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FIFA Financials

R Quinn | Jul 19, 2026

"We got an 85” TV when we moved to our new house in May. I thought it was ridiculous (we had a 75” TV in the old place, and I thought that was plenty big enough), but my husband wanted it, and since he’s “taking one for the team” by working half-time instead of fully retiring, I felt he should get it if he wanted it. When it was installed, I said, “I feel like I live in a sports bar.” My husband: “You say that like it’s a bad thing!” 😂 This past weekend, he was flipping between the British Open and the World Cup games, and I do have to say that the golf course looked pretty nice on that big screen."

- DrLefty

A Can of Worms

Dan Smith | Jul 17, 2026

"David, I sure think that's true most of the time, still, I've seen some exceptions that just leave me scratching my head."

- DAN SMITH

Lessons on the Ground

ArticleDennis Friedman | Jul 18, 2026

THE OTHER DAY, WHILE walking to my mailbox, I noticed a summer class schedule for a private gifted youth academy lying on the ground. I assumed it belonged to one of my neighbors, who has elementary-aged children. Their interest in extra academics didn't surprise me. Many families move to this area because of its excellent schools. Parents here clearly value education. On any given day, it's common to hear children practicing the piano or violin as you walk through the neighborhood. I admire parents who encourage their children to excel in school. But as I looked over that schedule, I found myself wondering about the lessons that aren't taught in a classroom. Coincidentally, another neighbor's son had just graduated from college and was preparing to begin his career. If he were my son, what advice would I give him as he stepped into adulthood? After some thought, I settled on five ideas. Invest to Build Wealth. The most reliable way for ordinary people to build wealth is to become owners instead of just consumers. Buying shares of businesses allows you to participate in the growth of the global economy rather than relying solely on a paycheck. The good news is that you don't need much money to begin. What matters most is time. Starting early allows compounding to work its magic, with investment returns generating returns of their own over many years. Be a Long-Term Investor. If I could offer only one piece of investing advice, it would be to keep things simple. Invest regularly in low-cost index funds and stay invested. Trying to pick winning stocks or predict market swings is tempting, but history suggests that patience usually beats prediction. I recently read a New York Times column by Jeff Sommer that made this point well. Long-term market returns are driven by a surprisingly small number of extraordinary companies. The problem, of course, is knowing in advance which companies those will be. Broad diversification through index funds allows investors to own tomorrow's winners without having to guess who they are. Even if you think you're smart enough to spot those superstar companies, holding onto them for the long haul is a rollercoaster. They can be incredibly volatile. I've learned that lesson firsthand. A few years ago, my wife and I bought a small position in Nvidia (NVDA). It represented only a tiny fraction of our portfolio, but the stock's wild price swings made us uncomfortable. We eventually sold our shares too early for about $112, and the last time I checked, it was trading at $204. Do I regret selling? Not really. The vast majority of our stock holdings remain in Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTI), which owns Nvidia along with thousands of other companies. That approach has allowed us to sleep well at night while still benefiting from the market's long-term growth. Cultivate Friendships. Money matters, but people matter even more. Looking back, some of the biggest turning points in my life came because of friends. One college friend, Chuck, helped me get my foot in the door at an aerospace company when I was a history graduate struggling to find work. That opportunity led to a rewarding career. Another friend, Steve, introduced me to the woman who became my wife. That single introduction changed the course of my life far more than any investment decision ever could. But those special bonds don’t happen by accident; they require making time for them despite a busy career. Good friends encourage us, open doors we never expected, and help us through life's inevitable setbacks. Those relationships are among the greatest investments anyone can make. Give Every Job Your Best. I learned the value of hard work from my parents. When I was growing up, my father routinely left for work before sunrise and often didn't return until evening, six days a week. At the same time, he and my mother managed a 36-unit apartment building. My mother prepared dinner for our family before leaving for her own job each morning, returning home in the evening with just enough time to spend a few quiet hours with my father before doing it all again. Watching them taught me that meaningful accomplishments usually require persistence more than brilliance. There will be phases in your life when long hours are unavoidable. During those times, give your work your best effort. A reputation for reliability and diligence has a way of creating opportunities that talent alone cannot. Protect Your Greatest Asset. For someone just beginning a career, the greatest financial asset isn't an investment account. It's the ability to earn a living. Poor health can quietly undermine that ability. Regular exercise may not seem like a financial strategy, but it helps protect the income that makes every other financial goal possible. I recently came across a quote from a doctor in the comment section of an article in The New York Times that captured this idea perfectly: "Exercise, by its effect on skeletal muscle, can in part preserve cognition, prevent depression, prevent cardiovascular disease, prevent diabetes, prevent some cancers, prevent osteoporosis, and preserve independence. And the list goes on. There isn't a single pill on earth that delivers all of those benefits." Taking care of your health isn't simply about living longer. It's about preserving your independence and giving yourself the opportunity to enjoy the life you've worked so hard to build. As I walked back from the mailbox, I hoped the child whose summer schedule I'd found would do well in every class. Academic success opens many doors. But I also hope someone teaches lessons like these along the way. Years from now, I doubt anyone will remember a report card or a test score. They'll remember the habits that shaped a life: investing patiently, working hard, nurturing friendships, and taking care of their health. Those lessons may never appear on a syllabus, but they can make all the difference. Dennis Friedman retired from Boeing Satellite Systems after a 30-year career in manufacturing. Born in Ohio, Dennis is a California transplant with a bachelor’s degree in history and an MBA. A self-described “humble investor,” he likes reading historical novels and about personal finance. Follow Dennis on X @DMFrie and check out his earlier articles

