I use November 30 as our calculation date to determine our Safe Spending Amount (SSA; Chapter 2, Nest Egg Care (NEC) for the upcoming year. This post shows the checklist I ran through this week. I think November 30 is a good 12-month
A reader – I’ll call him Jim – wrote and wanted my views on a financial instrument called a Single Premium Intermediate Annuity (SPIA). Earlier this year, before he had read Nest Egg Care (NEC), Jim purchased for $500,000 an annuity that pays
New data on inflation came out yesterday, and US stocks jumped +5.7%. WOW! That’s the third month with big changes on the day of the monthly report on inflation. The jump for stocks in October was +2.5% and the dive was -4.5% in September. This
For the ten months of 2022, the real return for US stocks is about -23%. If this is result for the whole year, 2022 would clearly rank in the worst ten years since 1926 and close to the worst five. This is not a different
Last week the news reported that the IRS announced the tax schedules for 2023 and some reports stated, “Some will be able to keep more money.” I think you’ve got this: this last statement isn’t true. Accurate inflation adjustment of the tax tables mean that
We can’t control what happens to stock and bond markets. We had no control in 2020 and 2021 when US stocks soared +20% each year, and we have no control over the 25% decline this year. But when the market declines we have the urge
New data on inflation came out yesterday, and the US stocks jumped about +2.5%. I have no idea why, but I’ll take it: last month stocks dropped about 4% on what looks like very similar news to me. This post summarizes the inflation data: 1)
As you can see from the map, Patti and I traveled extensively (the red dots) in France: Bordeaux and the Dordogne Valley. We don’t cover much territory, but I really like visiting a place and covering it by walking.
Unless there is a dramatic change in prices for stocks and bonds, I will not be happy the first week of December when I sell securities for our spending for 2023. For the past eight years, I sold securities that week for the total that
In most years, I mostly or solely sell stocks in December for our spending in the upcoming year. That’s because stock returns have been greater than bond returns in all but one of the last seven years since the start of our retirement plan. Last
