Home - HumbleDollar

Is your retirement plan counting on a Social Security COLA in the future?

R Quinn | Sep 24, 2026

"The many Americans facing cat food diets without their SS should receive COLAs. The upper middle class and wealthy recipients collecting $40,000-$100,000 should not. SS and Medicare should be reformed to lessen the burden on younger generations of workers."

- Paul Ward

In Retirement

The Security Money Can’t Buy

Dennis Friedman | Sep 25, 2026

"My husband and I are the same age. He has more longevity in his family tree than I do—his grandfather lived to 102, and his other grandparents and parents into their 80s. I, on the other hand, had my father and both grandfathers die of heart attacks in their 60s, and my brother had emergency bypass surgery when he was just 47 (he’s 54 now). My mother and aunt are almost 85 and 87 respectively, so there’s that. My husband has been saying for years that he expects to predecease me. I think he bases that on the fact that I take better care of myself (workouts, eating). I remind him that the genetics predict otherwise, and don’t be so sure. My recent diagnosis of cardiovascular disease has gotten his attention. Now “bad family history” has turned into “bad test results.” I manage our household finances, and I’m way more tech-savvy than he is. So I’ve been working hard over the last couple of weeks on making sure the “last instructions” letter and supporting documents are up to date and user-friendly. I’ll sit down with him soon to go over it all. I do worry about how lonely and sad he’d be without me. We’ve been married since we were 23 (43 years), and though we do have friends and family connections, he’s more introverted than I am. He’s semi-retiring (going to 50% time) next week, and I’m going to nudge him to spend more time with friends outside the house once he has more free time. Odds are I’m not crossing the Rainbow Bridge anytime soon, but the truth is you never know. It helps manage my anxiety to know that things are organized for him—or for our estate if we both go down in an airplane!"

- DrLefty

Investing

What stock would you happily hold for the next 10 years?

Jonathan Clements | Aug 17, 2021

"We're 5 years hence from when Jonathan asked this question (in the old school forum format where it would often ask questions of us). How does everyone feel about their picks? I selected Microsoft (MSFT), which is up 73% over the last 5 years. Many picked Apple, and Berkshire. A few others Exxon, Verizon, and some others. What do you think? Would you stick with your selection or switch? I don't think anyone had even heard of Nvidia 5 years ago."

- Ben Rodriguez

Investing

Target Maturity Bond Funds

DAN SMITH | Sep 18, 2026

"Thanks David. For a little more context- we run about a 80/20 bonds& cash/ equity mix in Buckets# 1+2 (with the equity portion in Total U.S. & Total International indices)- rebalanced annually. Bucket#3 is typically 70/30 equity/ bonds mix. I fluctuate the Bucket #3 mix over the years and run a higher equity mix at times after market corrections. Again, rebalance annually to my prevailing target mix. The bonds sit in Rollover IRA, the ROTH is almost 100% equity. BTW: I don’t disagree with the 100% equity approach in Bucket#3 ( 10+ years out) I’m just a bit conservative I guess. This plan assumes zero future Social Security benefit will be received at 70 and later. I swore off that institution at age 29, invested and saved accordingly since and will donate anything we get from S.S. to veterans’ causes. "

- Dunn Werking

From HumbleDollar Founder Jonathan Clements

Lists

Why HumbleDollar?

IN OUR 20s, WE TEND to be a confident lot: We figure we know what we want from our life, that the goal is…

Health

My Name is Dan, and I’m a CPAP User

DAN SMITH | Sep 24, 2026

"Ps I store mine in the bottom drawer of my nightstand and get a 10 ft hose instead of 6. Having it so far below the bed cuts any noise WAY down."

- Heidi - SunnyMoneyDIY

Taxes

Shouldn’t property taxes be a realistic part of retirement planning? Sorry, I think this is a major financial and social issue.

