Hello! Jesse Cramer here. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog, And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. From the blog... Today’s question is the kind that might make you think, “That’s too complicated,” or “Surely that doesn’t apply to me.” That’s ok. If you prefer to keep things simple, knowing that you’re leaving tax dollars lying on the floor, I get it. However, I assure you that today’s topic is something every well-optimized retirement plan takes...
12 days ago • 2 min read
Hello! Jesse Cramer here. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog, And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. From the blog... What happens when a forced withdrawal, like Required Minimum Distributions, occurs during a down market? Isn't that an unavoidable and frustrating exposure to the "sequence of returns" risk? It could happen. But you have more control than you might think. From timing strategies to Roth conversions, this article outlines the playbook...
20 days ago • 2 min read
Hello! Jesse Cramer here. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog, And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. From the blog... The basic investor might say: Stocks return 10% per year. Bonds return 5% per year. Cash returns 3% per year. This framework is flawed for so many reasons. Stocks are too volatile to make 1-year predictions or averages. Such a short-term view overlooks the concept of compounding. When we think in real, inflation-adjusted, after-tax...
27 days ago • 1 min read
Hello! Jesse Cramer here. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog, And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. This Week's Content From the blog... Many of you ask me for financial advice, and I love answering your questions. When you get more serious, some of you ask to pay me for my time. It's always an honor to be asked. Last week, reader Ken wrote in and said: Jesse – Hard to say whether I enjoy your blog or podcast more. Both wonderful! I was looking at...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello! Jesse Cramer here. Greetings from the serene Finger Lakes! We're taking a little R&R with the family. This is sunrise yesterday morning, looking east over Canandaigua Lake. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog, And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. This Week's Content From the blog... Peter Attia is a doctor, scientist, author, and all-around health advocate. His “Centenarian Decathlon“ is a framework that asks: “What 10 physical tasks do I want...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello! Jesse Cramer here. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog, And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. This Week's Content From the blog... "Break glass in case of..." We see this kind of language on fire alarms and defibrillators. This is for emergencies only! Do we need similar language on our investment portfolios? In 2022, the Wall Street Journal's Jason Zweig suggested that investors write themselves a "just in case" letter to open during a market...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello! Jesse Cramer here. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog, And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. This Week's New Content From the blog... 👀📖 Have you asked retirement questions like: Which accounts and which assets should you withdraw first, and why? How does Social Security fit in? What about required minimum distributions? Or IRMAA? How do you minimize your tax bill along the way…or, are taxes even the right concern to prioritize? I get these...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello, reader! Jesse Cramer here. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog, And listening to my podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. 🥳 PS - the podcast recently surpassed 100,000 all-time downloads!! Thank you all for listening! 🥳 This Week's New Content From the blog... 👀📖 We have a slate of "outdoors" articles this week... "Retirement preparedness is a lot like hiking." A few readers sent me similar questions this week, concerned if they were fully prepared for retirement...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello! Jesse Cramer here. Thank you for reading The Best Interest blog and listening to our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. This Week's New Content From the blog... 👀📖 Phil wrote in last week and asked, Jesse – I’d love to understand the common mistakes you see retirees (and near-retirees) make. You’ve written about Charlie Munger and his “invert, always invert” philosophy. So I figure – if you tell us what the common mistakes are, and we try to avoid those mistakes...
2 months ago • 1 min read