@WABAC: we are organic coffee drinkers and my wife buys from Aldi who offers good Peruvian or Honduran beans. I prefer a much darker roast, so I order online. $10 per lb. for good organic coffee is a good price these days.
My daughter alerted me to huge increases in MI car insurance and I have to shop around. My current insurer came in dead last in recent Consumer Reports ratings, although I had no complaints. MI had the highest rates in the country, but passed legislation under Gov Whitmer to "fix" the problem of insurers paying forever for accident victims' claims. Now no one is happy and more corrective action is promised. Did rates go down? Of course not.

I increased auto deductible to reduce premium at the last big increase.

@yogibearbull, thanks for your work. Can I ask a couple questions so i can not assume I understand the data?
- the SWR gives the "initial" withdrawal for that period? Does it increase yearly for inflation? And finally, it is the withdrawal that would have taken the original balance to zero in 2023?
- SWRM, same questions but this withdrawal rate would take the balance to the original staring balance in 2023?
Very interesting that these withdrawals are mostly above the 4%. Contrary to opinions now that starting withdrawals should be 3.5% or lower.

The stock market in 2023 has been tracking the Annual Seasonal Pattern (ASP) really closely, that is until a late October 2023 extra dip in stock prices that was not on the ASP's program. Since that dip, stock prices have been rallying hard to get back on track. But why did that dip happen?
Blame Californians. I wrote here back on July 21, 2023 about how the IRS had changed the tax filing and payment deadlines for most of California, because of flooding rains in January on previously burned areas that led to a lot of flooding. This led to disaster declarations, and a ruling by the IRS that taxpayers in 51 of California's 54 counties would get an extension to October 16, 2023 for filing their 2022 taxes. That extension also included a delay in having to pay any amounts owed for 2022, plus all quarterly estimated payments in 2023.
Because of this extension, smart Californians held onto their money and their tax returns until just before the deadline, presumably earning at least money market interest rates on it, but denying those tax dollars to Uncle Sam. California has 15% of the US population, but it also has more than its share of millionaires who have the wherewithal (and the accountants) to do this sort of tax planning.
Why this relates to the stock market is that we have learned from the Fed's QE and QT episodes that having money in the banks is helpful for boosting stock prices. But when a bunch of Californians all wrote their tax payment checks to the IRS in October, that created a sudden drain in the liquidity pool. The result was an extra dip that the Annual Seasonal Pattern did not forecast