R Quinn | Sep 23, 2026

"John, too often when school taxes are under discussion I find that loaded word "results" to be a tool for hiding multiple red herrings in the interest of opposing public education in general. The question of how to assess "results" disappears in debates over math and reading scores, dropout rates, graduation percentages and college enrollment rates, where too often a red number is leveraged as justification for voting against any property tax increases for schools. In cases such as yours, you may find that the rising tax spending despite declining enrollment may be for school infrastructure -- the construction and repair costs for maintaining school buildings have absolutely exploded -- or for upgrading technology enabling students to meet rapidly changing tech demands in the job market, or the rising costs of maintaining extracurricular activities vital to creating a "whole" person ready to face the world, whether it's sports or music or art or literature. The raw number of students is not a major factor in those costs. Personally, I always vote for school bonds and property tax increases for schools -- not because I've ever had kids in the schools, but because I'm selfish. When I'm gone, I want my widow to be able to sell our house for more. Multiple studies have shown that school spending increases local property values. A 2020 study by the Harvard Kennedy School found that a 1 percent increase in school spending increases local house prices by 0.95 percent. An earlier study found that for every $1 increase in per pupil school expenditure, per pupil housing values increase by about $20. And when school bonds or taxes are voted down, house hunters who want quality public education for their kids may steer away from the community towards one that does support school funding. Home prices can actually drop. "

- Mike Gaynes

Spending

Anyone For S.K.I.ing?

Mark Crothers | Sep 22, 2026

"Mike, please tell me you got a killer deal on the Cadillac before you blew the kids' inheritance on it!"

- Mark Crothers

Behavior

Time Is Priceless

Andrew Clements | Sep 23, 2026

"Jim, thank you. Your words really touched me. Losing Doug gives your thoughts about time a meaning that goes far beyond money. We can spend years building financial security, but in the end, what many of us would give anything to have more of is time with someone we love. I also understand what you mean about looking back 30, 40 or 50 years and wondering how it could possibly have passed so quickly. Those years somehow feel both distant and like yesterday. I’m grateful for your friendship, Jim, and I hope there are many more memories still ahead of us. You’re right, time really is more precious than money."

- Andrew Clements

Taxes

Does the new-for-2026 $1000/$2000 charitable deduction for non-itemizers reduce AGI?

Andrew Forsythe | Sep 22, 2026

"Randy. That’s funny. I had t noticed it. Darn auto-correct!"

- Rick Connor

Taxes

What I think about taxes- all kinds of taxes

R Quinn | Sep 21, 2026

"There is a big difference between accumulated wealth and high income and thus different definitions of rich I assume. Someone who accumulates wealth through investments such as many HD readers or Bezos are treated the same tax wise. The fact one person has billions and another a few hundred thousand is irrelevant in my mind. Likewise, the highest 37% tax bracket is 37% which the “wealthy” pay. It’s not just the rich, the US has among the lower overall tax burdens. The absence of a VAT part of the lack of burden. Most of the direct tax benefits in the US go the average Americans (tax credits, standard and other deductions leaving an effective income tax rate for the lower 50% of 3.7%.). When it comes to corporations, who benefits from the tax laws? I’d say there is plenty of trickle down in that case- workers and their jobs and benefits, reinvestment in products for the public and mostly shareholders who benefit from growing profits. Shareholders of all types, including through mutual funds, even pension funds, etc. There is no such thing as “the corporation” benefiting. It’s all connected."

