Sounds like Powell is thinking seriously about supporting implementation of a CBDC:

"You wouldn't need stablecoins, you wouldn't need cryptocurrencies, if you had a digital US currency," the Fed chief said. "I think that's one of the stronger arguments in its favor."
"We have a tradition in this country where the public's money is held in what is supposed to be a very safe asset," Powell said. "That doesn't exist for stablecoins, and if they're going to be a significant part of the payments universe…then we need an appropriate framework, which frankly we don't have."

Fed Chair Jerome Powell says cryptocurrencies and stablecoins won't be needed once the US has a digital currency

Another Tool that looks useful slanted towards rich looks good for all.
I would rather use this than borrowing against a house !!
https://www.wsj.com/articles/buy-borrow-die-how-rich-americans-live-off-their-paper-wealth-11625909583
— 5:30 AM ET 07/10/2021
By Rachel Louise Ensign and Richard Rubin
Rising stocks and rock-bottom interest rates have delivered a big perk to rich
Americans: cheap loans that they can use to fund their lifestyles while minimizing their tax bills.
Banks say their wealthy clients are borrowing more than ever before, often using loans backed by their portfolios of stocks and bonds. Morgan Stanley (MS) wealth-management clients have $68.1 billion worth of securities-based and other nonmortgage loans outstanding, more than double five years earlier. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said it has $62.4 billion in securities-based loans, dwarfing its book of home-equity lines of credit.
The loans have special benefits beyond the flexible repayment terms and low interest rates on offer. They allow borrowers who need cash to avoid selling in a hot market. Startup founders can monetize their stakes without losing control of their companies. The super rich often use these loans as part of a "buy, borrow, die" strategy to avoid capital-gains taxes.
The merely rich are also borrowing against their portfolios. When Tom Anderson started at Merrill Lynch & Co. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2002, many of his fellow advisers had just one or two securities-based loans in their book of business. Over the years, he encouraged more clients to borrow and noticed peers doing the same. Now it is common for advisers at big firms to have dozens of these loans outstanding, he said. Merrill Lynch is now a part of Bank of America (BAC).
"You could buy a boat, you could go to Disney World, you could buy a company," said Mr. Anderson, who now consults with banks on how to manage the risks associated with these loans. "The tax benefits are stunning."
For borrowers, the calculation is clear: If an asset appreciates faster than the interest rate on the loan, they come out ahead. And under current law, investors and their heirs don't pay income taxes unless their shares are sold. The assets may be subject to estate taxes, but heirs pay capital-gains taxes only when they sell and only on gains since the prior owner's death. The more they can borrow, the longer they can hold appreciating assets. And the longer they hold, the bigger the tax savings.
"Ordinary people don't think about debt the way billionaires think about debt," said Edward McCaffery, a University of Southern California law professor who says he coined the buy-borrow-die phrase. "Once you're already rich, it's simple, it's easy. It's just buy, borrow, die. These are planks of the law that have been in place for 100 years."

From Artisan:
https://www.artisanpartners.com/content/dam/documents/press-releases/mf/Artisan-Non-US-Small-Mid-Growth-Closing-15-July-2021-vR.pdf
or
https://www.artisanpartners.com/individual-investors/news-insights/news/press-releases/2021/artisan-partners-announces-closing-of-the-artisan-non-us-small-mid-growth-strategy.html

