Home - HumbleDollar

My Recent Fill-up

Michael01670723 | May 13, 2026

"Also came of age in the mid 70s. I worked at an ice cream shop for $2.10 an hour after school. I thought I was getting ahead by earning tips on top of that! We do have other arrows in our quiver when it comes to driving options now versus then though. New and used EV’s are widely available, and in spite of fear mongering by some about their drawbacks, they work pretty darn well, with a much better driving experience. My cost to fill up with electricity is much less on a per mile basis than with gas. One also has the option to install solar if they wish to further offset that cost. Small cars are still widely available as well as hybrids of various types. One just has to choose to buy one instead of the gas guzzler‘s. Never understood why people buy huge trucks and SUVs and never utilize them for the size that they are when something much smaller would work just fine. I guess many of those owners didn’t grow up in the 70s and and/or have short memories of what could happen with gas prices."

- Bill C

Starting Up – Part 2

Andrew Clements | May 14, 2026

"Andrew, your two-part series really speaks to me. I also started my own business, ran it for over two decades, lived through the difficulty of the GFC, and grew as a person through the long slog of building something worthwhile. I always imagined I was attached to the business by an invisible tether — one that could snap me back into the thick of things at any hour, no matter where in the world I was. But that same business gave me the freedom to retire at 58 and step away from the relentless pressure for good. Great article. I really enjoyed it."

- Mark Crothers

First Job, Lasting Impact

D.J. | May 14, 2026

"My first job was seasonal, running from age 12 to 16. I grew up near a local farm, and fortunately the peak harvest for early potatoes coincided almost perfectly with the school summer break. That gave me nine weeks of solid, gainful employment — because once the potato harvest wrapped up, the hay baling began, and after that came the straw baling. By the end of every summer I had a full bank balance and a strong, healthy body to show for it. More than anything though, it taught me the value of honest hard work — a lesson that has stayed with me ever since. Some of my fondest memories are of sitting around the farmer's wife's kitchen table, where she'd pile our plates high with simple but delicious food to fuel the hard physical graft of the day. I don't think that kind of summer job really exists anymore. It's all automated now, and I imagine health and safety laws would have something to say about children working on a farm the way we did."

- Mark Crothers

Benefits Young Adults Should Look at Before Taking a Job

Jeff Peck | May 10, 2026

"Where I worked, if we wanted to create a new position, we had to budget the salary of the person, of course, and also had to add 35% of the position's salary for benefits. Very, very few people who got hired, I imagine, had any idea of the value/cost the organization placed on those benefits. It took a while for me, at least, to fully understand how valuable they were."

- John Katz

HumbleDollar’s HumbleDrivers

Dan Smith | May 13, 2026

"Thanks for the education. My wife and I plan to try the new mirror adjustment."

- Edmund Marsh

Best method for buying home for permanently disabled daughter (SSI and ABLE account)

Dianne Baumert-Moyik | May 13, 2026

"Dianne, there’s more that I don’t know about special needs planning, than things that I do know, so I’m afraid I have nothing constructive to add to the conversation. I do want to commend you on all steps you have taken on your step-daughters behalf. Today's special needs community is living longer than ever before, so it’s important for parents to plan for a future when they are no longer able to help their special needs children. I am familiar with special needs trusts, but had to look up ABLE accounts. They are a wonderful tool for special needs planning. Thanks for educating me."

- Dan Smith

Retiring before age 65? COBRA vs ACA plan- important decision

R Quinn | May 13, 2026

"This is some good advice for some of our HD friends who are contemplating early retirement. We were in this situation when Spouse retired 2.5 years ago. I was old enough for Medicare and went on that. I researched what to do for Spouse and decided COBRA. Our old health insurance plan was generous and the cost was about the same as ACA that was less generous. Also, we only had 6 mos until Spouse would go on Medicare. So I am glad my thoughts on what to do incorporated some of the points you mentioned. Chris"

