While my portfolio lost 1.97% of its value in 2018, the rest of my life went WAY UP! 2018 is one of those years I will not forget. This is what retirement living is all about, and recovering from Dan’s sudden and shocking death. There is a life after a loss, and after 24 years in the classroom, the business or the office. At the end of this blog post, I will explain how Vanguard is the financial foundation of the following trips, concerts, fundraisers to give back, financial independence conference, dance competition, Buddhist teachings, and loving Georgiana.

It’s all here. I hope you enjoy, are inspired and discover the benefits of retirement living.

The first of Several Opportunities to Give Back

2018 started right out of the gate on January 2nd at our first black-tie fundraiser event, Palm Springs International Film Festival GALA awards and dinner. I love formal fundraising events! Besides the great food, the energy, the walking the same red carpet with the stars, and the comradery with friends Frank, Valerie and their son Frank Jr, the highlight was when Georgiana chased down Gal Gadot of Wonder Woman fame and snagged her autograph for Georgiana’s three young nieces who adore the Wonder Woman character…

 

To Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos with my sister-in-law, Cathy and friend Janet …

To one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Our next Fundraiser event was in my Rancho Mirage neighborhood for the American Cancer Society. While Dan died from cancer, I am a cancer survivor. I support cancer research, and hope you do too.

To several phenomenal concerts in Las Vegas and Phoenix…

Lady GAGA was in Elton John’s audience with us! She is the God Mother of Elton’s two sons. 

 

Wow! One of the best concerts of the year! Andrea ROCKS!

And as long as we were at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix AZ we toured Taliesin West, the famous Frank L. Wright architectural school and foundation located in nearby Scottsdale AZ. Even though Wright designs are a century old, they still look modern in 2018. What a visionary!

Ballroom Dancing Competition

I am still shocked by my performance! Eleven 1st Place and four 2nd place. 

On a realistic note, I visited Dan’s gravesite June 29, his birthday. The setting is beautiful and peaceful, just what Dan wanted, to be buried by the trail behind some boulders and under a fallen tree. We hiked often on Mt. San Jacinto National Park. Even though my life has changed positively in 2018, I will never forget Dan.

Our doggie Sammi (Jindo-Chow mix) is also buried next to Dan. 

Off to Maui, we went. It has been 30 years since I last visited the Hawaiian islands, and had planned this trip for two years. We stayed at a fabulous condo right on the beach on the western coast of Maui.

 

 

A few weeks later, Georgiana and I also got out of the summer desert heat by staying in Long Beach to get reacquainted with old Los Angeles friends, and visit the fabulous Ventura coastline and the remote Channel Islands. Neither one of us ever visited the Channel Islands…

The remnants of an abandoned ranch on Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands. Reminds me of my farmboy days of driving a similar tractor on my parents’ dairy farm in Wisconsin…

 

To CampFI (Financial Independence Movement) conference in Joshua Tree, CA…. (Georgiana and I are in the front row on the right).  I am so happy for what these young people are doing to escape the powerful consumer culture, achieve financial independence and give back to society that I donated $10,000 to be an Associate Producer of their documentary which will broadcast nationwide this spring, 2019. Here is the “Playing with Fire” trailer and it explains why I support their cause: https://www.playingwithfire.co/

 

 

To the Historical Boston MA. and Paul Revere’s Old North Church…

Boston’s skyline and beautiful harbor with Georgiana and her niece, Melissa.

Historical USS Constitution in Boston Harbor.

Third Fundraiser: Passions Ball for Cancer Partners. Cancer Partners is an organization where I have been attending bereavement and life-after-loss support. We are dancing away with friends to Motown music.

At the end of 2018, Georgiana and I hosted Christmas dinner at my house with my nieces Shay and Linda, and three of Georgiana’s friends. 

Hi Readers!

Happy New Year!

