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WHEN I SUBMITTED MY first article to HumbleDollar almost six years ago, I was sure it would be rejected. I was a divorced, middle-aged woman living alone in a small apartment. I assumed my personal finance story wouldn’t be of interest to readers. Now, after writing almost 90 pieces, I realize my insights—while different from many other writers—appeal to some portion of the site’s readership.
Over the years, it’s dawned on me that some of my fellow HumbleDollar contributors have far more wealth than I’ll ever have. This was perhaps never more evident than in a recent post. A HumbleDollar writer mentioned his investment portfolio had dropped $500,000 in value in 2022. My entire nest egg was worth just over $500,000 back in January.
Many contributors pen articles about their travel adventures. This is one subject I have yet to tackle. I never got bit by the travel bug. I admit I’ve never set foot off the North American continent. I’m a homebody and an introvert who would rather stay on familiar ground than venture to faraway lands. No doubt I would be a huge disappointment to my Viking ancestors.
Many writers and readers have mentioned that they view their house as more than a financial investment. They emphasize how the memories associated with their homes are something they can’t put a value on. For me, a house is a structure. I’ve bought and sold three homes in the past 30 years. Each was purchased with an eye toward maximizing the profit that could be made from each.
A HumbleDollar contributor recently mentioned how living in a retirement community wasn’t his cup of tea. For my husband and me, living in an age-restricted community feels ideal. Our township—with 18,000 homes—is small enough that we can walk or ride our bikes almost anywhere we want to go. Several grocery stores, hardware stores and a large hospital are located less than two miles from our home.
Salaries seem to be a taboo subject on HumbleDollar. I retired after working fulltime for 30 years, having never earned more than $77,000 a year. I suspect many HumbleDollar contributors have—or had—much higher salaries. I’ve always been willing to share the details of my financial life with readers. Whether it’s my salary, my net worth or how much I sold a house for, I’m willing to put my personal information out there.
I don’t have a slew of initials behind my name denoting my proficiency in personal finance and investing. I learned much of what I know through the school of hard knocks. Getting divorced at age 45 forced me to educate myself about personal finance. I spent hours reading books, website posts and forums just to learn basic investment strategies.
I admit I’m naive about many subjects that are tackled by other HumbleDollar writers. I don’t know what an inverted yield curve is or why I should be concerned about it. I never needed to know how to open a backdoor Roth account.
So, what is it about my writing that appeals to some readers? I can only assume the theme of simplicity—which runs through my life—may resonate with others.
My husband and I have enough money to cover all of our expenses. But we don’t have so much wealth that we need to worry about complicated strategies to avoid paying taxes or elevated Medicare premiums.
Both my husband and I are content to spend most of our days at home. Over the past few months, we’ve developed a daily routine that involves training our dogs, taking walks through our neighborhood and enjoying the mild Arizona winter. Even the meals we eat are simple. A leafy green salad, along with a slab of whatever meat happens to be on sale, make up the majority of our dinners.
If there’s a unifying subject many HumbleDollar writers and readers seem eager to discuss, it would have to be pets. Many of us have an irrational fondness for the four-legged creatures we share our lives with. Whether it’s dogs or cats, we all seem content to shell out however much time—and money—it takes to guarantee happiness for our pets.
Kristine Hayes Nibler recently retired, and she and her husband now live in Arizona. She enjoys spending her time reading, writing and training their four dogs. Check out Kristine’s earlier articles.
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Not sure of the allure of age restricted communities but of course to each their own. I love seeing fellow neighbors of all age and it keeps me grounded. We evolved in groups of multi generation people and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
You sound like an extrovert. I’ll explain the allure. My suburban family neighborhood is loud. I have to constantly listen to illegally tuned up cars that teen kids own; motorcyles sans their mufflers that roar by at least 5x a day, screaming toddlers morning, noon and dinner hour. It’s stressful.
I am an introvert that craves quiet to recharge. I can’t sit outside when it’s nice out. I can’t relax indoors – the noise comes right through the windows. It’s miserable and bad for my mental health. Neither the city or police seem to care about enforcing ordinances: I guess they have bigger fish to fry.
I probably wouldn’t have this in a more expensive neighborhood…but I bought a home I could afford vs being house poor.
That is the allure of an age restricted neighborhood to folks like me. Because families today aren’t as considerate as they used to be – and age-restricted communities won’t allow this crap.
I too am introverted and value the sound of silence. When we lived in Oregon (in a relatively nice suburban neighborhood), our neighbors had two young children who ran around screaming. All. Day. Long. At times we were also forced to listen to the local garage band practicing their ‘music’ into the wee hours of the morning.
Now, in Arizona, where all the residents in our community are 55 or older, most of the sounds we hear are birds singing, coyotes howling and the cheerful ‘good morning’ greetings from other residents we pass during our early morning walks.
I get that age-restricted communities aren’t for everyone. But for people who appreciate peace and quiet, they can be quite delightful.