Inflation for the most widely reported measure of inflation, Seasonally-adjusted inflation, barely budged in July. Wholesale prices were flat. Core inflation, which excludes the more volatile energy and food components, increased more in the month, but the last six months and 12 months run at

Every now and then I scratch my head: is there something better than IUSB, our index fund for US bonds? I look at two kinds of funds in this post: funds that buy and hold short-term, high interest loans banks make to their customers and

Yep. It’s time to fill out a draft of your 2026 tax return. I’ve cranked mine out no later than this time every year. I enclose a spreadsheet for a single filer here and for married, joint filers here.

== Three reasons ==

The amount of Traditional IRA that is low tax is much less than most retirees think: an example for a single filer in this post shows less than $20,000 is taxed less than 22% marginal rate; it’s roughly double that $amount for married, joint filers.

DEFLATION! Inflation was below 0% in June. Inflation for the most popular measure was -0.42% in June. This compares to +0.42% in May. On a 12-month basis, Core Inflation, the measure nearest to the one the Fed favors, also was below 0% for June; inflation

I’m seven months into my 12-month year that I use to calculate our Safe Spending Amount for the upcoming calendar year. (SSA, Nest Egg Care (NEC) I usually take a hard look at the end of July, but I calculate at the end

I’ve read this argument: delay the start of SS and distribute from your Traditional IRA because you will pay less tax on your distributions from Traditional. I did not consider the tax consideration in my post that recommends you start SS when you are ready.

Social Security (SS) now estimates that SS benefits can remain at 100% of current benefits through 2032; that’s one quarter less than the estimate last year. Thereafter, benefits would be cut by 22% if there is no change to SS. We’ll see changes to SS,

The food and energy components of inflation were very high in April, but were a bit less than the jump in March. They are the obvious contributors to recent inflation. We most clearly see this when we compare two inflation measures: Seasonally-adjusted inflation includes