Did you accomplish all that you wanted in 2018? I did with the new love of my life–Georgiana! As you can see from the pictures above, we were busy with purchasing experiences. I know its a worn out cliche’ about the origin of long-lasting and fulfilling happiness comes with discovering new places, people and experiences that go along with it. We traveled to three countries and four states, attending concerts featuring Elton John, Paul Simon, Bono’s U2, and the phenomenal Andrea Bocelli, participated in the unique Financial Independence conference organized by a group of young Millennials, and my advocacy work with attending and supporting the 403(b) summit by the Securities and Exchange Commission at my Pension headquarters, California State Teachers Retirement Services (CalSTRS) in Sacramento, California.

Why I write this Blog

In a previous blog post, I talked about being interviewed on Tim Ranzetta’s podcast show about what I do with this blog and my books. I was involved in both pleasure and business, the pleasure of enjoying my travels with the love of my life, Georgiana, and the business of sharing how my financial portfolio has been performing. The collaboration of working with colleagues was transformative. We will never rest until 403(b) reform is complete and my former colleagues K12 public school teachers are protected from the TSA annuity sales predators.

Retirement life is wonderful, but…

Hope you are in good health and happiness as this year ends. Here we are once again rapping up an old year and about to welcome the new. This has always been an appropriate time to catch up on what each of us is doing. This long post appears that I have been doing a lot and perhaps I have, but it is what people do when one becomes financially independent. Retirement is wonderful with financial security, but no one escapes the full experiences of all of the factors of life no matter what age you are–discovery, loss, disappointment, content, and happiness. It’s all there, and isn’t it how we react to life that counts? (In a previous blog post, I document what I did to recover from Dan’s death 3.2 years ago).

Please allow me to get philosophical for just a moment. As you know, life has many expected challenges and surprises, some negative and many positives. These last few years were worse than 18 years ago when my doctor told me that I had cancer or getting wounded 50 years ago in ‘Nam. Both were terrifying! To say my life has simply “turned around” in 2018 is an understatement. It’s more like I was reborn, a miracle in the making I am so deliriously grateful! I do these things that I report in this post because I enjoy them. Since I was a kid driving the tractor on my parent’s farm, I have always wanted to see the world. Later, I wanted to write personal finance books since I was taken advantage of my financial naivete’ during my teaching career, to help protect others from the financial sharks.

During the last three years, I participated in a bereavement group (I am still with this group!), getting 1×1 counseling, being occupied with my volunteer activities, and keeping with my Buddhist practice while staying connected with family/friends. The bereavement group was the most helpful with my grief–I painfully learned that I was not the only one in the world who got an awful break. Two mothers lost their beautiful adult daughters to cancer too. Wow! Was that a wake-up call?

2017 was also a great year. I met Georgiana on Match.com in August 2017, and we started dating a year ago. What a year, again this year, 2018! One of the primary reasons we connected is that she is a widow too. Both of us were happy with our late spouses, but a terrible fate forced us into a different direction and changed our lives. We are fortunate that we found love again and had wonderful lives with our late spouses.

Hollywood–Walking with the Hollywood Stars!

Our first formal date with tux and evening gown was on January 3^rd. The new year started with a fund-raiser dinner and celebrity-watching at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala. It is the little sister version of the world-famous Academy Awards in Hollywood. I was never interested in these types of events until friends, Frank and Val, invited me and said it was a fundraiser. Of course, I thought. At this point in my life, I want to support good causes. So, Georgiana and I went. It’s a black tie, so I dusted my tuxedo and Georgiana wore a new and black evening gown. She looked gorgeous.

As we walked to the entrance of the Palm Springs Convention Center, we trotted on the traditional Hollywood red carpet along with the handful of celebrities and the hundreds of other attendees. Celebrity spotters standing on the sidewalk outside the Center probably thought we were celebrities too, or a screenwriter, director or producer (In fact, I am an Associate Producer for a documentary Playing with FIRE, coming out nationwide in January. It’s about this growing movement of young people achieving Financial Independence at a much earlier age than previously achieved. We are looking forward to attending the Premier ceremony in San Diego).

