FYI: (Click On Article title At The Top Of Google Search)
The best financial advice for most people would fit on an index card.” That’s the gist of an offhand comment in 2013 by Harold Pollack, a professor at the University of Chicago. Pollack’s bluff was duly called, and he quickly rushed off to find an index card and scribble some bullet points — with respectable results.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=mFqAWs7OLoPKjwSQ5KHgDw&q=FT+Tim+Harford’s+guide+to+statistics+in+a+misleading+age&oq=FT+Tim+Harford’s+guide+to+statistics+in+a+misleading+age&gs_l=psy-ab.3...4036.9488.0.11068.5.4.0.0.0.0.91.292.4.4.0....0...1.1j2.64.psy-ab..1.3.200.0..0j35i39k1j0i131k1j0i20i264k1.0.rh3bJ0L9pAg

This may help get my question answered...
https://finance.zacks.com/substantially-identical-mutual-funds-5850.html Avoiding a Wash Sale
An article by Lee C. McGowan, CFP in the Journal for Financial Planning gives some guidelines concerning replacement mutual funds and the substantially equal restriction. The article suggest that the following transactions should not trigger a wash sale: Selling an index fund and buying an actively managed fund. Selling an actively managed fund and buying an index fund. Selling an index fund and buying an index fund tracking a different stock index. Selling an actively managed fund and buying a fund managed by a different fund company and manager.

FYI: Money market funds are popular cash management vehicles as they seek to maintain a stable net asset value (NAV) of $1 per share. During the 2008 financial crisis, the NAV of Reserve Primary Fund fell below $1 per share or “broke the buck” causing massive redemptions and the panic soon spread to other funds. The short-term credit markets froze and the Treasury Department had to step in to stop the damage. This event highlighted the risks in money market funds.
Subsequently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) introduced new rules and regulations to reduce the risks associated with money market funds. The enhanced disclosure requirements for the “shadow price,” or the market-based price of the fund portfolio introduced in January 2011, were a part of this wider money market fund reform.
In this article, we will examine what a shadow price is and the implications of the SEC ruling for investors.
Regards,
Ted
http://mutualfunds.com/education/understanding-shadow-price-money-market-fund/

FYI: Risk assets around the world are having one of their worst stretches of the decade right now, as inflation fears and concerns over interest rates have shattered a record period of tranquility in the financial markets. The return of “uncertainty” has brought with it a return of high volatility.
There’s no reason to believe that things will get better or worse in the near term because the emotions of millions of people cannot be predicted in real-time – and emotions are what dictate short-term prices, regardless of economics or underlying fundamentals. Traders will place their bets, some will win and some will lose.
But what should investors, as opposed to traders, be thinking right now?
Regards,
Ted
http://thereformedbroker.com/2018/02/06/what-investors-should-be-thinking-right-now-3/

FYI: The world's elite are partying like it's 2006, and that should probably scare us. Top business and political leaders, who met last week in the quaint ski chalet town of Davos, Switzerland, couldn't stop talking about the booming global economy, record stock markets and President Trump's tax cuts. They toasted the good times with bottles of bourbon that cost several thousand dollars each.
But there is something unnerving about all of this: 2006 was followed by 2008, the worst financial crisis of just about everyone's lifetime. Some of the wisest minds at Davos said it feels eerily similar right now, and that's not comforting.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/01/30/it-feels-a-bit-like-2006-for-stocks-and-the-economy-that-should-scare-us/?utm_term=.661bb5048b46

FYI: I am jealous.
Any time you can protect your money from the tax man, I want in.
George Papadopoulos is 50 years old and has a tax-free stash to cover health care expenses that is close to $100,000 and growing. It will continue to grow for the rest of his life just like an Individual Retirement Account.
“It’s a nice bucket of totally tax-free money,” the wealth manager from Novi, Mich., said.
The account is known as a Health Savings account, a financial device that is growing in popularity as the Baby Boomer generation chews through its golden years and their attendant health issues.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2018/02/01/here-is-another-totally-legitimate-way-to-shield-money-from-taxes/?utm_term=.080c24bc89a3

I simply asked you to substantiate or at least quantify your statement that taxes were close (very or not). Or was this just a gut feel based on a sample size of one?
In any case please let us know how your NJ friends are feeling about their taxes these days after you ask them. For NJ, emmigration has been a problem for over a decade, even if your friends are staying.