- baldscreen

Slow on the Draw

ArticleEdmund Marsh | May 9, 2026

RETIREMENT IS LIFE’S most expensive purchase. During our working years, we deprive our present selves of immediate pleasure by refusing to spend money for nicer cars, a bigger house or a vacation to boast about. Instead, we squirrel away those saved dollars with an eye toward keeping the future us fed, clothed and living indoors. At age 64, after decades of choosing to save and invest a large chunk of each paycheck, rather than spend it, I’ve bought a choice: Fully retire to fully embrace life after work, or carry on in a career that still adds purpose to my life. I’ve chosen to stay, but I’ve whittled down my work hours too far to handle all of my family’s spending needs. Thus, I’m faced with reaching into savings for the first time. More about that later. But first, where is our money, and why? Taking advantage. The bulk of our retirement savings is invested in tax-advantaged accounts. Until we reached our mid-30s, neither my wife nor I had invested a dime in the stock market. Since that time, however, we’ve stuffed dollars from every paycheck into our workplace savings accounts. Initially, these contributions went into traditional accounts, but we switched to the Roth option when it became available. We also topped-off Roth IRAs every year, and stashed a smaller amount in a taxable brokerage account. A little less than half of our total investments reside in future-tax-free Roth accounts. Most of the balance is tax-deferred, traditional money, which is subject to ordinary income tax rates the year it’s withdrawn. The distinction between how these two types of accounts are taxed influences where we position assets between those accounts. Accordingly, we’ve looked at two scenarios that may raise our future tax rates: One begins in a little more than a decade, when required minimum distributions (RMDs) from my traditional retirement accounts begin at age 75, followed by my wife’s RMDs a few years later, plus my Social Security, begun at age 70. The other is triggered when the first of us dies and the surviving spouse moves into the single filer tax bracket. Because we still owe ordinary income tax on the savings in our traditional accounts, we’re making Roth conversions and taking the tax hit now, at a known rate. We’re also seeking to curb the growth of our traditional accounts by keeping all our bonds there. By contrast, our Roth accounts, on which we should never owe future tax, are invested 100% in the stocks we expect to grow over time. Picking winners. In the beginning, my wife and I entertained thoughts of alternatives to stocks, such as real estate. Soon, however, we decided that maximizing market participation was our wisest wealth-building tactic. As our knowledge of finance grew, we further refined our focus by choosing broad-based, low-cost index funds over other options, for good reason: They out-perform actively-managed funds. I don’t doubt the intelligence of active fund managers. On the contrary, I suspect they carry bigger brains than me, and know they command more resources to sniff-out future winning stocks. But they swim in a tank with fish just as big, and it's tough to get a fin up on the competition. The result: Each year, index funds finish strokes ahead of their active cousins. For the same reason, we’ve shied away from individual stocks. Have we lost out? I’d argue we profited. Simple diversity. Moving into retirement, my ideal portfolio is heavily influenced by decades of working closely with older patients in my physical therapy practice. I’ve followed a number of folks as they age from their vibrant, active 60s through the years of physical deterioration. Along the way, I’ve observed the cognitive decline that affects most of us as we age. I don’t count on escaping a similar fate. Hence, rather than covering every corner of the stock market with a complicated collection of index funds, my wife and I have been shifting toward a two- or three-fund portfolio, to achieve the same result. We aim to hold shares in virtually every public company across the globe, housed in two funds, plus one bond fund. Our choice for U.S. stocks is Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (symbol: VTSAX). For foreign stocks, we like Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTIAX). Tending to just two stock funds cuts complexity, especially decisions like when to rebalance and how to go about it. Aside from the biases that affect most of us, there’s that issue of our aging brains, again. Why fret about realigning our investments when just keeping track of medical appointments has become a challenge? To further simplify our lives, at a bit more expense, we could let Vanguard Group, Inc. do all the work with their Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund (VTWAX).. Picking our peril. Our nest egg is weighted a little heavily toward stocks, which means its sum will rise and fall with the market. That can be unnerving, but it’s the price we'll pay for the extra risk that gives us a shot at outpacing inflation. Without the long-term growth provided by stocks, our buying power might not keep pace with our expected long lives. That strategy is fine when the market is riding high, but where do we go for spending money when stocks are in a slump? Selling depressed stocks in a pinch to raise cash is hazardous to our wealth. For that reason, the balance of our savings is in mostly short-term government bonds and cash, enough of a cushion to cover several years of expenses until the market regains its footing. To be sure, that money is mostly idle, but it's ready when needed. When I finally clock my last-day-forever in the clinic, we might buy an income annuity to replace earned income with insured money to add to my wife’s modest Social Security check, which she expects to start collecting in a little over a year. This combination of regular monthly paychecks would provide a floor of income to keep the household going, and bolster our courage to boot, when the market hits the skids. Drawing it down. Meanwhile, we’ve yet to settle on a plan to siphon off savings to pay the bills not covered by my part-time income. At the moment, there’s little pressure to find the perfect formula. For starters, we’re not calculating the highest withdrawal rate our investments will bear to bankroll a spending spree. Also, part of our retirement preparation included holding steady to a frugal lifestyle and eliminating debt. Our low expenses give us breathing space to decide how to replenish our cash account. Why the dithering? It turns out nailing down a withdrawal plan is my toughest financial decision to date. But it’s not the math that has me stymied. Rather, it’s the emotion. Yes, I believe the research, and I’ve run analyses that assure me our money will probably outlive us. Still, thinking of pushing start makes me queasy, so we’re sliding into the task. Instead of a rate, we’ve chosen the dollar amount that sustains our current lifestyle over the coming year. It falls short of the figure we expect to reach once we’ve limbered up our spending legs, but one allows us to work up to a rate that doesn’t outpace my level of comfort. Ed is a semi-retired physical therapist who lives and works in a small community near Atlanta. When he's not spending time with his church, family or friends, you may find him tending his garden and wondering if he will ever fully retire. Check out Ed’s earlier articles.