After wonder woman star Gal Gadot gave her talk, she, her guards and her entourage went to the restroom. Georgiana wanted her autograph so badly that she chased her right into the restroom passing the guards, who yelled at her to “get out!” But not after Gadot quickly autographed a picture. She signed it because Georgiana explained to Ms. Gadot that the picture was for three of Georgiana’s young grandnieces. Gadot said, “Oh, how lovely, of course!”

Vietnam as a 20-year-old Marine in 1968 to 2018, 50 years later as a 70-year-old veteran of that terrible war. 

My sister-in-law Cathy (Dan’s sister) and a friend Janet, we were off on a fabulous trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. There were two very emotional experiences with this trip.

1. Three years ago on October 15, 2015 Dan and I were packed and ready to drive to the L.A. airport that morning to fly to Vietnam. It wasn’t meant to be. Dan woke me up at 3:00 AM and shouted, “Take me to emergency! We are not going to Vietnam!” From that moment on since Dan left this world 3+ years ago, my life turned every which way. His sister Cathy and I planned on finishing the job of touring Vietnam that Dan and I planned, and Janet, a teacher friend, came along.

In remembrance of Dan, Cathy (Dan’s sister), Janet and I dropped rose peddles into Halong Bay, east of Hanoi: 

 

2. About ten miles south of Da Nang we visited the site where I was stationed half-century ago when I was 20-year-old Marine, straight from the farm. My Marine battalion was next door to a sacred mountain dubbed Marble Mountain, and right on the beautiful South China Sea beach shoreline. They are a series of mountains made entirely of marble next to our unit. We would get sniper fire from the Vet Cong during the night. Fifty years ago, it was a dangerous and hostile war zone. The night that the famous 1968 TET offensive started, we saw rockets launched nearby and land and exploded at the Da Nang military airport. Today, the entire area is a gigantic tourist zone with dozens of buses and hundreds of people buying marble products and riding elevators to the top of Marble Mountain. Imagine that?

We spent 19 days in three countries. It was a lot to take in especially the killing fields in Cambodia. But the good news is that all three countries are tired of war and have lived in peace for several decades. The food, accommodations and the hospitality were excellent. All three countries like Americans because most of the population today is too young to remember the war. The Vietnamese call it America’s War on Vietnam. I agree it was the WORSE American disaster since our Civil War. Fortunately, the entire region is developing.

Georgiana did not go to Vietnam with me. I planned this trip before I met her. She had already been to Thailand and Cambodia, and Angkor Wat, the largest religious monuments and temple complex and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Concerts

Our first concert was with singer Barry Manilow here in Palm Springs and gave a great performance as a 75-year-old could! Later, we saw the performances of the legendary 60s singer, Paul Simon, U2, and Elton John in Las Vegas. As a bonus, we saw Lady Gaga in the audience at Elton John’s concert as she is the Godmother of his two children. She was celebrating with her friend Elton as he was wrapping up his long-standing performances at Cesare’s Palace in Las Vegas (he is now on his farewell tour).

All three performed their recent musical creations, especially U2, but Simon and Elton also played some of the old stuff that I remember these classics, “Sounds of Silence” and “Rocket Man.” While Elton and Paul had a full orchestra, lights and visuals, and singers as backups, U2 had only three musicians and the lead singer Bono, that’s it!

If you get a chance to see U2, do it. They are fantastic. Just the four played for two hours straight at the vast T-Mobile arena also in Vegas. Their show was about the most futuristic display of visuals, truly iconic music, and politics that you will experience and feel. The arena is home to future hockey and NBA teams. So, imagine how long the stage is from basketball hoop to basketball hoop. The U2 stage stretched from one end of the basketball floor to the other, and they used every bit of that long stage.

U2 ending the concert was simple. Bono was singing about “seeing the light” and a light bulb came out of a toy house on the stage and he swung it like a swing as it was going up, higher and higher. When the song ended, the arena went dark. When the exit lights came back on, the band was gone! End of the concert. It felt like he turned the responsibility back on us and that we are going to have to find our “light” for social justice, kindness, and compassion for everyone, and act according.

