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Kindly Compounding

Forum by SCao | Feb 2, 2025

We all have our own journey of discovering finance literacy. Some of us may be fortunate to be raised in a financial literate family, either immediate or extended one; while some of us may learn the hard and expensive way, by making financial mistakes.  I learn about being frugal and working hard to better our own life from my parents, who both never had the chance to finish middle school growing up in a rural area in China back in 1950’s.

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Whither Taxes?

Article by Adam M. Grossman  |  Jan 26, 2025

IN WASHINGTON, 2025 is beginning to look a lot like 2017. Republicans again control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. But a key difference between then and now is that today the Republican majority in the House is far narrower.
This means more negotiation will be required, and agreement on a new tax bill may take months. In the meantime, here are some key areas that investors will want to keep an eye on.

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Reality Check

Article by Adam M. Grossman  |  Jan 19, 2025

A QUOTE OFTEN attributed to Mark Twain goes as follows: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
This certainly applies to personal finance, and it’s why it can be helpful to take a step back sometimes to revisit widely held notions—including these six.
1. Social Security. You may have heard of Social Security’s “earnings test,” which can reduce the size of monthly checks for those who continue working after claiming benefits.

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Limits of Power by Jonathan Clements

Forum by Jonathan Clements | Jan 17, 2025

This is not intended to be a political post. Indeed, I could easily have written these words four years ago, when Republicans were fretting over Joe Biden’s election.
Political partisans often freak out when their favored party loses at the ballot box, prompting them to take rash financial actions. But with Donald Trump set to return to the Oval Office on Monday, I’d advise sitting on your hands. The fact is, presidents are not omnipotent—and can face swift punishment if their actions unnerve the population.

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Retirement Realignment by Ken Cutler

Forum by Ken Cutler | Jan 12, 2025

I retired from my 38-year career as an electrical engineer with the country’s largest operator of nuclear power plants on September 5, 2023. I’d often dreamed about having an enjoyable encore career, and a week after retirement I began working part-time as a Chief Engineer in a consulting firm with a few hundred employees. The job has largely been true to my dream. In the roughly 16 months since I retired from full-time work, my wife Lisa and I have undergone many changes related to our financial lives.

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Spending It

Article by Jonathan Clements  |  Jan 11, 2025

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.

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Rent Forever?

Article by Catherine Horiuchi  |  Jan 9, 2025

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,

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Why We Struggle

Article by Jonathan Clements  |  Jan 4, 2025

I’VE SPENT MUCH OF MY life trying to better understand the world, especially the financial world. But I wonder whether I should have spent more of that time trying to better understand myself.
Why do some financial situations scare us, while others leave us unperturbed? Why do we spend time and money in ways we later regret? Why do we find our bad habits so difficult to change? Why do we admire some folks,

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Dividends during bull or bear market

Forum by Y S | Dec 31, 2024

I’m wondering if there’s data on how much dividends for total market or S&P500 go up or down on average during bull vs bear market. As a retiree, I rely on my dividends and interest for my living expenses. It seems somewhat arbitrary to just hold 5-7 years of total living expenses (minus SS/pension) when in fact, dividends would like still happen even in a market downturn?

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Don’t Expect a Repeat

Article by Adam M. Grossman  |  Dec 22, 2024

EARLY LAST WEEK, The Wall Street Journal ran an article with the headline “Why This Frothy Market Has Me Scared.” The author cited a number of indicators that have him worried, including a survey of investor optimism that’s at a 35-year high. Investors, the Journal said, are feeling “euphoric,” and that’s often a bad sign.
So, as we head into year-end, it’s worth taking stock of where things stand. The stock market has returned nearly 25% so far this year.

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My Humble Abode

Article by Catherine Horiuchi  |  Dec 18, 2024

SIPPING MORNING coffee on the porch of my 40-year-old aluminum box in the Sonoran Desert, I’m pondering the cost of housing.
My affordable unit sits on cement piers at the end of a street within an age-restricted park, at the sparsely populated edge of Tucson. Few jobs exist nearby. Civic amenities are modest. Summer weather is challenging, with heat, thunderstorms and seasonal rattlesnakes. Still, these conditions have created a financially comfortable place for a retiree to live.

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Quinn’s last rant for 2024. Misinformation is frustrating. No, your wife is not a car!

Forum by R Quinn | Dec 13, 2024

In a previous post I outlined what I see as the dilemma Americas face when it comes to paying for health care. 
Since then I have been tracking social media comments on the topic. If the people posting are close to reflecting a significant portion of the population, we are in trouble. 
I suspect the lack of a fundamental understanding of insurance, how companies operate and individual responsibility is not limited to health issues, but also explains a lot about how people manage their finances and use the resources available to them –

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HD readers – “a cut above” as Jersey Mike the new billionaire says

Forum by R Quinn | Dec 8, 2024

When you compare HD readers on subjects like Social Security, health care, retirement, saving and investing, 401k, managing money and all that goes with those topics, with the general public, well, there is no comparison. HD readers know their stuff or know when to ask when they aren’t sure of the facts. 
And, of course, discussions, even disagreements remain civil – except maybe when I write about my theory of retirement income replacement. 😎.
I scan several social media sites each day.

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CLUES LEFT BY A KILLER ECHO WIDESPREAD ANGER AT HEALTH INSURERS

Forum by R Quinn | Dec 6, 2024

So reads a Wall Street Journal headline.
This begs the question, how do Americans want to pay for their health care?

They don’t want to spend their money- even for relatively minor expenses like a co-pay
They want someone else to take the risk, but not make any money 
They want quality care, but with little idea how to define that other than more of it at high prices
They don’t want high premiums or taxes
They don’t want to wait for care
They don’t want restrictions on accessing care or selecting a provider
They don’t want anyone approving care or denying to pay for it.

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Love, Hate and My 401(k)

Forum by Michael1 | Dec 6, 2024

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.

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