The Mirrored Funnel

Mark Crothers | May 10, 2026

"My original plan was to sell the business, take 18 months off and maybe pick up some low-key, stress-free work — but that idea didn't last long once I realised how much I loved having complete control of my own time. Enjoy your vacation! I'm on the Orihuela Costa in Spain at the moment… just back from two hours of padel in 90-degree heat!"

- Mark Crothers

Tax Season Wrap up

Rick Connor | May 11, 2026

"Thanks Marilyn."

- Rick Connor

Direct Indexing Anyone?

ostrichtacossaturn7593 | May 10, 2026

"After reading a few of the comments, I would like to clarify that direct indexing, or separately managed accounts do not create any extra paperwork in preparing my annual income tax returns. I receive a 1099 just as I would for any other similar account. As noted, the 1099s are very long but you do not enter every position. The provider totals everything up and you only need to enter the summary data. These investments are not for everyone, but in the right situation can be very beneficial. I have not paid any capital gains tax for 10 years."

- Howard Schwartz

Dickie and his magic beans

R Quinn | May 6, 2026

"Good one."

- Jack Hannam

My Recent Fill-up

Michael01670723 | May 13, 2026

- Bill C

Starting Up – Part 2

Andrew Clements | May 14, 2026

- Mark Crothers

First Job, Lasting Impact

D.J. | May 14, 2026

- Mark Crothers

Benefits Young Adults Should Look at Before Taking a Job

Jeff Peck | May 10, 2026

- John Katz

HumbleDollar’s HumbleDrivers

Dan Smith | May 13, 2026

"Thanks for the education. My wife and I plan to try the new mirror adjustment."

- Edmund Marsh

Best method for buying home for permanently disabled daughter (SSI and ABLE account)

Dianne Baumert-Moyik | May 13, 2026

- Dan Smith

Retiring before age 65? COBRA vs ACA plan- important decision

R Quinn | May 13, 2026

- baldscreen

Slow on the Draw

ArticleEdmund Marsh | May 9, 2026

The Mirrored Funnel

Mark Crothers | May 10, 2026

- Mark Crothers

Manifesto

May 13, 2026

NO. 42: WE SHOULD never take investment advice from brokers and insurance agents—because they have an incentive to sell high-commission products and get us to trade excessively.

think

May 14, 2026

RISK TOLERANCE. Objectively, we may be able to take a lot of investment risk because we have a secure job and a long time horizon. But before we invest heavily in stocks, we should consider our personal tolerance for risk. This isn’t easy because it changes with the market: We grow braver as stock prices climb—and fearful when the market falls.

humans

May 13, 2026

NO. 13: WE'RE GIVEN to inertia. Even if our financial situation is bad, we fear any change will make it even worse—and we’ll end up racked with regret. Such fear can leave us holding bum investments we should have ditched years ago. Still, inertia isn’t all bad. It takes effort to sign up for the 401(k). But once we have, we tend to stick with it, thanks to inertia.

act

May 13, 2026

USE TWO-FACTOR authentication. If a thief gets online access to your financial accounts, your life’s savings could be at risk. What to do? If your bank, brokerage firm or fund company offers it, set up two-factor authentication. Your financial firm will text you a special access code every time you log on or when you log on from an unrecognized computer.

