Can It Be 20 Years?
At an important time during modern American history, Whitney delivered this soulful, graceful & powerful rendition of our national anthem. In other words, her delivery was just like her, and her talent. You didn’t need to like her music in order to observe this.
It’s almost exactly 10 years since this titan passed away (ten years this past Friday), it reminds me why we keep workin’ in the salt mines. There are losses we cannot avoid, but there are losses we might be able to: we work very hard, to help you avoid the risks & losses that you can. Once every effort is exhausted, we’ll have to accept the outcome.
The world watched, we knew that Whitney was having problems. Maybe nothing could be done, maybe heroic intervention did occur. Now, we’ll never know, which is the worst.
Important Nuance to Last Email
Last time, in the post titled “Working Beyond 65,” I wrote this about Medicare Part A:
Broadly Speaking
Part A is a good idea when you turn 65. The main exception is that if a person has an HSA account and is contributing to it (you or anyone else).
There is another subtlety here. That is, if you delay enrolling in Part A due to the fact that you have an HSA account and want to contribute, you need to remember that at the time that you do apply for Part A, the actual Part A coverage date will be set backwards in time, and therefore, can affect your HSA contribution limit, which is pro-rata shared.
Example: Let’s say you are now 66, and apply for Part A now (on Valentine’s Day). The Part A coverage date will be September 1, 2021. That creates a problem because if you have contributed to your HSA account in 2021, your contribution limit is 9/12 x last year’s limit ($3600) = 9/12 * 3600 = $2700, NOT $3600. If you have contributed $3600, then you have over-contributed by $900, and is subject to possible tax penalty (we are not CPAs over here).
Nudge
Order here (click) or click on the image.
Y’all Think I’m Makin’ Stuff Up, Right?
Top panel is American Funds’ set of Target Retirement Funds, and bottom panel is Blackrock’s. Not financial advice, dyor.
Takeaways:
a. You can see that the red circle and orange circle: the results are almost exactly alike. HMM: perhaps they are using the singular technique that is described in the video.
b. These funds, over the past 12 months, were nowhere close to the S&P 500’s return. Why? Diversified portfolios, by the hugest investors with unlimited computing power, don’t cherry-pick individual stocks, that’s for CNBC and the media to publicize.
c. The unresolved issue is that these funds can work in Qualified Fund accounts, but there will still be turnover and distributions that can income tax ripple effects for Non-Qualified accounts, which remain unrevealed or misunderstood. The reason that is important? Medicare IRMAA and your health insurance premiums under the ACA. If you are affected, this this could possibly lower your effective return because you get hit by another tax.
This Doesn’t Seem Like Fun
Some screenshots from Bloomberg.com. And I didn’t even include certain headlines about a possible Eastern European conflict.