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/935015/000119312521215975/d150082d497.htm
Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
File Nos. 033-88316 and 811-08932
ARTISAN PARTNERS FUNDS, INC.
Artisan International Small-Mid Fund (the “Fund”)
SUPPLEMENT DATED 15 JULY 2021 TO THE
FUND’S PROSPECTUS
CURRENT AS OF THE DATE HEREOF
Effective after the close of business on 30 July 2021, the Fund is closed to most new investors. The Fund will accept new accounts from certain investors who satisfy new account eligibility requirements. Eligibility requirements are described in Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus under the heading “Investing with Artisan Partners Funds – Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?”
Accordingly, effective 30 July 2021, the following changes will take effect:
1.The following paragraph is added under the heading “Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares” on page 42 of Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus:
The Fund is closed to most new investors. See “Investing with Artisan Partners Funds — Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?” in the Fund’s statutory prospectus for new account eligibility criteria.
2.The following replaces the text under the heading “Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?” on pages 101-102 of Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus in its entirety:
Artisan High Income Fund, Artisan International Small-Mid Fund and Artisan International Value Fund are each closed to most new investors. From time to time, other Funds may also be closed to most new investors. The Funds do not permit investors to pool their investments in order to meet the eligibility requirements, except as otherwise noted below.
If you have been a shareholder in a Fund continuously since it closed, you may make additional investments in that Fund and reinvest your dividends and capital gain distributions in that Fund, even though the Fund has closed, unless Artisan Partners considers such additional purchases to not be in the best interests of the Fund and its other shareholders. An employee benefit plan that is a Fund shareholder may continue to buy shares in the ordinary course of the plan’s operations, even for new plan participants.
You may open a new account in a closed Fund only if that account meets the Fund’s other criteria (for example, minimum initial investment) and:
∎ you beneficially own shares of the closed Fund at the time of your application;
∎ you beneficially own shares in the Funds with combined balances of $250,000;
∎ you receive shares of the closed Fund as a gift from an existing shareholder of the Fund (additional investments generally are not permitted unless you are otherwise eligible to open an account under one of the other criteria listed);
∎ you are transferring or “rolling over” into a Fund IRA account from an employee benefit plan through which you held shares of the Fund (if your plan doesn’t qualify for rollovers you may still open a new account with all or part of the proceeds of a distribution from the plan);
∎ you are purchasing Fund shares through a sponsored fee-based program and shares of the Fund are made available to that program pursuant to an agreement with the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified the sponsor of that program in writing that shares may be offered through such program and has not withdrawn that notification;
∎ you are an employee benefit plan and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified the plan in writing that the plan may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification;
∎ you are an employee benefit plan or other type of corporate, charitable or governmental account sponsored by or affiliated with an organization that also sponsors or is affiliated with (or is related to an organization that sponsors or is affiliated with) another employee benefit plan or corporate, charitable or governmental account that is a shareholder of the Fund at the time of application;
∎ you are a client, employee or associate of an institutional consultant or financial intermediary and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified that consultant or financial intermediary in writing that you may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification;
∎ you are a client of a financial advisor or a financial planner, or an affiliate of a financial advisor or financial planner, who has at least:
○ $2,500,000 of client assets invested with the closed Fund at the time of your application; or
○ $5,000,000 of client assets invested with the Funds or under Artisan Partners’ management at the time of your application and, with respect to Artisan International Value Fund only, the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified such financial advisor or financial planner, or affiliate of such financial advisor or financial planner, in writing, that you may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification;
∎ you are an institutional investor that is investing at least $5,000,000 in the Fund and the Fund or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified you in writing that you may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification (available for investments in Artisan International Small-Mid Fund and Artisan International Value Fund only);
∎ you are a client of Artisan Partners or are an investor in a product managed by Artisan Partners, or you have an existing business relationship with Artisan Partners, and in the judgment of Artisan Partners, your investment in a closed Fund would not adversely affect Artisan Partners’ ability to manage the Fund effectively; or
∎ you are a director or officer of the Funds, or a partner or employee of Artisan Partners or its affiliates, or a member of the immediate family of any of those persons.
A Fund may ask you to verify that you meet one of the guidelines above prior to permitting you to open a new account in a closed Fund. A Fund may permit you to open a new account if the Fund reasonably believes that you are eligible. A Fund also may decline to permit you to open a new account if the Fund believes that doing so would be in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, even if you would be eligible to open a new account under these guidelines.
The Funds’ ability to impose the guidelines above with respect to accounts held by financial intermediaries may vary depending on the systems capabilities of those intermediaries, applicable contractual and legal restrictions and cooperation of those intermediaries.
Call us at 800.344.1770 if you have questions about your ability to invest in a closed Fund.

