Thanks again, Jim.

Your conservative advice is far superior to a plan recently proposed by a Schwab-appointed financial advisor that was specifically designed to zero out our investments in ten years, on the presumption that both my wife and I will have expired by then. That renders a longer life disastrous, to say nothing of inheritance value.

Over the past thirteen years, beginning 1/1/2011, our portfolio — including equities, all cash holdings, receivables, and net of minimal payables — has increased by 58%, despite our having withdrawn 87% of its initial value in the meantime.

While I know there's no assurance that the next ten years will follow that same trajectory, I have a hard time opting for something that's sure to diminish it substantially. So far I've been able to cope with the vagaries of the market, including a precipitous drop at the beginning of the Covid pandemic that briefly annihilated nearly all gains in net portfolio value up to that time. BRK came back with a vengeance, to-date restoring 91% of our all-time portfolio high. To be honest, my biggest concern is the uncertainty that's sure to accompany Warren's eventual departure. But, as has often been said, that's largely baked into BRK's recent price performance vis-a-vis that of the market.

So for now I'll likely shed the RSP and replace it with more QQQE, as I'm indeed a bit lazy, and don't want to deal with anything very complicated.

Tom