Buying a car in retirement

Julie C | Jul 11, 2026

"I brought through USAA several times, but unfortunately they ended the program a few years ago."

- S Phillips

K-shaped Economy

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | Jul 18, 2026

A TOPIC THAT'S been in the news recently is the so-called K-shaped economy. Imagine a chart plotting the relative standing over time of those with higher incomes and those with lower incomes. Owing to a strong stock market and rising home values, the shape of the chart for those with higher incomes would extend up and to the right and has been moving increasingly in that direction since Covid. Folks with lower incomes, on the other hand, haven’t benefited as much from rising markets. Instead, they’ve had to contend with higher prices on key budget items, including housing, tuition and healthcare. For this group, unfortunately, a chart of their financial progress would extend down and to the right. Put these two charts together, and they form a K—hence, the K-shaped economy. Because this divide has been especially pronounced for young people, more parents are asking how they can help their children. But they aren’t always sure of the best way to approach this. You may have heard the story about the late Charlie Munger. Some years ago, a friend asked Charlie if he planned to leave his considerable fortune to his children. Specifically, his friend wondered whether too much wealth would impact his children’s work ethic. “Of course it will,” Munger replied. “But you still have to do it.” “Why?” his friend asked. “Because if you don’t give them the money, they’ll hate you.” On the one hand, this is funny, but it also gets at why this topic can be so difficult. In fact, I’ve often referred to it as the hardest question in personal finance. But it isn’t impossible. If you’d like to help your children—either today or as part of your estate—here are four questions I suggest considering as you develop your plan. 1. What problem are you most trying to solve? Some families are clear that they just want to help their children as much as they can today, to combat the challenges of the K-shaped economy. Other families are focused on the long term and just want to see their assets pass to their children tax-efficiently at the end of their lives. Both are reasonable objectives, but it’s important to have clarity on what’s most important to you as the first step. 2. To what degree do you value simplicity over tax savings? With the federal estate tax at 40%—and many states levying their own taxes on top of that—folks with assets above the lifetime exclusion often conclude that it’s worth spending virtually any amount on legal fees in an effort to defray that tax. But not everyone agrees. Other families see it this way: While estate planning strategies can be effective in reducing taxes, they can be costly to set up and to maintain. For that reason, other families decide to spend little or nothing on estate tax strategies. They accept that their estates might—and likely will—end up facing a larger tab at the end of the day. But, they argue, if their estate is large enough for the estate tax to apply, then by definition, their heirs will nonetheless still receive a significant sum. 3. Do you worry about the problem Munger’s friend highlighted? If you’re worried about impacting your children’s work ethic, then counterintuitively, it may make sense to start making gifts sooner rather than later. The key is to make modest gifts and to make them incrementally. When you start making gifts like this sooner, it can serve two purposes. As a parent, it gives you the opportunity to see how your children handle these smaller sums. Do they immediately head to Bora Bora, or do they save and invest the dollars they receive? Making gifts incrementally can also help the recipient. To the extent that the first—or the second—gift is spent frivolously, modest gifts provide children the opportunity to acclimate and hopefully to adjust. 4. To what degree would you like to control your children’s use of assets down the road? If you go the route of an irrevocable trust and plan to leave assets to your children as a bequest, you won’t have the opportunity to iterate in the way I described above. That said, you may still prefer to leave assets to your children in this way. The key challenge with trusts is how to structure the distribution provisions. Put too many restrictions in place, and you risk causing your children a lifetime of stress or, worse yet, resentment. But put too few restrictions in, and the trust assets could be spent unwisely and deplete too quickly. How can you thread the needle? There’s no single right approach, but here are four distribution strategies you might consider. Based on age or stage: You might stipulate, for example, that a child reach age 30 before receiving any funds. Or you might require that a child have finished college or be married before receiving funds. The benefit of this approach is that it doesn’t leave room for debate between your children and the trustee. The downside is that this sort of structure can be too rigid, because children’s needs don’t always align with specific ages or stages. The reality is that everyone takes different paths through life in ways that no formula can fully contemplate. I often reference the movie The Bachelor, which is a comedy but illustrates how an overly rigid structure can have unintended consequences. Annual percentage with no discretion: This structure also has the benefit of being straightforward, with no room for debate between beneficiaries and the trustee. In addition, a fixed percentage can help preserve a trust’s assets for many years. The downside is that children’s needs typically vary from year to year. They’ll want to buy homes and may have tuition expenses for their own children. For those reasons, a fixed percentage, while attractive in theory, runs the risk of being an obstacle to your children’s most important goals. Annual percentage with an override for specific needs: The benefit of this structure is that it provides flexibility if a child wants to buy a home or has other higher-than-normal expenses in a particular year. The downside is that it opens the door to debate between beneficiary and trustee. The trustee might deem a proposed home purchase too expensive, for example. Trustee’s discretion: A final approach is to leave distributions entirely up to the trustee. That’s the most flexible but also the most potentially fraught. If a trustee and a beneficiary don’t get along, this setup would give the trustee wide latitude to make the beneficiary’s life miserable for decades. No distribution structure is perfect, but it’s for this reason that I tend to recommend against this approach, common as it is. Adam M. Grossman is the founder of Mayport, a fixed-fee wealth management firm. Sign up for Adam's Daily Ideas email, follow him on X @AdamMGrossman and check out his earlier articles.

