Wandering the Web: May 10, 2015

It's funny how some weeks I seem to spend a lot of time reading blogs and find all sorts of goodies to share and other weeks I'm either not in the mood to surf the web or else all I find are articles that re-hash the same old stuff.  I do have two things to pass on this week:

I never realized I was part of the upper middle class a/k/a the "mass affluent" but this article says that I am.  

I've been looking at a lot of different types of investments lately, and this one, target-date bond funds, was new to me, but it looks like something I need to investigate further.

Have you read anything interesting lately?  Leave us a link so we can read it too.

Wandering the Web: March 14, 2015

Hi, it's nice to have you stop by!  Tax day is only a month away.  Have you started on yours yet?  It looks like I have four returns to do this year:  Mine, my son's, my daughter's and my father's.  I have my son's done and the refund is in his pocket.  I need to talk to my daughter's college about some questions I have about her scholarship income and the tuition expenses; until I know those answers, I can't file for her, but I don't think she'll owe money so that's not a problem.  I'm still waiting on a form for my dad; to get it, I had to get my siblings to send in some paperwork that I thought I could do for them.  As my brother said "Dying sure is a lot of trouble and paperwork".  I think I have what I need for ours now; it's just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

Oh, you came for the links?  Ok, here is what I found this week:

What's with Gillette?  It is a company Motley Fool says you can hold forever, the type of stock that belongs in your retirement portfolio.  Many people are high on dividend investing--buying stocks that pay good dividends--as a way of investing.  This article recommends some.  If you want one dividend stock to hold forever, read this.  Annuities are one of those things that people love to hate.  However, I think they do have thier place and this explains why.  Another thing people love to hate are hedge funds; the comments are an interesting part of this article. 

Everyone has their favorite ways to consume content.  I like reading blogs.  Some folks are Twitter addicts; others like podcasts.  If Twitter is your thing, here are some personal finance experts to follow.  If you like podcasts, try this article.   Still you need to make sure the advice you are getting is good; here is some bad advice, according to the author.  

For most of us, Social Security will be our retirement base.  This article talks about what you gain and don't gain my waiting to take different types of benefits. Want four strategies to increase your Social Security?   Hopefully we will have a nest egg to draw on and this article from Forbes has some suggestions about how to handle your nest egg as retirement approaches.  Motley Fool names twenty-eight things you should not do. 

One of our biggest retirement issues is making sure we have things set to take care of my autistic son, if he needs it (and right now it looks like he will, though things are moving in the right direction).  This Forbes article talks about how our Social Security decisions will affect our son.   There is so much to learn about taking care, financially, of disabled adults.  I'll be writing more about this topic in the future.