- R Quinn

Investing

Structuring Bonds

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | Sep 19, 2026

IT'S BEEN AN UNUSUAL week in the bond market, and not necessarily in a good way. This has many investors questioning the value of bonds, which is understandable. Bonds are supposed to be the “safe” side of a portfolio, but they’ve struggled in recent years. Arguably, the drama we’re seeing in the bond market today began more than 50 years ago. To put today’s situation in perspective, I’ll briefly summarize that long history. Then we can look at what steps you might take to better protect your portfolio from here. Back in the 1970s, as you’re probably aware, inflation rose above 10%. Policymakers struggled for years to bring it under control, but in the early 1980s a Fed chair named Paul Volcker finally succeeded. He accomplished that by raising the Fed’s benchmark rate to nearly 20%. With this step, Volcker succeeded in calming inflation, and that allowed the Fed to begin lowering rates, a gradual process that continued for most of the following 40 years. Because bond prices move inversely to interest rates, that entire stretch was extremely beneficial for bonds. As rates fell, bonds rose. Between 1980 and 2020, intermediate-term U.S. government bonds returned 7% per year, on average. That multi-decade run helped seal the reputation of bonds as an easy and reliable way to offset the risk of stocks. But then the other shoe dropped. Due to pandemic-related government spending and tangled supply chains, inflation began rising around 2021. Well aware of what the economy experienced in the 1970s, the Fed responded by raising rates aggressively. For a time, that appeared to bring inflation under control, and the government had even started to lower rates again last year. But then the war with Iran started. That caused energy prices to jump higher, and that, worryingly, has caused inflation to start creeping back up again. In response, the Fed this week was forced to take action, raising rates in an effort to contain inflation before it gains steam. Interest rates on long-term bonds are now at 20-year highs. And because bond prices move inversely to interest rates, bonds are having another difficult year. Total-bond market funds like Vanguard’s BND are now negative year-to-date. Where the bond market goes from here is anyone’s guess, but this history is important, in my view, because bonds are unlikely to see another long, positive stretch like the one investors enjoyed a generation ago. Instead, I believe investors need to be more cautious. What steps might you take? Since we don’t know whether rates will go higher or lower over any given timeframe, the approach I recommend is to own bonds in each of several categories. That way, you’ll benefit, in part, if rates go up, and you’ll benefit, in part, if rates go down. Here’s how I’d structure a bond portfolio today: For me, the most important thing is to own mostly short-term bonds. Specifically, you might allocate 60% of your bond portfolio to short-term Treasurys, using a fund like Vanguard’s VGSH. This fund should be among the most stable investments available because it’s backed by the U.S. government, which, for better or worse, has the ability to print money to meet its obligations. And its short duration means that, all things being equal, it will be less susceptible to rising interest rates if rates do continue to rise. As a point of reference, in 2022, when rates rose quickly, this fund lost less than 4% of its value. That’s in contrast to total-bond market funds, which lost an extremely unpleasant 13% that year. If you’re in a high tax bracket (over 30%), you could split your short-term holdings between Treasurys, which are taxable at the federal level, and municipal bonds, which are exempt from federal tax. You might consider a short-term municipal fund like Vanguard’s VTES or VWSUX. Next, I’d allocate 20% to intermediate-term bonds. While these will be more susceptible to losses when rates rise, they’ll also gain more when rates fall. Last year, for example, when rates fell, intermediate-term government bond funds like Vanguard’s VGIT gained more than 7%. So I see them as worth the additional risk. That said, if this risk concerns you, there’s a relatively easy alternative: For this part of your portfolio, you could purchase a ladder of individual bonds covering maturities between five and 10 years. While it requires additional effort to purchase individual bonds, what you’ll receive in return is greater certainty. At the moment that you purchase an individual bond, you’ll know the yield to maturity. Barring a default—which is unlikely with a government bond—that’s precisely the return you will earn. For the final 20% of a bond portfolio, I recommend inflation-protected Treasury bonds, known as TIPS. Here again, you could purchase individual bonds or a bond fund, and there’s a lot of debate on this topic. But according to research I find convincing, the best way to protect against inflation is with short-term TIPS. So to keep things simple, I would opt for a fund rather than a ladder of individual bonds, which would require frequent trading. One good fund in this category is Vanguard’s VTIP. At the end of the day, the most important thing, in my view, is to build a bond portfolio that’s diversified enough that you could reliably draw on it in years when stocks are down. And recognizing that even short-term bonds carry some amount of risk, it’s worth also holding a “floor” of cash, using a government money market fund, as an additional element in your portfolio. These won’t gain in value when interest rates fall, but they’re designed not to lose any value if rates rise. Put it all together, and I see this as an effective sleep-at-night structure no matter where things go next. Adam M. Grossman is the founder of Mayport, a fixed-fee wealth management firm. Sign up for Adam's Daily Ideas email, follow him on X @AdamMGrossman and check out his earlier articles.

