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When three catastrophes collide, sometimes there’s a silver lining… — One of my clients owes an astounding $350,000 in student loans! Others owe “just” tens of thousands. While being in debt is rarely pleasant, these days there’s some good news for people like my above-mentioned clients, and if you have any student loans, then you’re included! Here’s why… When Three Catastrophes Collide… Catastrophe #1…

Parents’ cost of raising kids is super-high, but the societal cost of not having kids is ruinous — Does it ever feel like having kids is just too unbelievably expensive? I mean, really, what are we supposed to do? Not have kids? Isn’t the “graying of America” bad enough already? According to the US Census Bureau, “In less than two decades, the graying of America will be inescapable…

A fundamental problem I have with these otherwise great carmakers — Mini-rant alert — I don’t often write rants, but this is one — which I at least kept short and to the point… Toyota and Honda make great cars. They aren’t the cheapest nor are they, mostly, the top performers. But they are well known as superbly reliable and comfortable…

Comparing two popular employee health benefits — It probably won’t be a shock to you to learn that healthcare costs in the US are out of control. In fact, in the past 75 years, the average annual US healthcare inflation was 5 percent (see graph), over 40 percent higher than the 3.5-percent …

What if you can save tens of thousands of dollars by going counter to mainstream “wisdom”? — As I often say, personal finance is just that, personal. And since we may have different goals and priorities, different personal circumstances, and different temperaments, what’s right for me could be very wrong for you, and vice versa. However, unless your priorities, circumstances, and temperament are complete outliers, there are…

How to improve your budgeting, investing, and draw-down strategies… — I’ve always said it — personal finance is just that, personal. What’s right for me could be devastatingly wrong for you, and vice versa. After all, we may be wildly different from each other. We may (and likely do) have: Different life circumstances; Different goals and priorities; and/or A totally…

A less well-known strategy for turning your retirement nest egg into a never-ending retirement income stream — In a recent article, “How to Have Your Best Retirement, Feel Confident, and Never Run out of Money,” I presented three big reasons for concern about our retirement plans. As life expectancy increases, retirement gets longer and longer. Market returns are expected to be much lower in the coming decades.

What do you need to do to preserve your nest egg? — You’ve been thinking about funding your retirement. You’ve even started planning for it. Kudos! Just planning puts you far ahead of the crowd. And chances are, you’ve heard of and may even be using the so-called “4-percent rule.” The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) crowd swears by it! The “Classic” 4-Percent Rule Published by…

Or “How to reach ultimate poverty in one easy (albeit long) step” — I’ve long been uncomfortable with an approach promoted by another Medium writer, Rocco Pendola. He calls it “Never Retire” and even has a newsletter by that name. This morning I read a great piece by Charlie Brown titled “I ‘Retired’ at 35 and It Lasted Less than a Year. …