Money Guide

Manifesto

May 13, 2026

NO. 42: WE SHOULD never take investment advice from brokers and insurance agents—because they have an incentive to sell high-commission products and get us to trade excessively.

Spotlight: Cars

When does leasing a car make financial sense?

Jonathan Clements | Apr 12, 2021

Our Chosen Road

Kenyon Sayler | Apr 12, 2022

CONSUMER REPORTS and other authorities will tell you that you get the greatest value for your car-buying dollar by purchasing a two- or three-year-old vehicle. They also often recommend selling your current car after you’ve owned it for about seven years.
We favor a different strategy—one that suits our family but certainly isn’t for everybody.
My wife’s No. 1 priority is that her vehicle be reliable. She insists that every time she gets in the car,

Ode to a Civic

Isaac Cathey | Dec 23, 2020

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM posits that a car is a poor investment, at least from a financial standpoint. It’s extraordinarily difficult to turn a profit, especially over the long term.
According to Carfax, the owner of a new car can expect the vehicle to lose 20% of its value in the first year and 10% annually thereafter. Beyond depreciation, owning a car involves fuel and maintenance costs, insurance premiums, parking fees, registration fees, tolls, sales tax,

Taking Back the Wheel

Michael Perry | Nov 11, 2023

WE FLEW BACK TO the U.S. last week from Madrid, and were reunited with our car of 12 years. After selling our house in late 2022 and going nomadic, we had headed to Europe six months ago, opting to have our 2008 Lexus SUV professionally stored.
In an earlier article, I recounted the thought process behind this decision. Suffice it to say, we chose this option largely because we had no firm plans for when we’d need our car again,

My Big Brother

Ken Begley | Nov 6, 2024

AUTO INSURANCE HAS been getting more and more expensive in recent years. There are many reasons: New cars cost more, extreme weather, folks seem to be suing more often, and so on.
Our daughter Brenda called me, asking if I could look over her auto policy to see if there was a way to lower her premiums. We have our car insurance with the same company. On the company’s website, I came across something called “Safe Pilot.” Many insurers have similar programs.

Fit to Be Bought

Ron Wayne | Oct 21, 2021

I ALMOST NEVER MAKE fast decisions. But I bought a used car in August immediately after seeing it. If I hadn’t, I might still be looking.
Inventories for new cars are at record lows. Prices for used vehicles are at record highs. This was not the year to buy another car, but I wanted to replace my 14-year-old Mazda sedan with a more reliable vehicle for long trips to see my children. I was tired of months isolated at home,

What If You Don’t Want to See the World?

Mark Crothers | Aug 28, 2025

From my readings on this site, I seem to be in the minority on a particularly popular and expensive retirement pastime: foreign travel. Over the years, I've traveled a fair part of the world, from wide-ranging business travel throughout Europe and extensive global leisure travel on every continent other than, strangely enough, the Americas (except for the Caribbean). I still travel. For instance, I was in the Canary Islands just off the coast of North Africa for a 60th birthday celebration in February, and I'm meeting a friend from London in Spain for a week in late September. Suzie and I are currently organizing a trip for next August to see a total solar eclipse. But my enthusiasm for foreign travel has waned these last few years. Part of it, I think, is a subtle shift from the thrill of novelty to a deeper appreciation for more settled pursuits. After years of navigating airports, packing suitcases, and adjusting to new time zones, the sheer hassle of foreign travel has started to feel less like an adventure and more like a task. With so many popular destinations becoming increasingly crowded, the quiet, more peaceful moments seem harder to find. It strikes me that most would think this is a most inconvenient time to be losing interest in travel. After all, I'm only 58 and just recently retired. This is supposed to be the time! Get to it! Travel through the go-go years, the world's your oyster! But my travel now seems to have evolved alongside myself, tied to more purposeful and personal reasons. I have no real enthusiasm for destination travel. It has to have a meaningful reason now. Another example to illustrate my point, I'm thinking of visiting my cousin in Australia who recently lost her husband. I think it's…

So You Think Your Pension Journey Was Tough?

