Go to the Forums section, click on the Login link in the upper right, click Forgot Password and they will email a link to set a new password.  Seems functionality on the blogs is weird as new posts aren't showing up once you click into them.

The goal that I have focused on the most this year has been debt reduction.  I started the year with about 50k in total debt and should have the debt down to 20k, mortgage debt only, by a week into January 2026.  That is a huge weight off in terms of preparing for retirement or cutting down at work (more likely moving to 75-80% time for a while, then full retirement--although it is fairly likely that, even after I "retire," I will either work tax season for a few years (make some extra money during a time of year I'm not likely to be out and about much in any case--not a big traveler and will travel even less once I get new kitties), or else I'll stay with my firm in a consultant role and continue working with some key clients for a few more years, as long as I can coordinate it with my supervisors so that there are some months where I work more and others where I do not have any client obligations at all.  That's all TBD--having invested so much of my life in my professional identity, it's hard to imagine NOT having one.

With the mortage down to $20k, I'll accelerate payments slightly. My current payment excluding escrowed insurance and taxes is $498.26 a month, with $430 a month is going to principal (I always round off the payment to reduce by an even number).  I'll accelerate that by $70 a month in 2026 and pay off $500 of principal a month, which will make the balance $14,000 in January 2027, and $8,000 in January 2028, at which point I will use my RMD to pay off the balance.  [I probably won't be entirely debt-free at that point, since I'll probably replace my 25-year old furnace in the next year or so as well as doing some other home upgrades, taking advantage of the HELOC I recently opened to spread the payments out over time.  Also, once the house is paid off, I will replace my 2012 car in 2028.]

I also took a look at my accounts and decided that I really need to have more funds that are readily available without major tax consequences.  I've been using my beneficiary IRA and Roth IRAs (as well as 0% balance transfer offers on credit cards) to manage large unexpected expenses for a while now.  And of course there's a tax hit for every beneficiary IRA draw.  So I've decided that next year, I'm going to contribute just 3% to my 401k in order to ensure the company match and then save the rest (currently another 15.5% of my salary) to a brokerage account to build up a liquid reserve, most of which will be kept in short-term Treasuries.  The goal is to build up at least a year's worth of spending needs in that account before I retire.

Finally, I've already decided that it's time to start tracking my expenses again--something I used to do religiously when I first started on this site in 2006, but which I stopped doing after 2015 after I made the change (in October 2014) from working as a part-time and/or temp tax accountant to working as a full-time financial planner.  Mastering the new career responsibilities didn't leave me the mental energy for tracking, plus I had a larger and more reliable source of income, so I stopped.  I just took the old spreadsheet I used to use (the Excel Budget planner from simpleplanning.net) and created a blank copy to start using in 2026.

Part of that is reviewing online subscriptions I have.  I've been somewhat loose with those, maintaining some that I don't often use "just in case."  I'm giving myself until the end of the year to "use them or lose them" and will turn some of those off in 2026.  (Except for the gym--the Planet Fitness $10/month plus $49 once a year price is so relatively low that I'll maintain my membership even if I only go a few times a year, at least for the moment. The next annual fee is 8/1, so I'll make a firm decision about that membership before then....I do need to do SOMETHING about strength training, which I don't seem to manage well at home.)

Also on tap for later today are taking a look at my benefits--it's Open Enrollment.  I stopped the HSA earlier this year in anticipation of turning 65 (there is a 6-month lookback on HSA contributions when you claim any part of Medicare; now that six months has passed, I need to sign up for Part A) but I started contributing to an FSA instead.  That's the part I need to think about.  It's frustrating because you can use an HSA to fund long-term care insurance premiums, but you can't use an FSA to pay those.  When I had the HSA, I used all or a good chunk of it to pay my annual premium each year, and I saved much of the rest.  I still have enough left in the account to pay half of my LTCI premium for the next two years, but after that, the premium will be fully out of pocket.

It's also self-review time for work, which means setting annual goals.  Last year we had just done the first of two corporate acquisitions so we really didn't do a full annual review.  The new company is a big corporation (11,000 employees in over 700 offices, compared to the original small family company of 24 employees in two offices), so I have to review what their process is like.  I've been procrastinating on that.  We'll also learn what makes one eligible for a bonus under the new corporate umbrella.  The old family company gave every employee a bonus (the same % of salary) if the company met its profit margin for the year.  The worry has been that the new company may reserve bonuses for "business development," which is more something that lead advisors do and which those of us in subordinate roles have had less obligation to do.  Those bonuses (as well as the RMDs) have been how I've paid off my debt, so losing those would be a blow--as well as a significant pay cut--bonuses under the old system varied from 5% to 20% with only one year that I've been here where there was no bonus.)

My friend Elizabeth is about to send over a Thanksgiving invitation.  I've gone to her house for several years, probably since 2017 or so.  Last year I skipped it and I will probably do the same again this year.  Other than our mutual friend Sharon, it's Elizabeth's family and friends, who I don't see other than Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Passover.  They're nice enough, but there's no one other than Elizabeth and Sharon whom I'm close to.  She moved the Thanksgiving get-together to her son's house a couple of years ago, which is further away, and with my new company, I only get Thursday off and not Friday, so I think I'll take the day for myself (plus the obligatory call with my sister).  Sharon, Elizabeth, and I are having lunch the following week so I'll still get to see the people I really want to catch up with.

It's hard to believe the holidays are here.  The building Christmas decorations went up yesterday morning and the city (Bethlehem the Christmas City) decorated during the month of October, although they haven't been turning on all the lights at night yet.  Yesterday was the first of four holiday Cocktail Trails sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and all over downtown people were wearing Santa Clause hats or outfits in red and green, so the holidays are definitely here.  At least the building hasn't turned on the Christmas Muzak yet!