The Tropics–Maui

After 30 years, I had been planning on going back to Hawaii for some time. So, for my birthday in July, I invited Georgiana. I wanted to revisit the famous sunrise on Maui. Georgianna never saw this renowned spectacle. She loves sunrises, sunsets and full moons, a total sun and moon worshiper. We got up at 2:30 AM and drove up 10,000 feet to Mt. Haleakalā Volcano to watch the sunrise. It is cold even in July. There are so many people who want to visit each day, the national park requires reservation months ahead of time. Some people did not know this, so we picked up a couple who parked their car outside the park and rode with us. They were from Switzerland visiting Hawaii and California. Dan and I visited this now famous tourist stop 30 years ago. I remember how spectacular it was and this time around was not a disappointment. The clouds swirled faster and faster as the first sun rays penetrating through the pure white fluffy clouds. The sun looked like a red-hot fireplace with glowing ambers.

We also took a bus tour around Maui. Besides the spectacular beaches with black lava beds, lush forests, sea turtles basking in the sun, and many waterfalls, the primitive road was an adventure. I would not recommend you drive this because one section of this “road” is narrow and rocky between the steep cliffs on the right and the roaring ocean on the left. One slip-up by the driver and we would be swimming in the wonderful warm Pacific (Just kidding, it was safe).

I had forgotten that Charles Lindbergh was buried on Maui, and we visited his grave site. We also drove by several of Oprah’s real estate holdings. But most of all, we stayed along the beautiful western coast at the Kaanapali Alii, along with thousands of other tourists. We love our condo complete with a full kitchen, living room, two baths, and an outdoor patio to watch people walking by while drinking our morning coffee. Awe, such is life. The last time I visited Maui was back in the early 1980s when there were just a handful of hotels. Today, there are dozens and dozens of hotels all along the western coast.

It was a wonderful eight days, mostly listening to Hawaiian music, laying on the beach reading with protection from the sun in our cozy cabanas. The mobs walked up and down the beach, eating at barefoot restaurants or cooking meals at the complimentary gas-fired grills. We also slurped coconut ice cream while listening to the sounds of the ocean waves. There were many children along the beach and about our hotel, and they behaved themselves well. There is something magical about water which is always a chronically calming agent for all of us, especially children.

Did I mention the sunsets? Whether sunrise or sunsets, Hawaii will calm the mind of any agitated beast whether human, animal or vegetable. When people ask how our trip to Maui was, there is nothing negative to say, ever. What is not to love about the tropics?

California Coast Islands

For three weeks in August and September, we left the desert heat for cooler Long Beach, where Georgiana lived and worked for 35 years. She has many friends there, and I reunited with some of my Los Angeles friends. We visited places that neither one of us visited before, such as the Channel Islands off the coast of Ventura, which is north of Los Angeles. The Channel Islands are remote, cold and rugged, where the colossal sea lions hang out. We stayed at Airbnb’s throughout the three weeks and what an experience that was! We were looking forward to staying in a 50-foot-yacht moored in the Ventura harbor but had to cancel because it flooded the day we were supposed to check in!

Ok, now you heard that I traveled to Vietnam, Maui and the rugged and remote California coast and a desolate island, now you will hear about another trip. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamt of seeing the world. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I kept dreaming. I still do. So, at every opportunity to travel, I TRAVELED!

“One if by sea, Two if by land”

Georgiana grew up in Boston. I had never been to Boston or New England. So off to Boston we went for ten days visiting her family, a brother, his wife and a niece and her family, and of course, the historic sites.

Airbnd is reasonable but watch out!