Will Your Death Double Your Spouse’s Tax Bill?

achnk53 | Jul 15, 2026

"Thanks for the reference. Very nice perspective by Sean. Don't lose the forest for the trees!"

- V Saraf

Many seniors think we paid for our Social Security benefits based on the FICA taxes we paid. Let’s dispel that myth- we didn’t

R Quinn | Jun 15, 2026

"It wouldn’t even have to be eliminated. Given data analytics today, it would be possible to track via tax returns spouses, young children, disabled children household income etc. SS tax could be modified to account for various life circumstances. There’s no need for one size fits all these days."

- Marilyn Lavin

Danger, Junk Mail

Sonja Haggert | Jul 16, 2026

"I hope you'll be as pleased with the shredder as I have been with mine: When I retired and thus no longer had free access to a shredder at work, one of the best purchases I made as soon as I moved to my CCRC was an Aurora compact micro-cut shredder. Convenient, small, easy to use, and no way could someone piece together the shreds. With simplicity and security being my priority in retirement, this is one less thing to worry about."

- 1PF

The Paradox of Wealth

Mark Crothers | Jul 15, 2026

"Mark, with time being our most valuable resource, it's unfortunate that most people don't put as much effort into managing it as they do their financial portfolio."

- Mark Crothers

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

Andrew Clements | Jul 1, 2026

"Jeff, thank you so much. I couldn’t agree more. Kindness has a remarkable ripple effect, often reaching far beyond the moment itself. Mrs. Dolezdal’s kindness touched my family all those years ago, and through her letter, it continues to touch others today. I think that’s a wonderful reminder of the difference even the smallest acts can make."

- Andrew Clements

IRMAA & late filing of tax returns

Danbo | Jul 15, 2026

"you are correct, Luigi."

- DAN SMITH

Mr Market visits Art Basel

ricardodiaque | Jun 29, 2026

"what a masterpiece, bridging the perceived gap between art and other established asset classes.. Ricardo has said everything that i always wanted to say and more.. to quote "In a nutshell–risk does not always come from whether something hangs on a wall or trades on an exchange. More likely, risk tends to be related to how prices are formed. So, if markets are irregular, and each of them follow an underlying set of logics, then why is collecting as an investment such a niche?".. while Ricardo moved from art to finance, i followed the reverse trajectory.. from my 11 years in finance (and taxation) followed by 18 years in art (and finance), i have come to exactly the same conclusions.. to add my 2 bits, since i have professionally valued equity and realty in my former role (at Andersen/ EY) and now value art (at Aura Art), i can say (with many real instances to back) that there is just as much method in the madness to valuing art as equity and realty (and much more then some other asset classes, like crypto, commodities etc).. thanks again for this piece.."