The increase in the loss of tax revenue from New Jersey has plagued the state since 2004, when state legislators imposed the infamous “millionaire’s tax.” The inception of this tax, coupled with New Jersey’s already high property and estate taxes, leaves no mystery about why the term “tax migration” has become a buzzword among state residents and financial, legal, and political professionals.

https://regentatlantic.com/File Library/Tax paper/Exodus-on-the-Parkway-2-25-14-FINAL-VERSION.pdf
I'm pretty sure that Danoff doesn't care what his taxes are. The fact that some of your neighbors are inured to rising taxes doesn't mean the other 99% take them in stride.
Weston median income (2015): $201K (from Census survey).
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/12/18/town-town-look-income-massachusetts/cFBfhWvbzEDp5tWUSfIBVJ/story.html
(CNN thinks it's over $600K, but you can't trust everything you read on the web.)

>> talk radio entertainment host who has parlayed ...
That's a bit much.
In listening to RE for over a decade, I think it is, I've never heard him say anything that needed to be salted, or not more than much financial opining. Less, rather, actually.
His firm has won all sorts of awards (mags like Barron's, I think) as a fin adviser, fwiw.
>> It sounds like Edelman doesn't comprehend Vanguard's thinking.
Well, reread the OP piece; seems to me that's not exactly what he's said to have said. But yes, interesting he charges his age cohort does not get blockchain. I concur in the view that it will be change things bigtime, and many fin people smarter than I have the same take.

Rick Edelman is a talk radio entertainment host who has parlayed that into financial empire. Take what he says with a grain of salt.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
-Innovation and disruptive change continue to benefit a relatively small group of mega-
cap companies. Despite recent gains, valuations for these stocks still appear reasonable.
Technologies such as electric vehicles and autonomous driving suggest that the transportation industries could be next in line for rapid transformation
-For the first time since the global financial crisis, the world economy is in a synchronized
expansion, driving steady earnings growth in most markets.
Among developed equity markets, Europe and Japan appear more attractive than the U.S. based on improving economic fundamentals, diminished political risk, and potential upside for corporate earnings. Valuations are also modestly cheaper in Europe compared with the U.S.
-Barring unpredictable political or economic shocks, the global earnings recovery should
continue in 2018. However, year-over-year comparisons will grow more challenging.
-Whether recent low market volatility persists in 2018 remains to be seen, but we do not
believe low volatility in itself predicts that a significant correction is imminent

link to report:
2018 Global Market Outlook

Just a guess, but in the context of retirement, FRA could easily stand for Full Retirement Age (currently 66 - see SSA).
Trump just appointed Alex Azar, former head of Eli Lilly's US division as HHS Secretary. One of his first tasks was to accept the resignation of CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald due to investment conflicts of interest, who was appointed by former HHS Secretary Tom Price, who resigned after spending over $1/2 M on private charter flights (or was it his investments in health care companies).
Trump seems too busy repopulating the swamp to do anything about drug prices. The stock market seems to agree:

When then-President-elect Donald Trump said pharma was "getting away with murder" one year ago and pledged to lower prices, share prices quickly plummeted. ... But this time, despite the familiar words, the president's comments didn't touch off nearly the same reaction on Wall Street, signaling that industry and investors may be more skeptical about the threat of pricing reform.

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/as-azar-sworn-trump-pledges-hhs-secretary-will-get-prices-way-down

"Morgan Stanley last year decided to ban its financial advisers from selling clients new positions in Vanguard mutual funds, the Journal reported. Merrill Lynch has long had such a policy for its advisers."
Way to put your clients' interests first.