In Retirement

Is your retirement plan counting on a Social Security COLA in the future?

R Quinn | Sep 24, 2026

- Paul Ward

In Retirement

The Security Money Can’t Buy

Dennis Friedman | Sep 25, 2026

- DrLefty

Investing

What stock would you happily hold for the next 10 years?

Jonathan Clements | Aug 17, 2021

- Ben Rodriguez

Investing

Target Maturity Bond Funds

DAN SMITH | Sep 18, 2026

- Dunn Werking

From HumbleDollar Founder Jonathan Clements

Lists

Why HumbleDollar?

IN OUR 20s, WE TEND to be a confident lot: We figure we know what we want from our life, that the goal is…

Health

My Name is Dan, and I’m a CPAP User

DAN SMITH | Sep 24, 2026

"Ps I store mine in the bottom drawer of my nightstand and get a 10 ft hose instead of 6. Having it so far below the bed cuts any noise WAY down."

- Heidi - SunnyMoneyDIY

Taxes

Shouldn’t property taxes be a realistic part of retirement planning? Sorry, I think this is a major financial and social issue.

R Quinn | Sep 23, 2026

- Mike Gaynes

Spending

Anyone For S.K.I.ing?

Mark Crothers | Sep 22, 2026

"Mike, please tell me you got a killer deal on the Cadillac before you blew the kids' inheritance on it!"

- Mark Crothers

Behavior

Time Is Priceless

Andrew Clements | Sep 23, 2026

- Andrew Clements

Manifesto

Sep 25, 2026

NO. 77: TO BUY ourselves happiness, often the best strategy is to not buy anything at all. That can leave us with a plump bank account and the sense of financial security it offers.

Truths

Sep 25, 2026

NO. 100: THE BIGGEST “death tax” paid by your family will probably be the income taxes still owed on your retirement accounts. One possibility: Pay the tax to convert part of your traditional IRA to a tax-free Roth IRA, and then bequeath that account—an especially smart move if your heirs are likely to be in a higher income-tax bracket than you.

think

Sep 24, 2026

SHILLER P/E. Named after economist Robert Shiller, the Shiller price-earnings ratio—also known as the cyclically adjusted P/E ratio or CAPE—compares current stock prices to average inflation-adjusted earnings for the past 10 years. That smooths out cyclical fluctuations in corporate profits—a problem that can distort conventional P/E multiples.

act

Sep 23, 2026

LOOK FOR TAX savings—by reviewing your recent tax returns. Two danger signs: lots of interest income and realized capital gains, especially short-term capital gains. What to do? Avoid trading so much or, if necessary, confine it to a retirement account. Also use a retirement account to hold your taxable bonds and other tax-inefficient investments.

Money Guide

Manifesto

Sep 25, 2026

NO. 77: TO BUY ourselves happiness, often the best strategy is to not buy anything at all. That can leave us with a plump bank account and the sense of financial security it offers.

Spotlight: Retirement

Why can’t more people plan for their retirement future?

R Quinn | Jun 27, 2026

I read daily about seniors who can’t pay their bills in retirement, who say it’s unfair for them to pay property taxes for schools, who say they deserve higher SS COLAs etc.
Some people, through no fault of their own, because of uncontrollable misfortune, did not have the ability to save and build retirement income at whatever level they were throughout life. But those folks are far from the majority.
So what happened that after forty years of working so many seniors seem poorly positioned to live in retirement?