- Rishiraj Sethi

FIFA Financials

R Quinn | Jul 19, 2026

- DrLefty

A Can of Worms

Dan Smith | Jul 17, 2026

"David, I sure think that's true most of the time, still, I've seen some exceptions that just leave me scratching my head."

- DAN SMITH

Lessons on the Ground

ArticleDennis Friedman | Jul 18, 2026

Buying a car in retirement

Julie C | Jul 11, 2026

"I brought through USAA several times, but unfortunately they ended the program a few years ago."

- S Phillips

K-shaped Economy

ArticleAdam M. Grossman | Jul 18, 2026

Will Your Death Double Your Spouse’s Tax Bill?

achnk53 | Jul 15, 2026

"Thanks for the reference. Very nice perspective by Sean. Don't lose the forest for the trees!"

- V Saraf

Many seniors think we paid for our Social Security benefits based on the FICA taxes we paid. Let’s dispel that myth- we didn’t

R Quinn | Jun 15, 2026

- Marilyn Lavin

Danger, Junk Mail

Sonja Haggert | Jul 16, 2026

- 1PF

The Paradox of Wealth

Mark Crothers | Jul 15, 2026

"Mark, with time being our most valuable resource, it's unfortunate that most people don't put as much effort into managing it as they do their financial portfolio."

- Mark Crothers

Manifesto

Jul 19, 2026

NO. 30: INVESTING is best when it is simplest. If we own costly, complicated products, we’re filling Wall Street’s coffers—at our own expense. Don’t understand an investment? Don’t buy it.

Truths

Jul 21, 2026

NO. 9: BIG SALARY increases, especially late in your career, can make it harder to retire. As your paycheck grows, you’ll likely raise your standard of living. That means you now need a larger nest egg to sustain that lifestyle in retirement. The problem: You were likely previously saving as though you were looking to replicate a more modest lifestyle.

humans

Jul 20, 2026

NO. 72: WE ENJOY working hard. We tell ourselves, “I just want time to relax,” and yet relaxation doesn’t satisfy us for long and we quickly grow restless. We should keep this in mind as we ponder retirement. Contrary to what we imagine, we get great pleasure from working, especially work we’re passionate about and that gives us a sense of purpose.

think

Jul 20, 2026

HYPERBOLIC discounting. Suppose we’re choosing between a smaller reward today and a larger reward at some future date. To get us to wait, the later reward typically has to be far bigger, perhaps giving us a 100% return for delaying just a few days or weeks. Such hyperbolic discounting highlights how we favor today and shortchange our future self.

Money Guide

Manifesto

Jul 19, 2026

Spotlight: Family

Am I the boring aunt?

Laurianne Falcone | Dec 21, 2024

As I sit here on what the media is calling “Super Saturday” (?!?), I can’t help but wonder, am I the boring aunt? My husband and I are childfree by choice but we are blessed with five awesome nieces and nephews, consisting of 21 month old twins through 7 years old. I love the Christmas season but as a society, we’ve lost something with all the commercialism and commoditization of this great holiday. Thus, we give the kids money for birthdays and holidays.

Getting Roasted

John Yeigh | Nov 27, 2024

“YOU WILL ROTH!”
“But Dad, I’m only 10.”
“Evan, it is never too early to start saving. Besides, this gives you 70-plus years of compounding.”
“Yes, Dad, but didn’t you tell me last week that I need a job and earned income to contribute to a Roth?”
“We can arrange to get you a paycheck. I’ll get a friend or neighbor to hire you. What would you like to do?”
“I like to play soccer.”
“Evan,

Ageing and the Open Road

Mark Crothers | May 2, 2026

RECENTLY I TOOK a free ride on a driverless bus trialling its proposed route, part of my local administration’s ten-year rollout plan for self-driving public transport and taxis. I see real potential in this technology, and I’m hoping the infrastructure and implementation stay on schedule. That hope is mostly selfish, I’ll admit.
In fifteen years I’ll be in my mid-seventies, and I’d love to ditch my car and rely on cheap, dependable robo-taxis instead.

