I’ve been spending a great deal of time with 80- and 90-year-olds recently. My mom (now in her mid-80s) just moved to a new retirement community, and so it’s been a wonderful opportunity to observe older retirees in a personal …

I recently had the opportunity to watch a video of couples talking about retirement, which, for them, was about ten years away. The couples were broken into three self-described categories: fully prepared, somewhat prepared, and not prepared. At the end …

Graduation season is upon us, and you, like me, may be pondering what to get our loved ones. Thinking back, I remember four letters that meant a lot to me when I was graduating: C-A-S-H! But that’s too boring. This …

It was only a few short months ago that we feared intransigent policymakers would cause the economy and markets to hurtle into the abyss. I always preferred the term taxmageddon over fiscal cliff because it more accurately captured the pervasive …

Last Christmas, I bought my son a pair of noise-canceling headphones. Now, even as I raise my voice to a shout, he can’t hear me above whatever is rattling around inside his head.

In short, he’s on his way to …

I just finished watching a new documentary on 401(k) plans. It was intended to be an exposé of sorts. The program combined criticisms of the U.S. retirement system and financial services industry with sinister music for added drama. After I …

In sixth grade, I’d take my allowance to Phil’s Pizza, exchange the bills for quarters, and feed a week’s worth of funds into the Pac-Man machine. Within 15 minutes, I was broke. To behavioral economists, I was a case study …

One of the most intriguing retirement studies issued in 2012 was by economists James Poterba of MIT, Steven Venti of Dartmouth, and David Wise of Harvard.* Their study looked at wealth holdings among Americans in their late 60s. And one …

At 39 years old, I was unprepared for breast cancer. With no family history of the disease, I had my first mammogram about a year ago. Two days later, I received a call suggesting that I return to the office …

If you first learned how to think about saving and investing as I did, from a passbook savings account, bond funds can seem like a world turned upside down. I was reminded of this a few days ago when an …

If you’re looking for insight on investments and personal finance, you could do a lot worse than asking a long-distance runner.

Vanguard is a second career for me. After college, I had the great fortune to compete as a professional …

I recently traveled to Vanguard’s international offices, and no matter where I found myself on the globe, the topic of market and economic uncertainty was a constant theme.

For example, China’s transition from an investment-driven economy to a consumer-based model …

A new study reported in the press summarizes what retirement experts have known for a while: Tax-deferred retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs can sometimes be “leaky buckets,” meaning that some individuals tap their tax-advantaged accounts prior to retirement. …

Just as getting to know someone is important before committing to a long-term relationship, getting to know your investments is equally important. Fortunately, for mutual fund investors, your fund comes with a prospectus.

Yes, a prospectus can sometimes be a …

Here at Vanguard, we’re in our busy season. As clients set New Year’s resolutions to save more and prep for submitting their taxes, we receive more phone calls and emails. There’s a tradition at Vanguard where employees from around the …

An exchange I had during the holidays triggered my desire to write—and, hopefully, get some feedback from all of you.

The topic du jour is the fiscal cliff and what the government (House, Senate, President) will or will not do …

It’s early in 2013. Stocks had a terrific year in 2012, the fiscal cliff has been avoided—and so now’s the perfect time to reconsider your retirement plan, right?

Well, yes and no. Yes, tax time is a good time to …

I started Vanguarding in 1997. Since then, I’ve developed better financial behaviors. I pay myself first, automatically directing cash from my paycheck to investment accounts before it can burn a hole in my pocket. I diversify widely, limiting my exposure …

In my past post on dividend-paying stocks, some of you responded with questions about REITs (real estate investment trusts). You asked whether REITs are effective “bond substitutes,” whether they are a “defensive” equity investment, whether they’re good short-term hedges …