Laid Off

Venicio | Feb 5, 2026

My wife was laid off the other day. After thirty years at one company. For the first time in her working life, forty years, she was told her services were no longer needed.
Even though we’re financially fine, and now that she may join me in retirement, I’m unsettled. I think it’s because we have both crossed the retirement line. We’re no longer actively working to make money. We’re now 100% earning money passively. We’re relying on all the acorns that we’ve saved,

How do you really feel about 401k plans?

R Quinn | Jan 10, 2026

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,

Still Teaching

Dan Smith | Jun 22, 2026

Trusts are said to be a tool for its grantor to control from the grave. The first things I look at every morning when I open HD are Jonathan’s quips above the “Latest Posts”, and the most recent thoughts in the “Get Educated” section.
I sort of think of “Get Educated” as the legacy that Jonathan has granted to us; his way of continuing to guide and educate.
One of today’s topics is Monte Carlo analysis,

How did you avoid being in the 39%?

R Quinn | Mar 4, 2026

According to a May 2025 Gallup survey, only 61% of Americans age 65 and older own stocks in any way, including IRAs, 401ks, etc. I found that a bit shocking and a little sad. I’m pretty certain HD readers and writers are not among the 39%.
If that is an accurate percentage, no wonder many retirees are in poor financial shape, no wonder social media is full of videos with seniors claiming they need and deserve higher social security benefits and higher COLA adjustments.

Retirement Plan

Doug C | Mar 7, 2026

A witty, honest and poignant short film:
Retirement Plan
With a lesson:
“Time is the one asset you can’t compound; spend it while the market is still open.”

Getting to Zero

Michael Perry | Oct 5, 2021

AFTER YOU QUIT the workforce and before you start Social Security, you may find yourself with little or no taxable income. As many financial experts have pointed out, this can be a great time to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth and pay taxes at a relatively low rate. But here’s another tax-savings opportunity to consider: If you have winning stocks and funds in your regular taxable account, this period can also offer the chance to realize long-term gains and pay taxes at a 0% federal rate. The key: Keep your taxable income low, including paying attention to capital gains distributions from your mutual funds. Those distributions may leave you with less room to realize gains at a 0% rate. How might this work in practice? Let’s take the example of Bob and Jane, a retired couple not yet receiving Social Security. They collect a $30,000 annual pension. In 2020, their taxable investments produced $2,000 in interest, $10,000 in qualified dividends and $10,000 in long-term capital gains fund distributions. Assuming these numbers are the same this year, Bob and Jane would be looking at $52,000 in total income. Result: They could intentionally realize another $53,900 in long-term capital gains, bringing their total income to $105,900—and pay nothing in capital gains taxes. If they take that $105,900 and subtract a married couple’s $25,100 standard deduction, they would be left with taxable income of $80,800. (The figures for those filing as single individuals would be half these levels.) As long as their total taxable income doesn’t breach that $80,800 threshold, any long-term capital gains—whether distributed by their mutual funds or the result of selling winning investments—would be taxed at 0%. [xyz-ihs snippet="Mobile-Subscribe"] A key problem: It’s highly unlikely that Bob and Jane’s numbers are going to be the same this year as…

Too Heavy a Load

Michael Perry | Oct 16, 2021

I’M A MORNINGSTAR subscriber. I find that the site provides investing and personal finance information that’s sensible and useful for the average person, and that it promotes good investing and planning behaviors. Still, I was taken aback by a recent article, which discussed four funds that investors have been buying. In terms of deciding what I buy, I don’t really care what others have been purchasing. Still, it’s interesting to see, so I checked it out. My surprise: Three of the four funds mentioned are A share funds, which means buyers have to pay a front-end commission, or load. For instance, one of the funds is Columbia Dividend Income, a Morningstar medalist that “really emphasizes quality” and “has put in some nice defensive qualities,” according to the Morningstar analyst. That sounds good. But not mentioned in the article is that, for regular retail investors, the Columbia fund’s A shares have a 5.75% front-end load. You can avoid that sales commission—but only if, say, you buy through an advisory account, which will then charge you a fee, or it’s offered in your 401(k). As of May 31, the front-end load A shares held $4.2 billon, second only to one of the institutional share classes. Besides my surprise that Morningstar has given a silver rating to a front-end load fund, I’m also surprised that investors have apparently been piling into it, such that the fund’s about to close. I realize not everyone has gotten the message from HumbleDollar and elsewhere that costs matter, but Morningstar usually promotes the concept. It’s one thing to pay an above-average expense ratio. But to me, a front-end load is something else entirely, because it can take years to recoup that cost—and it may never happen. Maybe that’s my own mental accounting at work, and a cost…

