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A retirement road test
In 2024, I took a break from full-time, corporate employment. I secured contract work to pay the bills while road-testing the retirement daydreams of my working self. The experiment revealed the wisdom (and curse) of psychologist Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness. “When we imagine future circumstances, we fill in details that won’t really come to
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Bogle and me
I published a reflection on my work with the legendary John C. Bogle on the great Jonathan Clements’ essential personal finance site, HumbleDollar. My post: The apprentice. A. Clarke
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The “Satisficer” Portfolio
“Maybe I’ll stream something.” This single sentence of internal dialogue is a prelude to 15 or 20 minutes of high anxiety. My family subscribes to at least five streaming services. When I want to watch a TV show or movie, I can choose from perhaps 40,000 selections.[1] I turn on Apple TV and scroll through
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Buffett, Gottesman, and me
In February 2024, Ruth Gottesman donated $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she served as a faculty member. Her gift will cover tuition, in perpetuity, for students at this Bronx medical school. The Bronx is the poorest and unhealthiest county in New York State. Ruth Gottesman’s gift may make it financially
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Life after labor: More than money
On Tuesday nights, I drive to northwest Philly. I park near the John B. Kelly School. I walk down an alley, code into the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop. I’m here to build a coffee table, my second project. A year ago, I built a bench. My classmates are retirees, young people happier at a workbench than
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Weekly reading, February 12 – February 16, 2024
The past week’s reads: I’m the WSJ’s Tax Columnist. Here’s How I Tackle My Own Taxes. Laura Saunders describes her approach to tax preparation and what it teaches her about her family’s finances. IBM Reopens Its Frozen Pension Plan, Saving the Company Millions. Another take on IBM’s recent changes to its workplace retirement plan.
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A paystub education
In 1985, I crept out from the shadows of the cash economy to join the formal labor market. I took tickets at the Arcadian Cinema, working 20 hours a week at $3.35 an hour. After two weeks, the theater manager handed me my first paycheck. I’d done the math: 40 hours at $3.35 an hour
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Weekly reading, January 29 – February 2, 2024
The past week’s reads: Could Company 401(k)s Go the Way of IBM? Watch the video or read the transcript. IBM, an early adopter of the 401(k), recently restructured its retirement plan, offering workers a defined benefit plan (cash balance) and a defined contribution plan (401(k)). IBM will no longer match employee contributions to the 401(k)
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Rolling over
In the church of personal finance, market-timing is a cardinal sin. The high priests of investor education inveigh against its temptations. “Market timing is a truly wicked idea,” writes Charley Ellis in his classic Winning the Loser’s Game. “Don’t try it!” Empirical research validates the ecclesiastical dogma, demonstrating that market-timing—attempts to exit the stock market
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Weekly reading, January 22 – January 26, 2024
The past week’s reads: The Money-Market Bonanza is Over. So is Now the Time for Stocks? This headline from The Wall Street Journal (paywall) struck me as odd. First, the bonanza continues to . . . “bonanze.” A year ago, the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund yielded 4.21%. On January 26, 2024, it yielded 5.28%. Some