Recall what I said about have strange and interesting Airbnb experiences? Boston Airbnb was no exception. After traveling all-day from Palm Springs to Boston, and taking a Lyft to our place, at 8:30 PM, we were two exhausted 71-year-olds eager for bed. However, we were “greeted” at the door of our Airbnb with a huge notice from the city of Cambridge, no less, that said that this was an illegal Airbnb! WTF? Georgiana was as furious as an Italian can be. She called Airbnb to demand our money back and change to another place. She was also embarrassed as she used to live in Cambridge just a couple of blocks from Harvard and could not believe this notice.

We were scheduled to stay for five nights. Airbnb listened but never responded. But the owner told us that the notice was mailed to everybody in the city, not just to his place. An irate neighbor taped the notice on the door and hand-scribbled the illegal message over the formal letter. Initially, I thought that the city would come to our place and kick us out. But the owner was correct, nothing happened. We stayed at this place for five nights as scheduled. But we did notice that the site was no longer available on Airbnb.

That was our first evening in Boston. But from then on, the rest of the trip was terrific. Georgiana’s family threw out the red carpet for us. Her brother and his wife drove us to the famous Cape Cod where we dined on New England lobster at one of their Famous lobster restaurants, called the Lobster Trap. As we all know, there are dozens of great seafood restaurants up and down the New England coast.

In Boston, I had a first-class tour guide—Georgiana. We walked the “Freedom Trail” where all the historical buildings and events of the revolutionary war. Saw Paul Revere’s house, the old North Church where the “One if by Sea and Two if by Land” was done by Paul Revere. We took a harbor tour boat to the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides.” The ship was built so well that the British warship cannonballs bounced off her sides.

Got to talk to a volunteer dressed up as a colonial soldier, who said that the primary reason why we separated from England was more than taxes, but it had a lot to do with different cultural values. For example, it has been long known that we do not like Kings, royalty, and reflected by “All men are created equal” in our Declaration of Independence. That’s quite a statement. Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers were way ahead of their time. A full 240 years later, our country is still working on that equality concept. Yeah, it was all touristy stuff, and much of it well known, but I love history when it is present, alive and up close.

Finally, Georgiana’s niece and her family made reservations at a remote hotel at the Berkshires in the far western part of Massachusetts. This was New England at its best and what I imagined of rural New England in the fall. As we drove west, we saw the world-famous, New England’s fall foliage in full splendor, and the sights of a small New England town, North Adams. We toured two huge museums, right in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. One museum was located in an old manufacturing company.

Ballroom Dancing Competition

I didn’t have to go anywhere for this somewhat stressful activity. For the past two years, I have been taking group and individual ballroom dancing classes. I have learned the Waltz, Foxtrot, Cha Cha, Rumba, Swing and the Hustle. It’s been both fun and difficult. It’s like learning a foreign language or a musical instrument, lots of frustrating practice. It took me weeks to learn the basic Cha Cha step! I am such a klutz, and the reason why I started taking these lessons is that Dan loved to dance, and it was just one way of remembering him. I remember the “box step” way back in middle school, and I have forgotten that was the basic step in the Waltz and the Rumba. The Rumba is the Cuban waltz and my favorite. Georgiana and I started taking Tango lessons. The Tango is one of the most difficult dances to learn but go to YouTube and watch the pros dance the Tango. It’s a beautiful tantalizing dance.

After all this time taking 1×1 and group lessons, my teacher strong-armed me into an annual competition. Of course, I first said NO WAY! I hate competition, heck, I hate the word competition. But after he explained how it works, I agreed. I would be placed in the beginner’s level, and all newbies dance with their teacher, dubbed the pro/am line up. And each heat is only 45 seconds to a minute long as there are so many heats to get through, and there will be other beginner couples on the floor with me. It’s not like Dancing with the Stars at all. So, I practiced for 3 to 4 hours every day for three weeks by myself and with my teacher Elvia, a dancing pro and colleague of my regular teacher, Charles. I memorized my routine for all six dances. I am proud to say that I won 11 first place in my beginners’ category and 4 second place awards.

