The reason I asked is because I have a relative who was very anti-Bush but who voted for Ralph Nader in the 2000 election. And I always think, How did that work out for you . But how it works out really depends on what state one lives in, right? I was a resident of New York State from 1987 to 2018 ...

I don't sell often, but when I do, I have always sold to a local coin shop. I've been hesitant to try selling via the mail with a dealer. It's nice to hear that some folks have had positive experiences with it. If you sent 5 coins and the dealer said you only sent 4 how would that ever get resolved...

Just an FYI that I had a good experience selling 20 coins to JM Bullion last week. Their price was about $600 higher ($30 per coin) than what Apmex was offering. About 1% above spot for Eagles, 1% below for Maple Leafs and 1.3% below for Krugs. Dropped my package off at 5:00PM last Wednesday and had...

I am curious if any on here have updated their personal narrative about what drives gold prices. Seems like the price of gold is responding to economic data more or less in lockstep with stocks. For example, a weaker jobs report gives people the hope that Fed rate cuts may happen sooner rather than...

I am curious if any on here have updated their personal narrative about what drives gold prices. Seems like the price of gold is responding to economic data more or less in lockstep with stocks. For example, a weaker jobs report gives people the hope that Fed rate cuts may happen sooner rather than ...

Of course, I made the mistake of going to inflationCalculator and looking at purchasing power. Not..quite…what it once was. Well, damn, that site provides a valuable - if somewhat sobering - point of view. Feels like we are doing great, but if not for savings from continued work, it looks like we w...

https://www.businessinsider.com/gold-price-china-consumers-central-bank-pboc-economy-concerns-dedollarization-2024-4 ECONOMY People in China are so spooked about the economy that even the weak yuan isn't stopping them from buying more gold Huileng Tan Apr 22, 2024, 2:33 AM EDT Didn't want to create...

Hi, Welcome to the United States of America. You're free here, but you'll need some money. Go get a job. ...Two weeks go by. Here's your pay, but you only get half of it because you gotta do your part. We live in a society that pays for tons of shit on our behalf that we like to forget about when i...

There is a term for this as you can see from the below article. I assume you are somewhat unaware of this because you are not yet collecting Social Security. I was also oblivious to it until it became a reality for me. Ah, right, the dreaded SS tax torpedo that I see discussed on Bogleheads and for...

Vinny, You seem to be saying that if you have $10,000 taxed at 22% and another $10,000 also taxed at 22% that you now have $20,000 being taxed at 44%. The tax on that $20,000 is $4,400, not $8,800. Remember that you have $11,600 that is only taxed at 10% and that the next $35,550 is only taxed at 12...

The whole Social Security thing is a double tax as not only will those Require Minimum Distributions push me well into the 22% marginal tax bracket ... it will also result in more Social Security being taxed (at that 22% marginal tax bracket). Seems like that could be viewed as a 44% federal tax ra...

You are correct about effective tax rate ...which is different from marginal tax rate, which is the tax rate on your next $$$ earned. For my 2023 tax return I am in the 22% federal tax bracket. State is 5%. Therefore, 27% total for the next $$$ earned. But then there is Social Security / Medicare, ...

The new variable rate on I-bonds issued 5/1/24 to 10/31/24 is 2.96%. Article by David Enna is here:

https://tipswatch.com/2024/04/10/march- ... e-at-2-96/

He is also forecasting a fixed rate of 1.2% or 1.3%. So a 4.26% composite rate more or less.

I just sold some 0% fixed rate I-Bonds and bought new ones at 1.3% (Fixed rate at 1.3% through the end of April) Per one YouTube video I say, the fixed rate likely to be slightly lower May 1 And, figured 1.3% is better than my 0%, even with the 3 month interest penalty for selling before 5 years ar...

Lets consider investments to be money we give to other people in the hope that it grows, and liquidity to be the money we set aside to ensure we can meet our day to day obligations “whatever the future brings”. From this lens, stocks are investments and bonds, cash, and gold are about liquidity, ri...

Should have checked before I posted that, Vinny. Yes, it works in reverse. This is the Investopedia link: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/ruleof72.asp#:~:text=The%20rule%20can%20also%20be,72%20%2F%206%20%3D%2012). But back to my main point. Looking for a reliable site for the "real" r...

Whoah!! Almost 2300. I have the same question as the title of this thread....is this because people think the Middle East situation is spinning out of control? Or that some kind of economic apocalypse is being predicted and I just haven't noticed? Or, do we indeed have inflation, it's just not refl...

I agree to a great extent. However, it’s not about just wealth, but value, Barrett. New treatments for ailments, the democratization of the cellphone, etc. Granted there are all kinds of problems — surprise medical costs & out-of-pocket health insurance rates; unaffordable housing, and so forth...

• 50K to 350K over 15 years is 13.85% annualized, right? Is that so dramatic? This is why I’ve always been stock heavy. • As we know, the market moves in fits and starts, thus “time in the market, not timing the market.” What was that ten-year period where the S&P returned nothing? Maybe 2000 t...

Could anyone explain to me what caused such a dramatic increase? Has US productivity increased that much? I believe that the Trump tax cuts in late 2017 (TCJA) helped stocks here in the US a lot. This is hardly a thrilling read but might help: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-did-t...

I decided back in about 2017 not to hold long bonds because they tend to do great for a short period of time and then give up their gains quickly. See the data here: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DGS30 Plug in an earlier start date so that you can see their performance in late 2008 and early 20...

Cash: looks like these high interest rates aren’t going to last anyway. You may be right - but it's so thorny trying to predict the future. Actually you ARE right given a long enough time horizon. How long? Who knows! It's probably a good idea to make sure anything you do is reversible in case we e...

Didn't read the article, but the one thing I would add to boglerdude's list is having favorable genetics. In fact that may outweigh all other factors put together. Of course, one can't change anything about their genetics. Boglerdude's post outlines several changes that one can consciously take.

A few random thoughts... There's obviously no one-size-fits-all answer for this but I cancelled my life insurance last year (at age 64) with about seven years left on a 20-year term. My wife is almost 57 and still has hers. My premium was high(ish) at about $115 per month. In our case our house is p...

Can’t wait to hear what Jeremy Grantham has to say. “ This time…” O0 Or that guy who’s been advertising on the finance news channels for 2 years saying something terrible is coming. Man, this got me thinking about Jim Rickards and the first hit I got was a a podcast from 2/2/23 in which he predicte...