Milky Way Retirement

Hello, As promised, this month's newsletter will answer one of my client's questions, " Should I buy I-bonds ?" To get a complete answer, you will have to read a long piece of writing as usual. 😊 I bonds- what you should know about before buying them Bonds are fixed securities. Stocks are variable securities.  There are so many kinds of bonds out there, issued by federal, state, or city governments, and corporations.  According to Ric Edelman's book " The Truth About Money- Everything You Need to Know About Money " 4th edition , investors use bonds to produce income because the bond issuers have to pay back the bondholders the principal with its interest. So bonds are also named "fixed-income securities". CDs are also considered bonds because you lend the bank your money (yes, the bank says that you deposit your money). After a while, you want your principal back with the interest. However, CDs are mostly issued by banks and brokerage firms.  ...

  Bạn có thể đọc tiếng Việt ở đây.   Happy Lunar New Year to you! From now on, the monthly newsletter from Milky Way Retirement will focus on the questions my clients asked me during the last year. I answered them all via video call or chat, but now I'll put them in writing so that others can benefit from them also.  This January will start with questions about Individual Income tax. Although we get tax return forms every year, it may be hard for some to understand the difference among tax terms like marginal tax rates, effective tax rates, or tax brackets. I am not ambitious to be a CPA, but I hope this newsletter can give you a basic view of your tax landscape.  The Federal income tax has seven levels of tax rates, which are known as marginal tax rates : 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.  It's obvious that the more income you have, the higher tax rate is applied. It also depends on your marriage status: single or married. Source So, how is your income tax...

Merry Christmas to you and your family! Stay warm these winter days. With love from me and my family.  These days when I was scrambling for ideas to write this month's newsletter, I stumbled upon a story about a  used-to-be millionaire now residing on a remote island  for 25 years. David Glasheen, 78 years old now, was $30 million worthy before the stock crash in 1978.  Source He looks like Santa with his white beard, resting at the beach. And it reminds me of a book I read with my son a few weeks ago,  Santa Claustrophobia , a book for kids by Mike Reiss and David Catrow. In the story, Santa was so stressed that he kept having nightmares about being stuck in the chimney. The doctor of the town advised Santa to take a break in Hawaii while other holiday characters chimed in to help prepare and deliver presents to the kids all over the world. Santa Claustrophobia  by Mike Reiss and David Catrow You may find yourself stressed these days, especially women who ...

  Happy New Year to you and your family! Out with the old, in with the new! Which of the old ones will you throw out this year? And which new ones will you adopt? I'd like to share  my experience  with you.  Looking back to my past self , I was not a planner. I did everything spontaneously and randomly. The schedule of my job pushed me through a day. After finishing working, I let my emotions lead my life. I may read or wander around bookstores. Or I may see my friends and chat with them to relieve the stress.  No plans. I didn't plan how much to earn, how many places to visit, or how many books to read. I just went with the flow that life threw at me.  I was a teacher of English in Vietnam then. I taught my students about New Year's resolutions, in which people set out goals for the next year. Even when I was in the U.S., I still found that New Year's resolution was not for me.   Are your resolutions like this? It was the same when I had kids. My...

Welcome to my November newsletter! Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! Yes, when you are reading this newsletter, a new month is coming too, and the holiday of the month, Christmas, is on the way, too.  But I still want to say thanks to you who have subscribed to my newsletter and sent me comments about it.  My intention is to bring you more and more useful information which can affect your future personal finance so that you can make your own decisions. Your support throughout these months has empowered me to write consistently.  November is not only a month to give thanks but also to raise awareness about Alzheimer's Disease and Long-term Care. It is also National Family Caregivers Month .  We are thankful to be able to live longer than the previous generations but also scared of thinking about it, especially when chronic illness or cognitive impairment is mentioned.  " Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia in 60-80% of all diagnosed cases ". This ...

  Bản Tiếng Việt ở đây. Happy Halloween to you! Welcome to Milky Way Afternoon Brew, my monthly newsletter to my beloved clients.  This month is the time of the year when the kids are eager to go trick-or-treating for candies, and some adults are also eager to get their homes spookily decorated. The point of this holiday is to remember and give thanks to those who died .  In our modern day, we are less likely to be worried about ghosts rising from graves on Halloween. We dress up like characters we like; we may have Halloween parties; we can sneakily enjoy the candies the kids got from trick-or-treating. All of these are just a way to celebrate life. Do you want to get everything in your life organized before you leave so that your beloved ones have time to grieve? You may think I will talk about estate planning (as I usually remind my friends and my clients to do so). But with some people, talking about estate planning is similar to talking about death. They feel it is a...