Sometimes I was the only one in my age category but who cares, I showed up and won! Georgiana thought it was a hoot, like going to her five-year-old niece’s recital, only this “recital” was for us grown-ups! I doubt if I am going to do this again because of the time involved, but who knows. They schedule this competition every year. I am sure Charles, my teacher, will try to strong-arm me again. :- )

During all this year, I was busy with the Palm Springs Writers Guild as a board member. This organization of writers helped me publish both books and made need friends. It is my way of giving back to the community. Since I know something about money, I was asked to be the treasurer. Also, I am on an advisory committee that oversees my old employer’s retirement plan, Los Angeles Unified School District 403(b) and 457(b) plans. I have fond experiences with my volunteer work as I help in making personal finance and managing your money a little easier and fun to learn.

Book Revision

Finally, I am updating and revising my book, Late Bloomer Millionaires. It is six years old, and any financial book will be out-of-date. One of the new chapters will elaborate the money I saved from my solar panels and the electric cars. Ten years ago, Dan and I installed the solar panels. With all the money I saved on home energy costs, the installation and materials expenses will be all paid back. I have no home power and transportation bills—NONE. It’s not just filthy and polluting gasoline that I save. There are no expensive tune-ups, hideous oil changes, grease jobs, transmission problems, smog device inspections, or even brake problems. Electric cars are simple, will many fewer moving parts than ICE (Internal Composition Engine) cars.

We are ending the year with one final concert to attend, Andrea Bocelli. I’ll let you know how this went next holiday season letter.

Hope you enjoyed this year as much as I have enjoyed 2018. It was a powerful healing year, and Georgiana and I look forward to going to Morocco with my sister-in-law Cathy and her husband with a layover in Paris.

 

End of the Year 2018 Portfolio Report

 

In my annual and quarterly portfolio reports, I rarely write about the news. The news can be interesting just to know what is going one but as far as my investment plan, financial and the mainstream news is pointless and a complete waste of time. I mean it. Nobody has control over what happens outside my home or outside my financial portfolio. I only have complete control over how I construct my portfolio, how it is appropriately balanced between stocks and bonds and most importantly, that I pay as little as humanly possible. In the blog post, I share what I did with those three areas of control:

1. Construction of a diversified portfolio

2. keeping the balance between stocks and bonds

3. cost as little as possible

I never listened to it to glean information for constructing and maintaining my portfolio. I don’t need the news. There is nothing there that I can use.  For several years, the financial media have been scaring people about a bear market with increased interest rates, or the trade wars seem to be escalating. But most of the experts say that our economy is strong and there is little indication of a recession in 2019.

Its been a decade since the last bear market, of which we all remember vividly–2008. Yet, for most of 2018, my portfolio is up. It was up 1.9% at the beginning of October. At end of the 2018 3rd quarter (three months ago), the stock market was up so high that my bond-heavy portfolio was also up 1.9% at the end of the Q3. My total stock market index and the extended market index were both up over 10.0%.

But at the end of the year sheds a very different story. Because of all of the heavy bleeding on Wall Street, my portfolio turned negative since 2015 when it was flat, and since 2008 when it lost a staggering 11.8% loss for my overly safe and boring portfolio.

Bond Market: Bonds are difficult to explain but easy to learn. I read two excellent books on Bonds. But for our purposes in the report, my three of my bonds increased in value and two decreased. You need to diversify by investing in different types of bonds. Treasury Direct is an inflation protection security, TIAA TA is a another type of bond which TIAA guarantees a 3.0% rate of return within a time period, then the International Bond Index to complete my diversification plan. The Federal Reserve policymakers kept raising interest rates. As predicted for years, raising interest rates pushed down all of my bond funds except my International Bond Market Fund, Treasury Direct iBond and the TIAA’s Traditional Annuity. For years the financial media and the talking heads warned again and again that bonds are going to crash! This is evidence that three of my bond investments made money! Wellesley Income fund is made up of 65% bonds and 35% stocks suffered the biggest decline with -2.49% loss. The st

Stock Market: Since the presidential election, the primary reason the market went up is that the Trump administration inherited a sound economy, good employment numbers, and a high stock market (Recall that Obama inherited a total and complete financial catastrophe in 2008!). The pundits reported that the market is anticipating lower corporate taxes, repatriation of the trillions in overseas financial institutions and less regulation. The pundits have been warning about high valuations but it has had no effect on the booming stock market so far. Since December 2017 the tax cuts were passed and the stock market has gone up breaking more records since the New Year 2018 began. I agree that we are overdue for a correction or even a recession, but nobody knows how to accurately predict when and how it will occur. But one thing is certain, there will always (another absolute) be uncertainty, and the cause of the next stock market crash will be unpredictable.