It's often argued that SS COLA should be based on CPI-E rather than CPI-W. That's an argument that cuts both ways.
The latest (Dec 2020) relative weightings of the different basket components of CPI-E and CPI-W can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/home.htm
Specifically: CPI-W (HTML) and CPI-E (XML)
The linked piece projecting a 6.1% increase specifically highlights gasoline and groceries as basket categories with rapidly increasing prices. These are two categories that are weighted less heavily in CPI-E than CPI-W. Gasoline comprises only 2.142% of the CPI-E basket vs. 3.613% of the CPI-W basket; groceries (food at home) comprise 7.402% of CPI-E vs. 8.962% of CPI-W.
More broadly, the encompassing categories with rapidly rising prices are weighted less heavily in CPI-E than in CPI-W:
Transportation, 12.967% vs 16.853%, and
Food & Beverages, 13.522% vs. 16.650%.
This underweighting in CPI-E of rapidly rising basket categories means that the rise in CPI-E will likely turn out to be significantly less than CPI-W.
What gets weighted more heavily in CPI-E are the broad areas of Medical Care (12.202% vs. 7.594%) and Housing (46.572% vs. 40.874%). These are basket components that have recently experienced much lower inflation.

This overweighting in CPI-E of slower rising basket categories again means that CPI-E will likely be found to have risen significantly less than CPI-W.
The Fed graph below shows Y/Y percentage increases by month for medical (blue) and owner equivalent rent (brown), which is the majority component of housing. The last points on the graph represent Y/Y for June 2021/June 2020. They are 0.433% and 2.343%. Nowhere near 6%.

(You can reconstruct this graph by starting here and editing, changing time periods and adding lines.)
Note that increase in housing expenses is not the same as increase in the price of homes, which is a capital expense. "For the typical homeowner, their housing costs likely haven’t changed too much over the past year."
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-inflation-storm-is-coming-for-the-u-s-housing-market-11623419869

It all depends on how long you think the next bear market will last. You need to have enough cash to avoid selling stocks at the bottom to live on. If portfolio ( or SP500 or whatever index you like) value is within 5% of top sell some equities for replacement of that year's expenses. If less than that use the remaining cash/bond portion.
In 1929 it took 32 months to recover but got hit again in 1937 and it took five years.

Good grief.
davor originally quoted the article he linked that incorrectly states,
"That would be the biggest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) hike since 1983."
The correct statement in that regard is,
"The projected increase of 6.1% for 2022 would be the biggest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) hike since the 5.8% increase in 2008. The last increase higher than the 2022 projected increase was the 7.4% increase in 1982."
And no, based on the posts I've read here, I would NOT have hired anyone commenting on this thread except msf to any of my former audit departments.
Another recent/worthy article on the topic:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/14/social-security-cost-of-living-increase-for-2022-may-be-largest-in-decades.html

@Mark I corrected the formatting for my prior comment. Hopefully it reads more clearly now. The last increase greater than 6.1% was in 1982 at 7.4%

How is that possible when 1990 had a 5.4% increase?

A bit more about how AMG handled the Brandywine funds (Friess Associates):

In 2001, Friess Associates facilitated succession from its founder by partnering with Affiliated Managers Group (AMG), making Friess Associates a majority-owned subsidiary of a public company. In the years following the 2008 financial crisis, senior management determined that Friess Associates needed to restructure to better position the firm to meet the long-term needs of clients and employees. Friess Associates and AMG agreed to terms that returned Friess Associates to private ownership in 2013.

https://friess.com/about/
The management company regained its independence. But the funds were reorganized into AMG owned funds, technically series of Managers Funds (later AMG Managers funds). Friess Associates continued managing them, becoming the subadvisor.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/780253/000089853113000434/fa_497e.htm
AMG shut down AMG Managers Brandywine Advisors Mid Cap Growth Fund (BWAFX) a year ago.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2020/05/briefly-noted-45/
As I noted above, AMG recently fired Friess Associates as the manager of the remaining funds (Brandywine and Brandywine Blue), hired AMG-affiliated managers, renaming and rebranding the funds. Friess Associates did not go quietly.