Our Nomadic Life

Michael Perry | Jun 5, 2024

WE'RE IN OUR SECOND year as nomads, having sold our Texas home and driven away from our storage unit in November 2022. In the few years before that, we often talked about where we wanted to move, but could never quite decide. When I retired in 2021, we traveled for most of the next 12 months. At the end of it, we still hadn’t decided where we wanted to live, but we knew we wanted a change, so we just pulled up our roots. We have yet to put down new ones. How is this working for us? We’ve spent time in previously unknown parts of the U.S., England, Italy, Spain and Portugal, but our intent isn’t to “travel the world.” We were fortunate to do a fair amount of that during our careers. We have some destinations in mind, but ticking off a list or saying we’ve been to [insert number] countries isn’t driving us. While we enjoy visiting new places, we’re also happy to revisit places we like and just be wherever we are. Our stops aren’t necessarily hot spots, just pretty places to spend time. When possible, we like to stay in one place for weeks at a time. As I write this, we’re enjoying our first visit to New Hampshire. We’ll be in France in September and England in November, but that’s the extent of our plans, and there are a lot of gaps between now and then. We have considerable flexibility, though that’s been limited by visa rules. European countries that are party to the Schengen agreement—which most of them are—allow visitors to stay just 90 days in a rolling 180-day period without a pre-arranged visa. The positive is that we can travel anywhere within the Schengen area without visa or border formalities. The negative…

Retirement on the Road

Michael Perry | Jan 1, 2025

WE'VE BEEN TAKING stock of our nomadic life. We’re quite happy living as we are. But we’re also conscious that things could change at any time for multiple reasons, and we’re ready to shift gears if needed. We aren’t exactly “living the dream”—because being nomadic was never our dream. We hadn’t even thought about it until a few months before we started our travels. We officially uprooted ourselves—meaning we sold our Houston home—after we’d been away from the place for most of the first year of my retirement. We didn’t want to stay where we were, but we also didn’t have a place we wanted to move. Now, as we enter our third year as nomads, we’re thinking of making at least a few smaller changes to our itinerant lifestyle. Complaints? I have a few. But then again… (sorry, Mr. Sinatra). I miss my kettlebells, and it’s hard to maintain my certified instructor standards without heavier ones, which you can’t find in most gyms. My wife is an amazing cook and enjoys it, but it’s less enjoyable when a kitchen has crummy pans and knives, plus she has her own fitness goals that are difficult to achieve when bouncing among whatever gyms are available, if any. It’s also a challenge for us to eat properly when dealing with different kitchens and different stores, especially so when you throw in certain dietary requirements. To be fair, we’ve been able to enjoy some impressive kitchens and gyms. Still, inconsistent eating and fitness are our biggest day-to-day concerns. I realize these will strike some as minor issues, but people are different and, for us, such things are important. We’ll often go out of our way and pay more than usual for short-term access to a good gym or for the food that we…