My asset allocation will remain the same as it has been for the last decade. 

Stock Bond Balance Split 30% stocks/70% Bonds and Cash

 

 

Watch your investment costs

Below are the costs of each of my Vanguard and TIAA investments. If you want to know what your current financial adviser is charging, ask him or her. You have my permission to copy these tables and take them with you to compare with how your adviser has constructed your portfolio and to compare the expense ratios of your portfolio with mine in the next table.

 

 

Set up a simple lost-cost diversified plan and stick with it: This is the primary reason why I have this blog, to share my plan so that you can construct your plan. My plan is for a 71-year-old retiree.

If you are a younger investor, you would have a higher allocation to stocks. If you are in your 20s or 30s and just starting out, a 70% stock / 30% bonds would be more appropriate for you because you have the time to recoup market sell-offs, bear markets or market crashes. Whatever you stock-bond split might be, you must be diversified among large, mid, small-cap stocks and international. Do not fret about value, growth, developed or developing countries (aka emerging markets). The Total Stock market index has both value and growth, large, mid and small-cap US domestic stocks, and the Total International Stock market index has both developed and emerging markets (aka developing countries).

Required Minimum Distributions (RMD)

I turned 70.5 in 2018. Thus, I started taking Required Minimum Distributions from my IRAs. For me, I had to take out $30,000 out of my IRAs as required by the IRS. There are many different programs and ideas about how to strategically implement your RMD. For me, I have collected the capital gains and dividends from my IRA investments over the past several years into Vanguard’s Money Market account. From the MM account, I transferred this money to my credit union and thus meeting my RMD.

Ask Your Financial Advisor these two Questions:

1. What was my 2018 return on my investments? For comparison, as you read, my return was -1.97%
2. What are the costs of my investments and what are your costs for managing my portfolio? FYI, its called an Assets Under Management (AUM cost). For comparison, as you read, my costs were .07%.

Once again, Happy New Year!

Steve

 

Steve’s Bio

*Stephen A. Schullo, Ph.D. (UCLA ’96) taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for 24 years and UCLA Extension teaching educational technology to student teachers. Steve wrote investment articles for the United Teacher-Los Angeles (UTLA) newspaper for 13 years. Thrice featured retirement plan advocate in the Los Angeles Times and U.S. News and World Report. He co-founded an investor self-help group (403bAware with a colleague, Sandy Keaton) for teacher colleagues and wrote 7,000 posts in three investment forums since 1997. Frequently quoted by the media, testified at California State legislative hearings and honored with the “Unsung Hero” award by UTLA for his retirement planning advocacy.

For the last eleven years, he continues to serve on LAUSD’s Investment Advisory Committee as a “Member-at-Large” and former co-chair. The committee monitors the district’s 457b/403b/PARS of 55,000 former and current LAUSD employees, worth $2.4 billion in total assets. Lastly, Steve and his late husband, Dan, were featured participants for the award-winning documentary, PBS Frontline: The Retirement Gamble, aired April 23, 2013.

Steve is the author of an additional book, released in 2015, click here to get a free PDF download: “Fighting Powerful Interests: Educators Challenge Tax-sheltered Annuities and WIN!” A story of how a handful of Los Angeles Unified School District educators struggled for years to improve the 403(b) to no avail. But we never quit! We were instrumental in LAUSD’s implementation of the new 457(b) plan and earned a “Plan Design” award.