We didn’t cash in any stock or appreciated assets in 2021, which kept our income pretty low. We just had some dividend income and I earned some pay from board work. Mostly, we just lived off of savings. Our accountant pointed out that married couples with income less than $80K pay 0% long-term capital gains tax. I hadn’t paid attention to that before, so we … Continue reading Capital Gains Wrinkle
Like most places, the residential real estate market is moving really fast in our area. Yesterday, we jumped in at lightning speed! My wife saw a snazzy townhouse in our neighborhood she thought would be nice for our adult son. We talked about it with him on Sunday morning just before 11a, connected with our friendly neighborhood agent 5 minutes later, scheduled/did a quick showing, … Continue reading Townhouse Lark
I complained a lot about the economy in 2021. I didn’t like the trillions in debt-driven government spending and the ensuing inflation. Still, I acknowledged that the markets continued to rise – as the ‘Trump Bump’ became the ‘Biden Bump’. Yesterday, I tallied up how we finished the year with our portfolio. Our retirement savings were up an impressive +15%. Our gains were led by … Continue reading New Year’s Assessment
Prices are going up. Consumer price inflation ballooned to 6.8% in November as massive increases in government debt and supply-chain issues over the last year were reflected. The Fed & Biden believe they can get back to a 2% annual average target, but clearly that’s going to take some doing. Retirement plans are especially susceptible to rising prices as fixed investments, pensions, bonds, and social … Continue reading What’s The Impact Of Inflation On Your Retirement?
My friend Shawn retired a few years ago from a big government job, but now he consults a bit to earn what he calls “stupid money”. It’s not money that he needs, but money that can be spent on some silly, stupid stuff that you might otherwise be too sensible to spend your retirement savings on. We just spent some stupid money, going to Walt … Continue reading “Stupid Money” Holiday
I waited a long time to get a look at my MegaCorp retiree health insurance benefits and they just arrived. It’s open enrollment time right now and I just booked my new insurance plan. As background, I worked at one MegaCorp for 24 years and a second for just 3. I’m an official retiree of the first one, where I went from temporary Administrative Assistant … Continue reading MegaCorp Retiree Health Coverage
President Trump once said, “the stock market does whatever the stock market wants to do.” Still, that didn’t stop him from claiming that his policies resulted in the ~75% growth in the S&P 500, following his election. The ‘Trump Bump’ got a lot of attention, but it’s worth noting that we’ve seen a nice ‘Biden Bump’ in the year following his election, too. The S&P … Continue reading The “Biden Bump”
We went to Target the other day for groceries and the bill came to $150. As we walked out to the Jeep to bring things home, my wife said, “I don’t even know what things are supposed to cost any more. Was that a good deal or did we overpay by a lot?” I agreed that inflation – year after year after year – begins … Continue reading Cut Those Prices In Half!
I just made my silliest investment ever. No, it’s not more cryptocurrency. I’m now a bona fide shareholder of the Green Bay Packers Professional Football Club. The Packers opened the sixth public stock offering in their franchise history earlier this week with 300,000 shares available at $300 per share. The $90 million raised will fund improvements at Lambeau Field in the heart of Titletown. The … Continue reading Biggest Investment Ever
Monday’s post about retirement benchmarks by age generated a lot of discussion. I think we all agree that few Americans have the sense to challenge our dubious cultural assumptions when it comes to personal finance. It also caused me to look back on this post from 2017 when I did the math on how quickly one could retire by saving HALF of their income …. … Continue reading ‘50% Rule’ Revisited
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