Mark Crothers | Nov 6, 2025

I'm a bit of a history buff (nerd), and lately I've been reading "The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History," a very good read if you have any interest in ancient Rome. I came across an interesting fact I was unaware of. We have a lot to thank the 19th-century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck for. He created the first state pension in 1889. But you might be surprised to learn that nearly two thousand years earlier, an empire was providing its military forces with something very similar. In 13 BC, the emperor Augustus established the *aerarium militare*, or military treasury, creating a fund for veteran pensions. The system offered Roman legionnaires retirement packages worth around thirteen times their annual salary, which could be claimed after twenty years of active service. I've known a few Scots in my day; fighting them for 20 years would surely make you deserving of a pension, and probably therapy. Interestingly, some veterans could retire as early as age forty-two with full benefits. It would seem FIRE has a long history, though their version involved considerably more actual fire and pointy objects. And we probably wouldn't want to debate the merits of FIRE with an angry legionnaire wielding a sharp and bloody sword. The system seemed remarkably generous and comprehensive. Veterans received land grants, monetary payments, or equivalent value in livestock and equipment. Augustus funded this through dedicated revenue streams, including inheritance taxes. This pay-as-you-go system, where current taxes funded current retirees, closely matches how most nations fund pensions today. Outside the military system, things weren't so rosy if you happened to be a slave or commoner; here it was very much dependent on family members to provide support, although life expectancy wasn't that long anyway. And if you had no family support, it…

Degrees of Doubt: When Higher Education Misses the Mark

Mark Crothers | Jul 16, 2025

I perhaps have a contrarian view of the utility of some higher education courses. This opinion has developed over the last 20 years or so, talking and interacting with younger staff I employed within my past business. Degree courses seem to have somewhat transformed into a business model, more influenced by volume over suitability of the course and proper weight being given to the future earning and retirement outcome expectations the course will achieve. To use a fishing analogy, casting the net wide doesn't necessarily provide the optimal catch quality, although the quantity of catch can still generate a higher revenue overall if the university business model is more focused on income generation over academic success. I question the suitability of some degree courses that, to my mind, are not well matched to employer needs. Not being an educator, my expertise is very limited and is based solely on observation. But I found that the one thing I always expected from an employee with a degree-level education was the ability for critical thinking. This has sadly not been the case on numerous occasions. Could this be related to the "cast the net wide" analogy? On balance, it seems probable. Moving on from academic quality or maybe I should use a less inflammatory “mismatch with the demand side for graduates” wording we come next to earning and retirement outcomes. With this subject we can get onto more of a data driven firmer footing than my previous personal impressions. For instance, studies indicate that approximately 20-28% of all undergraduates, depending on the specific degree course and various contributing factors, may achieve lower lifetime earnings and consequently poorer retirement outcomes than individuals who do not pursue a university degree. This significant minority underscores my earlier point about a 'mismatch with the demand side…

Success Has Many Flavours

Mark Crothers | Sep 23, 2025

Being in Spain at the moment, I took the opportunity to use the excellent train network to travel and see my father-in-law, who has lived in the country full-time since retiring ten years ago. He lives comfortably, if humbly, within his means. A UK state pension and a small personal retirement account to bolster it are all he requires. I don't think I could live on his retirement income, and I don't think he could have managed without the geoarbitrage he undertook to make it work. A messy late-life divorce a few years before retiring, and significant personal debt in the aftermath, left him in a very precarious position at such a crucial time in his life. It was a bleak outlook indeed, as he confided to me at the time. His saving grace was being able to hold onto his Spanish property and completely transform his outlook toward money and debt. By being diligent and making tough choices, he managed to climb out of the swamp of debt during his final five years of working life. I always think of my father-in-law's journey as a shining example of the human ability to overcome major hurdles. His ability to find a pathway to a modest but content and fulfilling retirement is humbling. Sometimes I feel that on Humble Dollar, the subtle underlying narrative contrasts this more basic type of retirement with a taint of failure. Maybe for some, by their personal yardstick, it would be. To me, that's not the case. Personal contentment and happiness, combined with peace of mind and a social circle of friends, are in my opinion more often than not a better measure of someone's retirement situation than the size and performance of their portfolio. To target a humble, modest retirement—by choice or by necessity—is just…

