It’s simpler and clearer to understand how we make the most of our money – pay the least in taxes – when we understand and plan our Modified Adjusted Gross Income or MAGI. When we understand MAGI, we know how to pay the least taxes

The answer: it looks very bad for funds and fund families that pride themselves on being better than average. That’s what I conclude as I look over the results of Fidelity funds and the flagship fund from American Funds. This post highlights the poor

I contributed $2,000 to my IRA each year for many years. IRAs that gave a tax deduction for that $2,000 started in about 1981, and I jumped on board. I invested $2,000 each year, the allowable maximum at the time.

I thought of each

I like looking at the Vanguard Style Box (I call it a Nine Box.) at the end of the year to get a snapshot of what segments of stocks outperformed and underperformed the US stock market as a whole. This post discusses the 2018 snapshot.

Market returns were not good for the calendar year. This is clearly the worst year in decade. Here are the annual returns for stocks and bonds for the past four years following the recommendations in Nest Egg Care – using the specific mutual funds and

It’s that time of year that Patti and I make sure we’ve given what we want to give to those we care about. We always spend and give our annual Safe Spending Amount (SSA). As in the several past years we have not spent it

I look at my imagined wine barrels and large vat every December 15, but it’s good for me to take a snapshot of what has happened since my sale of securities on December 3 for our 2019 Safe Spending Amount. (That has turned out

This is my imagined workday every December 15. I even mark this day as “Bottling Day” on my calendar. I imagine that I dress warmly for my annual work task out in our garage. The high was 46^o this year, warmer than in recent

The calculation year for Patti and me ended November 30. I sold securities the next business day – Monday, December 3 – to get our total Safe Spending Amount (SSA) for 2019 into cash. Then my portfolio took a sudden, steep hit. My stocks declined

I knew this before entering our 12-month returns ending November 30 into our calculation sheet: our Safe Spending Amount (SSA) – the amount that results in zero probability of depleting our portfolio through 2034 (Patti’s age 87) – is unchanged in spending power for 2019.