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

I switched our main checking account – the one that gets our Social Security checks and that I use to pay all bills – from my bank at PNC to a “cash management” account at Fidelity. I had three reasons: 1) It’s easier to transfer

You win the tax game with Roth when you are retired, assuming you stay in the 22% marginal tax rate when you contribute or convert to Roth. You come out ahead by perhaps $1,000s per year in retirement. You want to get to roughly 80%

It’s been over seven weeks since we returned to from India. We’re back to our normal routine! The memories – particularly the experiences that got us out of our comfort zone – are seared in our brains forever! I enclose a list of those things