Guiding our Youth

John Yeigh | Jan 31, 2025

I have come to believe that we retirees can and should help younger generations understand the benefits to get going on their saving, spending, budgeting, planning and other aspects of life’s financial journeys. Yesterday’s article, which touched on this subject, was entitled “Getting Going” which also happens to be in honor of our humble editor’s Wall Street Journal byline.
We retirees have experienced the impacts of compounding, inflation, tax-creep, tax-law changes, up and down stock markets,

How was your Mother’s Day?

luvtoride44afe9eb1e | May 12, 2025

This holiday can be a stressful one for many families. Who plans it? Who hosts it? Do you go out for a meal or cook or cater in? Who is invited? Who can actually come (geographically and other commitments)? How does everyone get along?
After an exhausting but great Mother’s Day at our Jersey shore home on a beautiful day here my wife and I collapsed as I reflected on how lucky we are compared to many families including many of our friends.

Reaching Two-thirds of a Century!

Rick Connor | Sep 3, 2024

I’m on the cusp of turning 67. Since I’ll be spending my birthday in Slovenia, we went to NYC yesterday to have a picnic celebration with our older son and family on the Hudson in lower Manhattan. It was wonderful, with food, wine, and a delicious lemon meringue pie. We tossed the football and enjoyed the beautiful weather and setting. Later that evening we had dinner with our younger son and family at a marina-side restaurant,

Who’s a Senior?

Mike Drak | Nov 11, 2021

I SEE THIS LABEL used a lot. But it hit me that I really didn’t know what “senior” means. I know it’s used to describe old people. But truthfully, I don’t know what “old" means, either. We’ve been manipulated into believing that, when we turn 65, we automatically turn old—which isn’t true. It’s a mistake to label people based on their age, because biological age can vary considerably from chronological age. A person’s age is a meaningless number unless we’re dealing with hard-and-fast rules, like when we’re eligible to claim Social Security and Medicare. I like hanging around retirement rebels—people who are rebelling against outdated beliefs about old people and what it means to be retired. We’ve been brainwashed into believing that people aren’t supposed to celebrate their 100th birthday by skydiving, and that they shouldn’t attempt an Ironman in their 80s, start a new business in their 70s or complete that degree they never finished in their 90s. But “seniors” are doing all these things—and they’re the people having all the fun in retirement. Retirement rebels remain kids at heart, living on the edge, exploring their potential, travelling to new places, meeting new people, learning new technologies and entering marathons in different countries, and posting about it on social media. Are these people old? I think not.

Home Rich Cash Poor

Mike Drak | Jul 1, 2022

ACCORDING TO MY local newspaper, the average home price in my town rose 450% over the past 25 years. That made me ponder how I could use my home equity to fund my desired retirement lifestyle. I’m certainly not alone in thinking this way. There are three ways you can access home equity. You can sell your home and downsize, you can take out a home equity line of credit or you can take out a reverse mortgage. The first option isn’t attractive to many retirees. These folks want to maintain their current lifestyle, and remaining in their home can be a big part of that. The stories of COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing and retirement homes only reinforce the desire to stay put. Meanwhile, with a home equity line of credit, you’ll be compelled to make repayments during your lifetime. What about the third option? I find reverse mortgages quite attractive. They allow you to unlock the equity you’ve accumulated in your home while still living there. That sounds great. Why be house rich and cash poor when you don’t have to be? Yes, reverse mortgages come with steep upfront and ongoing costs. Still, they can play an important role in a retirement income strategy, offering the following features: They give you the choice to receive your home equity as a lump sum, as annuity payments or as a line of credit. There are usually no repayments required until the home is sold—typically after your death. They’re nonrecourse loans. That means that neither you nor your estate will ever owe more than the property’s market value, even if the sum borrowed plus accrued interest is greater. There are other reasons I like reverse mortgages. For example, they can significantly increase your liquidity in retirement. You can use the extra cash…

