A blog about things I find useful
I’ve been doing a bit of benchmarking retirement plans lately. The vast majority of universities have made their menu structure publicly available, so it’s a pretty easy exercise. Rather having it sit unused on my hard drive, I thought I’d post it to the internet in a dedicated post. If you are interested for some … Read more
Here’s the second instance of the state-of-the-blog post. My 2019 edition is here. Blog Stats: 298 WordPress / email subscribers 33% growth from last year (224) 288 Feedly subscribers: 16% growth from last year (248) 136,970 pageviews this year 2020 cumulative pageviews: 316,223. 2019 cumulative pageviews: 179,253. Posts/month: ~3.5. 2020 Profitability: Amazon affiliate revenue: $104 … Read more
Goodbye 2020. You will not be missed. Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Finance Buff on the “CARES Act 2.0” (link). $300 (single) / $600 (married) non-itemized charitable deduction for 2021. Does not affect 2020. Cash only — no appreciated securities. Mankiw’s NYT article on the double-edged sword of … Read more
Well, that happened pretty fast. My Coronavirus Stimulus 2.0 hit my Fidelity (which has lightening fast ACH processing times) account this morning. If you don’t bank with Fidelity, presumably this will hit your account tomorrow? Here’s what I understand about the new stimulus: $600/adult + $600/kid if aged 16 or younger. 5% phase out … Read more
The Not-Terribly-Astute Observation I frequently marvel at the grand 401k experiment that we’re embarking on. In the absence of pension funds, all of us with 401k’s are pension fund managers. As such, our future livelihoods depends on: Having the discipline to save early and often by forgoing consumption now Understanding how to leverage the US … Read more
Frustrating (but Important) Committee Work I was asked by my university to serve on a committee to help select “an expert consultant” to tell us what is wrong with our 401a/403b/457 plans. If you haven’t had the joy of serving on an administrative university committee before, you’re missing out. It’s about 10 times more inefficient/frustrating … Read more