I recently read that something in the secure 2.0 act allows taxes paid on annuity
income from a qualified, annuitized annuity will count toward a rmd from
a separate ira account. Is this accurate?

Suzie and I recently spent a few days in London, while there we grabbed the opportunity to visit a few great museums. We thoroughly enjoyed hours wandering the halls and displays of the Natural History Museum and the equally impressive Science Museum. Though I suspect it should have been obvious, I’ve only just discovered that both these world class institutions are funded by public tax receipts. In my mind, that’s a wonderful illustration of the tangible benefits of paying income tax.

I realize I am on the outside looking in, out of sync, ignoring “expert” advice and rehashing the subject, but I can’t help it. I need help here.
I simply cannot understand why anyone living off their investments would use those investments to live on in favor of delaying social security until age 70. 
It seems to me that unless there is a gigantic pool of money they’ll never need, they are taking an unnecessary risk using more of their investments sooner rather than later.

When we ask a question of ChatGPT or Gemini or any other AI LLMs we may wonder about the source of the information contained in the answers.  I recently read an article about this.  LLMs rely on user-generated content and as we know, not all of these web based sources are accurate and so, neither will the answers be.
“According to an analysis by Semrush, LLMs like ChatGPT reference Reddit and Wikipedia the most for facts.  

I went on a little shopping spree last week for some new tunes, ordering some records from a reputable online music store. Like a little kid who just ordered PlayStation 5 from Amazon, I’ve been anxiously tracking my order on the fine United States Post Office website.
I cannot make the following story up. 
On 8/11 I placed my order.
On 8/12 the retailer delivered my records to the USPS origin facility in Louisville KY. 
So far so good.

Suzie and I are visiting family and enjoying the Victorian grandeur of the coastal towns of southern England, in particular near Brighton where my brother-in-law recently purchased his first home. He’s been expressing nervousness about the new experience of having a mortgage. While chatting during the evening I’ve tried to soothe his mind with a version of this, I admit, slightly left-field argument. It seemed to help him and I thought I’d share my thoughts.
When my wife Suzie retired in June last year,

I thought it would be fun to use AI to help me understand why many of us seem to believe that the best place to fulfill our desire to live “independently” is by aging-in-place in our homes.
To see the questions and answers, click on either link below. They are both the same. The words in purple are the prompts or questions.
Scroll to read the AI response. Sign up for POE only if you want to ask questions directly.

Readers’ responses to an earlier post on volunteering to teach a module on investing in index funds and ETFs to high school students electing to take a new personal finance course were very helpful (and brutally honest!), Consistent with those suggestions, the “text” will be Bogle’s deceptively simple, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. Evans and Malkiel’s The Index Fund Solution: A Step-By-Step Investor’s Guide is the workbook. What follows will probably be the first overnight reading assignment aimed at defusing some of the reservations teenagers night have about investing in the market.

On occasion I have claimed to be frugal. But after a bit of research, I’m not sure that is always true. For sure we have avoided debt except a mortgage. Our last car loan was thirty years ago and we never had credit card debt, but beyond that my claim of frugality slips a bit. I think we may just be prudent.
When I read a comment about being frugal as part of living in retirement,

I always loved newspapers. I even gave reporting a try back in 11th grade on my high school paper. It didn’t last long—I struggled with deadlines and once botched the front page with a layout mistake called a “tombstone,” where two headlines sit side by side and confuse readers. Still, that didn’t stop me from becoming a devoted reader over the years.
Recently, I came across an article from The USA Today that hit close to home for me.

Bill Bengen, the godfather / creator of the 4% safe withdrawal rate (SWR), or rule, has just published a new book available on Amazon: A Richer Retirement: Supercharging the 4% Rule to Spend More and Enjoy More.
I have not read the book, however, he has done a number of interviews on YouTube.  The gist is that with a more diversified portfolio, as compared to that used to generate the original 4% rule,

How long will we live? Based on an article I just read, I’m guessing that it is probably longer than we think. Here’s why.
The authors pointed out that statistics (and I suspect my intuition) are based on death rates, which only take into account the people who have…wait for it…already died. Those still alive are living longer than they used to, based on the trend of longer, healthier life that has persisted up until now.

My first home computer was a Comodore 64.  Let us not dwell on when that was in terms of the year.  Suffice it to say that it was long ago.  My first PC when I was employed  was an IBM PC with 2 5 1/4’ floppy drives, and no hard drive.  It cost the company maybe $5500.  I have owned many PCs since then.  So, even though I clearly remember using old tech like wired phones,

My grandparents were all gone while I was still in college. Looking back, I don’t think I ever bonded with them. None of them was born here. They never shared their stories, dreams, or advice with me. Was that my fault or theirs?
Fortunately, that distance I experienced is not being repeated with my grandchildren. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
When we married, I explained to everyone that the word “step” did not exist in our blended family.

Do you remember ERTA, 1981 legislation which liberalized the Individual Retirement Account statute so everyone with wages could contribute up to $2,000 a year and take a tax deduction? Contributions increased from 4.8 Billion (1981) to 28.3 Billion (1982) or 490%!
And, do you remember the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which did not change eligibility to contribute to an IRA, every American wage earner and their spouse remain eligible to contribute, but by mucking up the tax deduction,