Friess Associates, which managed Brandywine Funds on Affiliated Managers Group's (AMG) platform since 2013, [in April] filed preliminary proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reuters reported the firm's plans before the filing, which protests the firm's firing and points out that investors had no say in the termination.
Friess Associates said that investors are being harmed because their money is no longer being managed the way it was when they first invested.
The Global Impact Fund [formerly Brandywine Fund] follows an ESG mandate and the Global Real Return Fund [formerly Brandywine Blue] follows a real return strategy including short positions in global index futures.

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/fired-fund-manager-friess-battle-amg-over-brandywine-portfolios-2021-04-22/
The denouement of this tale is that Friess Brandywine Funds FBRWX and FBLUX) just launched a week ago. (This is not a recommendation.)
https://friess.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BrandywineFunds.pdf
And the coda is that the founder, Foster Friess, just died last May.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/us/politics/foster-friess-dead.html

Promises to be a good mid-year review and site update. (Live from Bellingham!)
If you can make it tomorrow, please sign-up here.

I still own some DHHIX but have not added to it since late 2020.......

Junk bonds have seen a record low in yields as strong balance sheets and a changing economy have boosted the market.
Fixed income traders see the move in the market backed by strong fundamentals and a quest for yield of any type.
Issuance in the low-grade category is on pace to smash previous records.

Junk Bond Market Is On Fire

From the article:

....one advocacy group for senior citizens is projecting a 6.1% increase in 2022 due to surging inflation.
That would be the biggest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) hike since 1983.

Link to Another COLA Projection

@JD_co USAA has USBLX similar but a slightly higher ER. I also believe Vanguard has a Small cap Tax managed fund (VTMSX) that might be a nice addition to VTMFX.
Click here -
Allocating VTMFX with VTMSX

Good call. VTMSX would be a nice addition to VTMFX.
The equity portion of VTMFX is very similar to VTCLX.
VTCLX is essentially the Russell 1000 index managed for tax efficiency.

The recording will be available in a few days they said.
It was 30m and pretty much reiterated the existing press release and FAQs. Emphasis on Parnassus remaning independent in terms of investment management and lots of giddy talk about being 'excited' for this partnership. Both top leaders/PMs signed 10-year employment contracts w/AMG so there's continuity at the top. They didn't announce anything new so ... we'll see.

Lewis S. Kaufman was the prior portfolio manager at Thornburg's Developing World until he moved to Artisan in June 2015.
From Artisan prospectus
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/935015/000119312520017081/d843301d485bpos.htm#48aa58da-705b-4d3f-b336-162b6489040a_1
Lewis S. Kaufman, CFA— Mr. Kaufman is a Managing Director of Artisan Partners and portfolio manager of Artisan Developing World Fund since its inception in June 2015. Prior to joining Artisan Partners, Mr. Kaufman was a managing director and portfolio manager for Thornburg Investment Management, where he managed the developing world strategy from its inception in 2009 through January 2015. Mr. Kaufman also co-managed the international ADR strategy from 2007 to 2013, after joining Thornburg in 2005 as an associate portfolio manager
I own ARTYX.
Here is last the Thornburg prospectus prior to his departure:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/816153/000119312515026867/d819451d485bpos.htm#prob819451_154

From MFO premium site: The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. It constructs a diversified portfolio of securities that offer exposure to developing world economies. In pursuit of this goal it generally invests substantially in companies domiciled in or economically tied to countries that have characteristics of the developing world.
31.8% likely companies domiciled here in the US but sell their products in EM. NEWFX can buy EM companies or Developed companies that do most of their business in EM countries.

Investigating merging market funds . Willing to give up some performance for a bit of downside protection- understanding that emerging markets are inherently riskier.
APDYX - While labeled as emerging market in MFO - Has second highest holding as U.S at 31.8% .
I would be grateful for insights and Suggestions

@JD_co USAA has USBLX similar but a slightly higher ER. I also believe Vanguard has a Small cap Tax managed fund (VTMSX) that might be a nice addition to VTMFX.
Click here -
Allocating VTMFX with VTMSX