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I'm curious if there's a simple source or rule of thumb regarding what kind of benefit increase one might expect from Social Security for paying one additional dollar in Social Security taxes (assume no other income taxes apply.) I know I can go to the SS website and play around with their...

From a Bloomberg News article: I'm a fan of the idea as it seems obvious that a 0% interest rate floor functions no differently than any other arbitrary price support. We all know that bad things happen when you mandate a minimum price in other commodity markets (resulting in excess supply of...

It seems like an obvious thing to do. The older we are the less likely we are to deplete our portfolio at a given withdrawal rate. Using FireCalc to figure the highest withdrawal rate possible from a 50/50 portfolio that still results in 100% success you get these results for various withdrawal...

So which is better at lowering your lifetime tax burden: a Roth IRA Conversion or exploiting the 0% Capital Gains bracket? Say we have a hypothetical taxpayer who is in the 15% bracket and can earn $20K more in income before they move into the next bracket. This person has $100K invested in a...

You have to open a new account and transfer a substantial balance ($500K) to get the 10% match on new contributions. You can still qualify for lower matching % with smaller balance transfers. I'm not sure it's worth the trouble, but hey, free money (just so long as you don't end up giving it all...

I recall a cartoon posted in some old thread showing a guy walking past a graveyard and looking at his watch. The bubble over his head said "Time is money." Meanwhile, the epitaph on the graveyard tombstone read "Time > Money." I can't find that cartoon anywhere. I thought someone here might...

Greetings from Belize. Wahoo's is right on the beach. Maybe a future gathering spot for RE alumni.

this ain't right . . . Prior to the big equity losses in 2008, the credit markets were already falling off a cliff - banks especially. Hold on to your hats.

Article here. This reminds me a bit of the early/mid - nineties when investment banks were buying up the life insurance policies of AIDS sufferers, securitizing them into bonds, and selling them to investors. The selling angle for the bonds was that these securities were really helping because...

In light of this thread, I thought it would be interesting and helpful to have an unscientific, but more representative, poll of folks who spend a lot of time thinking and preparing for retirement. For those retired at least one year, choose an answer that best reflects your agreement with the...

AirBnB.com is a website where people list rooms, apartments, or houses for rent. We've long considered alternative lodging arrangements, including these peer-to-peer hotels, as potentially inexpensive options for visiting expensive destinations. We're trying it out for the first time this June...

I only ever looked at Vanguard's TIPS Index and they apparently do the calculation right; so I never noticed any funny business. But according to this WSJ article, many other mutual funds annualize the last period's inflation adjustment as part of their SEC yield calculation - allowing some to...

This article strikes me as about right. With the Federal Govt. getting serious about cutting spending, the Federal Reserve will likely keep its 'exceptional accommodation' in place for a long time to help offset the fiscal drag. Anyone waiting (hoping) for higher rates, may still be waiting a...

We spent about a week in the Everglades and had a wonderful time. I just posted about a dozen wildlife photos if anyone is interested here (scroll down a bit for the first pic). The photos can be enlarged by clicking on them, and most benefit from a bigger format. While there we also saw a...

In case anyone is wondering, here is a chart for the Dollar Index since Bernanke first mentioned additional asset purchases by the Fed (QE2) on 10/4/10.

Japan goes from dynamic to disheartened

Another celebrity stock picker proves herself to be a one hit wonder . . . Whitney Falters in Trying to Repeat Success of Citigroup Call Funny how often that happens. But you'll always have people making excuses . . . I recall a saying among traders: "You're not wrong, just early." It was...

TARP will cost far less than once thought. Small price to pay for preventing economic catastrophe. Props go to all involved, Paluson, Bernanke, Geithner, Obama, and yes, Bush.

Seven of Goldman's Top Nine Trade Ideas Lose Money So here's an interesting juxtaposition.

Junk bonds sell with the weakest creditor protection features since 2007 This is the kind of stuff you typically see late in the business cycle. It usually lasts a couple of years before the bottom falls out. But in the past it has taken a lot longer to get here. So does that mean the end...

US Stocks Cheapest since 1990 This guy . . . Or this guy . . .

Of the many ridiculous hyperbolic claims that pass for truth these days the one expressed most frequently is that the U.S. is, or is becoming, a socialist state. The truth, though is that the U.S. is far less “socialist”, and government intervention in the private sector is far smaller, than it...

IMF economists suggest that central bankers raise their inflation targets to 4% from 2% . . . Paul Krugman agrees, arguing that higher inflation is needed to achieve full employment, especially in some countries in the Euro zone . . . In practice, a 2% inflation target has resulted in more...

Bill Miller, from Legg Mason, takes on the mainstream slow growth view in his latest quarterly commentary . . . http://www.leggmason.com/individualinvestors/documents/insights/D8468-Bill_Miller_Commentary.pdf

If everything goes according to plan, I’ll be living in an RV and traveling the continent full-time by early next spring. The decision to do this is a recent one; only a few weeks old, but it actually has been several years in the making. The original idea (at least for me) came from...