The High Cost of my Financial Ignorance

Mark Crothers | Dec 5, 2025

I was shredding very old paperwork a few weeks ago when I came across the brochure and policy documents for the very first retirement account I opened in the mid 1980s. It made me shudder looking at it and I was glad to shred the evidence of my past financial mistake. I think I've been quite fortunate in life when it comes to making bad financial decisions. If I'm honest, I think it's been a total of two missteps in the last forty years. But boy, did they cost me. My first blunder was the recently shredded pension policy documents. At the time, I was very proud of myself. I was only 19 and was way ahead of the curve with regards to any of my peers in actually having opened a retirement account, many didn't reach that stage for a further ten or twenty years. But the major mistake I made was not understanding the product had very high front-loaded fees combined with high charges for the individual funds. I later discovered that during the first ten years of the policy, only 98% of my contribution actually went into the fund; the other 2% was immediately deducted to cover commission and administration. This meant every dollar I saved started life at a 2% deficit. The impact this would make on future returns, combined with high annual management fees, was substantial. I can’t quantify exactly how much I lost because of the structure, but it was compounded by the fact I never revisited my choice of provider for nearly 20 years. At that stage, I was much more financially literate and felt queasy when I realised how awful the retirement account was. I soon remedied the situation by moving to a low-cost provider. My best guess is that my portfolio…

The Tax Man Cometh, and I Think It’s Okay.

Mark Crothers | Aug 20, 2025

Suzie and I recently spent a few days in London, while there we grabbed the opportunity to visit a few great museums. We thoroughly enjoyed hours wandering the halls and displays of the Natural History Museum and the equally impressive Science Museum. Though I suspect it should have been obvious, I've only just discovered that both these world class institutions are funded by public tax receipts. In my mind, that's a wonderful illustration of the tangible benefits of paying income tax. Solid examples like this of our hard-earned income being reduced by that “nasty tax man” can make the abstract concept of "tax benefits" feel concrete and real. On a personal level, I have never had any concerns with paying my fair share of tax. I know many people who work “cash only” with a portion of their income and others who really struggle with the idea of being subject to this basic fact of life. I've given up debating with them. I find it challenging to sympathize with the viewpoint that one should be exempt from this civic duty . I sometimes wonder to myself if these people follow their tax opinions to a logical conclusion? I feel that tax isn't just an optional fee; it's an investment in the roads I drive on, the schools my grandkids attend, and the safety we often take for granted. It’s the cost of living in a well-ordered society. By paying our taxes, we ensure that the benefits—from the inspiring museums I visited to the police force that protects us—are available to everyone, not just those who can afford them. It’s not just a burden; it's a shared investment in a modern country. I don't have to, if you excuse the pun, tax my brain for other examples . The streetlights that…

My Recent Fill-up

Starting Up – Part 2

First Job, Lasting Impact

Benefits Young Adults Should Look at Before Taking a Job

HumbleDollar’s HumbleDrivers

Best method for buying home for permanently disabled daughter (SSI and ABLE account)

Retiring before age 65? COBRA vs ACA plan- important decision

Slow on the Draw

The Mirrored Funnel

Tax Season Wrap up

Direct Indexing Anyone?

Dickie and his magic beans

My Recent Fill-up

Starting Up – Part 2

First Job, Lasting Impact

Benefits Young Adults Should Look at Before Taking a Job

HumbleDollar’s HumbleDrivers

Best method for buying home for permanently disabled daughter (SSI and ABLE account)

Retiring before age 65? COBRA vs ACA plan- important decision

Slow on the Draw

The Mirrored Funnel

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Get Educated

Manifesto

think

humans

act

Money Guide

Manifesto

Spotlight: Cars

When does leasing a car make financial sense?

Our Chosen Road

Ode to a Civic

Taking Back the Wheel

My Big Brother

Fit to Be Bought

Spotlight: Crothers

What If You Don’t Want to See the World?

So You Think Your Pension Journey Was Tough?

Degrees of Doubt: When Higher Education Misses the Mark

Success Has Many Flavours

The High Cost of my Financial Ignorance

The Tax Man Cometh, and I Think It’s Okay.