks lying on a picnic table in his backyard. Why?
McPhee was suffering from writer’s block. As he described it, “I had assembled enough material to fill a silo, and now I had no idea what to do with it.”
Investors find themselves in a similar situation today. There’s no shortage of financial information around us. But that doesn’t make it easier to know what to do with it. 

SECTION 415(D) OF the IRC requires the Secretary of the Treasury (IRS) to annually adjust limitations for cost-of-living increases. So, let’s dive into some of the changes:
 
401(k), 403(b), and Most 457 Plans:

For 2026, the 401(k)/403(b)/457(b) amount you can contribute is increasing from $23,500 to $24,500. If you are in a 24% marginal tax rate, that’s an additional $240 of federal taxes you can defer. If you are over age 50, the catch-up contributions are also increasing by $500,

When I was in my early 40s, I went through a divorce and found myself facing a radically changed financial landscape. Because I had stayed home for a few years off after my son was born, I didn’t have the same earning potential or job security I would have had otherwise. I don’t for a minute regret taking that time off, but as the academics on this forum know, once you hop off the tenure-track, it’s not easy to get back on.

LAST WEEK, OPENAI founder Sam Altman sat down for an interview with venture capitalist Brad Gerstner and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Both are investors in OpenAI, so it seemed like a friendly audience. But Gerstner posed a question that seemed to make Altman uncomfortable.
Since introducing ChatGPT three years ago, OpenAI has posted impressive growth, but Gerstner wondered whether the company was, nonetheless, getting ahead of itself.
“How can a company with $13 billion in revenues make $1.4 trillion of spend commitments?” Gerstner asked.