How to Not Waste a Low Income Year

Michael1 | Nov 10, 2024

Well, it’s that time of year again. No, I don’t mean the holiday decorations and music in the stores, although it’s certainly that time of year as well. I’m talking about looking at this year’s tax picture and what actions one might take before the year ends. There are several items that pop to mind for many people – optimizing giving to charity, making gifts to family, contributing to IRAs (consider doing this earlier!), and others. As 2024 will be a particularly low-income year for us, one thing that’s taking more of my time is deciding whether to do a Roth conversion or to realize some capital gains. We’ll do one or the other so as not to waste this year’s low tax rate, but which one to do is more complicated than it was when I wrote on it in more depth. The benefits of Roth conversion are well known to most readers. The main attraction for us is to pay some tax now in anticipation of a higher effective tax rate later. Notice I didn’t say higher tax brackets, as effective tax rate could be higher even if not in a higher bracket. (Another benefit is that unlike with a Traditional IRA, heirs also inherit the assets tax free. This isn’t a consideration for us but is a big one for some.) On the capital gains side, as I wrote previously, benefits would include simplifying the portfolio by reducing the number of holdings while also making it more tax efficient going forward. This year there’s a new consideration, in that we’re considering possibly buying a property soon. If we do, we’re going to need cash, and that cash is going to come from selling stocks. Why not do that now in this low-income year? The answer to that…

Profiting From Losses

Michael Perry | Feb 10, 2023

WE TRIMMED THE TAXES we owed on investment gains in 2021 by using losses we’d realized during 2020’s stock market swoon. Now, 2022’s market decline has allowed us to repeat this process, once again offsetting capital gains with tax losses that we’d earlier harvested. My wife and I haven’t just saved on taxes, however. The sales have also allowed us to reposition our taxable portfolio away from active management and toward more of an indexing bent. Along the way, we sidestepped one mistake but made two others—mistakes you’ll want to avoid if you decide to make similar trades. Here are some of the investment moves we’ve made over the past year: We realized losses when selling an actively managed fund and invested the proceeds in a broad-based index fund. We sold municipal bond funds at a small loss, again moving the proceeds to a stock index fund. At the same time, we moved from stock investments within a 401(k) to a stable value fund to maintain the same overall stock-bond mix. We realized losses on some index funds and invested the proceeds in similar index funds, in some cases doing so repeatedly. Regarding this last move, you might wonder why we swapped index funds back and forth. We did so purely to harvest losses that we could then use to offset later gains. While the index funds we’re switching between are not identical—that would disallow the tax loss—they’re similar enough for our investment purposes. At this stage, we’re happy to own these index funds no matter what the market does. If the market continues higher, great. If it drops, we may trade between these funds again—and harvest new tax losses. Our losses allowed us to offset $3,000 in ordinary income last year. That was a bonus because our marginal tax…

Is your retirement plan counting on a Social Security COLA in the future?

The Security Money Can’t Buy

What stock would you happily hold for the next 10 years?

Target Maturity Bond Funds

Why HumbleDollar?

My Name is Dan, and I’m a CPAP User

Shouldn’t property taxes be a realistic part of retirement planning? Sorry, I think this is a major financial and social issue.

Anyone For S.K.I.ing?

Time Is Priceless

Does the new-for-2026 $1000/$2000 charitable deduction for non-itemizers reduce AGI?

What I think about taxes- all kinds of taxes

Structuring Bonds

Is your retirement plan counting on a Social Security COLA in the future?

The Security Money Can’t Buy

What stock would you happily hold for the next 10 years?

Target Maturity Bond Funds

Why HumbleDollar?

My Name is Dan, and I’m a CPAP User

Shouldn’t property taxes be a realistic part of retirement planning? Sorry, I think this is a major financial and social issue.

Anyone For S.K.I.ing?

Time Is Priceless

Free Newsletter

Get Educated

Manifesto

Truths

think

act

Money Guide

Manifesto

Spotlight: Retirement

Why can’t more people plan for their retirement future?

Laid Off

How do you really feel about 401k plans?

Still Teaching

How did you avoid being in the 39%?

Retirement Plan

Spotlight: Perry

Getting to Zero

Too Heavy a Load

Our Nomadic Life

Retirement on the Road

How to Not Waste a Low Income Year

Profiting From Losses