I already own I class shares of many Pimco funds (PIMIX, PIGIX, PFORX, PSTIX). I was only stating that PiMco is increasing fees and possibly leaving the small investor behind with the elimination / consolidation of the D class shares and the limited availability of load waived A class shares. Having widely available D class shares in a fund supermarket at numerious brokers is beneficial to small investors (its more likely they would be offered at their broker). Small investors may not have the financial ability to open multiple brokerage accounts. You obviously don’t agree...

FYI: (This is a follow-up article.)
Wall Street is fighting back against Vanguard Group. Large financial firms including Fidelity Investments, TD Ameritrade and Morgan Stanley have all made changes to their fees or product lineups that make it more expensive for some customers to invest in Vanguard’s funds.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.cetusnews.com/business/Wall-Street-to-Vanguard--We’re-Not-Your-Doormat-Anymore-.HyYkGFoHf.html

FYI: Lawmakers in Illinois are so desperate to shore up the state’s massively underfunded retirement system that they’re willing to entertain an eye-popping wager: Borrowing $107 billion and letting it ride in the financial markets.
The legislature’s personnel and pensions committee plans to meet on Jan. 30 to hear more about a proposal advanced by the State Universities Annuitants Association, according to Representative Robert Martwick. The group wants Illinois to issue the bonds this year to get its retirement system nearly fully funded, assuming that the state can make more on its investments than it will pay in interest.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-26/illinois-ponders-pension-fund-moonshot-a-107-billion-bond-sale?srnd=fixedincome

Hate to be missing the Trump bump, but Cinnamond isn't buying, so far as I can tell. (My legacy accounts have enough for the next ten years.) RBS is finally doing well, and I think TEVA will work out. GE will probably work out over a few years, so will average down. Bought some Vanguard Overseas a few months back when my university restricted my options (possibly a good idea, since it's cheaper), although I think I'd be several thousand ahead now otherwise with my previous Fido investment (mostly overseas), but I never know when to sell. Riding VPMAX and VHCAX (adding the yearly minimums) plus VGHAX for the next decade, and moving money from my TDA account into them at the allowable rate. (In hopes that there won't be enough money left when my dementia becomes obvious [strong family history]) for any financial harm to be done.
Will be living on SSI and RMDs from 2019 on, so good ideas are appreciated. (I've really benefited from some, so this is not an idle comment.)

I'm actually in agreement with davidmoran. How about taking the money already invested in SSN and invest it. The accounts would actually belong to the investors. When they die, the money should go to their descendants (SSN account). Upon Retirement, send a monthly check (no lump sum, no borrowing). I would also make financial literacy a required course. The portfolio could be 100% in equities until a certain age and then tapered off as the Investor ages. No Annuities.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/872323/000110465918004132/a18-3299_12497k.htm
I also received an email from Oakmark indicating the same.
Excerpt from email:
The Oakmark International Fund will close to new investors at most third-party intermediaries effective 1/26/18.
Excerpt from SEC filing:
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
Shares of the Fund may be purchased and sold (redeemed) on any business day, normally any day when the New York Stock Exchange is open for regular trading. Such purchases and redemptions can be made through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary, or directly with the Fund by writing to The Oakmark Funds at P.O. Box 219558 Kansas City, MO 64121-9558, or accessing our website (Oakmark.com). You may pay brokerage commissions on your purchases and sales of Institutional Class shares, which are not described in this prospectus.
The Fund is closed to most new investors as of the close of business on January 26, 2018. See "ELIGIBILITY TO BUY SHARES" in the Fund's prospectus for account eligibility criteria.

FYI: There are a number of budding ETFs beginning to peak over the horizon and bidding for the attention of asset managers and financial advisors.
Twelve of them were featured in a rapid-fire presentation at the Inside ETFs Conference in Hollywood, Fla. on Tuesday.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/hidden-etf-gems-36799.html?print

FYI: Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio thinks that the stock market could see another surge and investors in cash will be left out.
Sitting on the sidelines holding on to cash as the stock market heads to fresh records? Then you may be making a big financial mistake.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/head-of-worlds-largest-hedge-fund-says-if-youre-holding-cash-youre-going-to-feel-pretty-stupid-2018-01-23/print