Archives for June 2025

For anybody interested in attending this year’s Bogleheads Conference (October 17-19 in San Antonio), today is the last day for early-bird pricing.

This year, in addition to the Bogleheads regulars such as Bill Bernstein, Christine Benz, Allan Roth, Rick Ferri, and others, you’ll get to hear from experts such as John Rekenthaler, Cameron Huddleston, Paul Merriman, and more. IRA expert Ed Slott will be joining us, and estate planning attorney Jenny Rozelle (whom many attendees listed as their favorite speaker from last year’s conference) will be returning. We’ll also hear from Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji.

For anybody who hasn’t been to one or isn’t aware, the Bogle Center aims to run these conferences “at cost.” And all of the speakers are volunteering their time. The result is that the Bogleheads Conference is an incredible value, as compared to what you are likely to find from other financial conferences.

You can find more information and register here:
https://boglecenter.net/2025conference/

And as always, for everybody who is unable to attend in person, the conference sessions will be made available on the Bogleheads YouTube channel at a later date. (It typically takes a few months to get the videos ready for release.)

Other Recommended Reading

• The Joneses Aren’t That Happy from Ben Carlson
• Eyes Forward from Adam Grossman
• Protecting Elders From Financial Exploitation from Rick Kahler
• Lessons on Money & Life I Learned From Warren Buffett from Allan Roth
• Using an Independent Agent for Auto and Home Insurance from Harry Sit
• After Successful 2025 Tax Season, IRS Budget Cuts Threaten 2026 Filing Season, Taxpayer Advocate Says from Martha Waggoner
• The Most Volatile Decade from Ben Carlson

Thanks for reading!

It’s common to hear about an impending “retirement crisis” due to the modest levels of savings that most people have as they move into old age. And indeed, per the Federal Reserve’s SCF (Survey of Consumer Finances) data, the median person age 65-75 has $200,000 in savings (as of 2022, anyway). In other words, using the 3-5% retirement spending rates that people often discuss, the median retiree is looking at retirement income that could be described as “Social Security, plus several thousand dollars per year.”

One recent piece of good news comes from retirement researcher David Blanchett. Blanchett examined data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and found that, when consumption level is held constant, financial well-being increases significantly for older Americans. (In other words, people are likely satisfied with decreasing levels of spending as they age.) Similarly, he found that financial well-being declines for only approximately 7% of households moving in retirement, despite the fact that consumption declines by approximately 20%, on average.

• Retirees: Doing Better with Less (pdf) from David Blanchett

Other Recommended Reading

• Not All Stocks Recover Their Losses from Ben Carlson
• Financial Lessons from My Family’s Experience with Long-Term Care Insurance from Adam Safdi
• Vanguard Seeks SEC Approval to Launch ETF Share Classes for Active Funds from Emily Graffeo
• 13 Ways to Screw Up Tax-Loss Harvesting from Jim Dahle
• A “Normie” Reflects on a FIRE Gathering from Christine Benz

Thanks for reading!

In the most recent episode of the Bogleheads on Investing podcast, Rick Ferri interviewed Jonathan Clements, Jason Zweig, and Christine Benz. Together, they dig a little deeper into the Jonathan Clements Getting Going on Savings Initiative than what you’ve likely seen so far in our various articles. And they discuss Jonathan’s new book as well.

It was lovely to hear Jonathan’s own take on his career, how his writing explored different themes over time, and how that all comes into the book.

• Bogleheads on Investing, Episode 82: Jonathan Clements, Jason Zweig, and Christine Benz

Other Recommended Reading

• The Most Revealing Question in Personal Investing from Victor Haghani and James White
• Using Subtrusts To Allow Stretch IRA Treatment For Trusts With Multiple Beneficiaries from Ben Henry-Moreland
• The Dumb Money Isn’t So Dumb Anymore from Ben Carlson
• You Can’t Put a Price on Mental Freedom from Nick Maggiulli
• AICPA: Contingent Fee Provision in Tax Bill Would Help Unscrupulous Tax Preparers from Martha Waggoner
• His Life Savings Were Mailed to Him by Paper Check. Now, It’s Gone from Ron Lieber

Thanks for reading!