Retirement Starts Today

Do lower-cost funds tend to outperform pricier ones over time? Jeffrey Ptak analyzed fifteen years of performance data covering virtually every U.S. mutual fund and ETF. He divided them into five “cost buckets,” from the cheapest 10% all the way up to the most expensive 10%. He then compared each group’s average monthl

Vanguard Research put out a paper called "The Emotional and Time Value of Advice” (June 2025).  It claims that there are "emotional benefits and time-saving value that paid professional financial advice provides to clients."  In other words: The benefit isn't the portfolio or financial advice, but the emotional and tim

Only about 4% of retirees actually wait until age 70 to claim Social Security, despite the financial benefits of delaying them. This comes from an article by Derek Tharp at Kitces.com titled “The Flaws In Using A 0% Discount Rate To Justify Delaying Social Security”. It takes a hard look at why the common advice to “wa

Our retirement headline is from a ThinkAdvisor article titled "Ed Slott: Roth Conversions Are Trickier Under New Tax Law" by Melanie Waddell. “With the extended tax cuts under President Trump’s recently passed tax and spending law, ‘Roth conversions should be accelerated to take advantage of more years of low tax rates

Should I collect Social Security early & invest the proceeds into the stock market? This is the age-old question I see on a nearly daily basis in retirement forums. An article from Morningstar - written by Christine Benz and features a conversation with Social Security expert Mary Beth Franklin - gives me the basis for

Inflammatory headlines are "Clickbait", and I am not immune to falling for them. "Social Security recipients set to face an $18,000 benefit cut in just seven years" is the most recent culprit in my Google feed - with an image of a Social Security check with a wrecking ball smashing straight through it. The good news is