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U.S. President Joe Biden speaks as he participates in a bill signing ceremony for the “Social Security Fairness Act” in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, U.S. on Jan. 5, 2025. Nathan Howard | Reuters President Joe Biden on Sunday signed the Social Security Fairness Act, bipartisan legislation that clears the way […]
Administrative note: there will be no article next week (12/23), as I’ll be taking time off for the holidays. Last week I linked to my “Roth Conversions Deep Dive” presentation from the recent Bogleheads Conference. And many people wrote in to ask about things that were not included in the presentation. One of the biggest […]
Bill Bengen, the former rocket scientist who discovered the “4 percent rule” of retirement planning, joins us at the Bogleheads conference in Minnesota. Bengen clarifies that calling it a “rule” is misleading since it doesn’t fit everyone’s situation. The 4 percent figure came from studying the worst-case scenario since 1926, when someone who retired in […]
An anonymous caller, whom we name “Samantha,” and her husband are financially strained and feeling torn. Shortly after purchasing two rental properties, their income dropped dramatically. Should they sell? Tina is a full-time environmentalist. She’s worried that her index funds don’t align with her values on sustainability. Is there a world where she can be […]
One thing I run into frequently — both working with clients and via correspondence with readers — is people who have financial goals that, to put it bluntly, are not very good. And to be clear, I just don’t mean that they’re goals I wouldn’t pick. I get excited about spending money on spring loaded […]
Admin note: I have the annual Bogleheads Conference coming up this week, followed immediately by some vacation travel and then a finger surgery which will require a couple days of not-very-productive recovery. So there will be a temporary publishing hiatus here, with the next article appearing October 21. If you have read about retirement tax […]