Some great bargains on select news and business magazines and newspapers: The Atlantic, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, Wall Street Journal
Latest Blog Posts
Medicare Doc Fix: An Interview with Austin Frakt
The Medicare "doc fix" is in the news again. I keep hearing if Congress doesn’t act, doctor’s fees for treating Medicare patients will be cut by 27% starting on January 1. This is a complete mystery to me. What’s this evil force that’s trying to cut doctor’s fees? Why can’t Congress make it stop since […]
What to Do When Interest Rate Is So Low
Princeton University professor emeritus Burton Malkiel and the author of the popular book A Random Walk Down Wall Street wrote in the Wall Street Journal The Bond Buyer’s Dilemma. Professor Malkiel suggested some reasonable alternatives to long-term U.S. Treasuries. “The first is to look for bonds with moderate credit risk where the spreads over U.S. […]
Tax on Capital Gains While Receiving Social Security Benefits
I wrote about tax-free capital gains when you are in the 15% tax bracket or lower. I created this chart to make it clearer what I’m talking about (click on the chart for a larger size). Your gross income first goes toward the pre-tax deductions from your paychecks (401k, health care insurance premiums, flexible spending […]
Lump Sum, Dollar Cost Average, Or Wait for Dip?
It’s December. A new year is just around the corner. I’m thinking of when I should contribute to my IRA for the next year. In the past, I always contributed the full amount at the first opportunity: January 2. Every year I just moved $5,000 or whatever the limit was for that year from my […]
Deduct-and-Convert: Save Hundreds in State Tax on Roth IRA
If you live in the right state and have the right income, you can save hundreds in state income tax when you contribute to a Roth IRA in a different way.
Social Security Penalizes Two-Earner Families
A two-earner family with the same income as a one-earner family receives lower Social Security benefits. The difference gets much larger when one spouse dies.
Financial Advisors Support Peer Who Lost His Home
Although the public comments on the financial planner who found the best way to lose his home are mostly negative, it’s the opposite in the financial advisors circle. Michael Kitces asked his financial advisors audience Which Is More Important In Your Trust Equation: Credibility, Or Authenticity? He alluded to the worry that by admitting mistakes […]
Retail Banking Oligopoly
During the brouhaha over the $5-a-month debit card usage fee, this article came to my attention: Banking Has Become an Oligopoly Instead of a Competitive Business. It said banking is now an oligopoly, and therefore switching banks will not work because banks are not in a competitive market. “Banking is not really a competitive industry. […]
The Best Way to Lose Your Home
If you read finance related discussion boards and blogs, you must have read discussion on a confession in New York Times by a financial planner about how he lost his home in the real estate bubble in Las Vegas. How a Financial Pro Lost His House – New York Times Long story short, the financial […]