Life’s Not a Beach

Mike Drak | Jan 21, 2022

WE’VE BEEN BRAINWASHED by advertisers and financial firms into believing that retirees are a homogeneous group who all want the same things. They aren't. Instead, they have differing needs, values and wants, and this divergence is getting greater because of things like increasing longevity, dwindling job security and the elimination of pensions. Let’s consider the standard bell-shaped distribution curve—and then apply it to people’s retirement behaviors. On the far left and far right of the curve are the outliers, people who are approaching retirement quite differently. On the far left are the early retirees, people who adopted the FIRE—financial independence-retire early—philosophy and retired long before age 65. Joining them are the comfort-oriented retirees who never want to work again. They just want to relax and enjoy a safe, simple, predictable retirement. On the far right of the curve are people who intend to work right until the very end. We’re talking about folks like Warren Buffett and Mick Jagger. They have more than enough money to retire but have decided against it because they enjoy the work they do. Also found here are growth-oriented retirees who want to be challenged and keep growing. They view this time of their life as an opportunity to do things they always liked but didn’t have time for before, when they were working fulltime. But what about all the people in the middle, perhaps slightly to the left or slightly to the right of “average”? They’re all over the place. Many continue to work because they need the money to make ends meet. Others choose to work because they don’t want to cut back their lifestyle. The important takeaway here: Retirees across the distribution curve are fundamentally different from each other. Not everyone enjoys the same type of retirement. Each retiree has different needs,…

Death by Retirement

Mike Drak | Feb 16, 2024

I LED A RETIREMENT seminar some years ago at a large manufacturing company. During the question-and-answer session that followed my presentation, a 60-something welder told the group he’d never retire. I asked why. His response: All his friends who’d retired before him were already dead, and he didn’t want to follow in their footsteps. What he said resonated with me—because I knew someone who suffered a similar fate. Gino was a client back in my banking days. I really liked him because he was both street smart and salt of the earth. It was difficult to find work in the small Italian village where Gino was born, so he emigrated to Canada in his late teens. He lived with some relatives initially and eventually found work at a small manufacturing company. He worked hard for the owner, who took a liking to him because of his work ethic and caring attitude. One day, the owner asked Gino if he’d like to buy the company from him, and Gino—happily surprised—said yes. The owner looked upon Gino as family and wanted to help him, so he struck a favorable deal. Gino never forgot the kindness shown to him by the former owner, and he used the business to help others, just like he had been helped. People back home in Italy knew that, if they wanted to move to Canada in search of a better life, they could always find work at Gino’s. Everyone worked hard. They were one big, happy family and, as luck would have it, Gino found his future wife working on the production line. Funny how love works. Gino didn’t flaunt his company’s success. He didn’t live in a big house or drive a fancy car. He reinvested most of the profits back into the company. Because he…

Finding Your Purpose

Mike Drak | Jun 16, 2023

IN MY LAST ARTICLE, I wrote about how Harvard and other colleges are offering programs to help growth-oriented retirees find new meaning and purpose. Having a sense of purpose improves our quality of life and provides a sense of well-being. But most of us, including this writer, can’t afford Harvard’s program. That’s why I’m going to show you how to find your main reason for being within the comfort of your own home—using the ikigai method. Ikigai is a Japanese concept that describes a deeply personal process of aligning what we do with who we are. The beauty of ikigai is its simplicity. It’s easy for retirees to use because by now we should know ourselves reasonably well—what we love to do, what we’re good at and what we struggle with. I’ve used the process to find the work I do now, as well as to help others find the work that they were meant to do. To begin, find somewhere quiet where you can focus. Then go deep within yourself by asking four questions: What do you love to do? What are you really good at? What do people need help with? What kind of work could you do and potentially be paid for? Use a notebook to record your thoughts. Come up with a few answers for each question. It can help to go on long walks as you ponder the four questions, and also to ask these questions of others who know you well. [xyz-ihs snippet="Mobile-Subscribe"] Ikigai provides clarity. It opens our eyes to how we’re uniquely wired and what we were born for. It shows us how to put our gifts to work so that we work for the pure joy of it. The goal is to identify those things that we’re naturally good at, the things…

Ill-Gotten Gains?

Mike Drak | Jul 27, 2021

FOUR OF CANADA’S five biggest banks recently announced they’re going to raise service charges, even though they continue to rake in billions in profits. Taking advantage of people, when they’re struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic, is beyond comprehension—and it’s in direct conflict with my values. In their defense, the banks stated that the increases were made after careful consideration and that other options were available to customers. This is classic bank-speak. Roughly translated: It means we’ve thought about this carefully and concluded that we can get away with it. We’re confident that, while our customers will whine some, in the end they’ll take it on the chin and not move their business. After all, with our competitors doing it as well, where are they going to go? The banks aren’t the only companies not walking the talk. Another company I’m invested in likes to tout its strong support for mental health. It even hosts its own annual mental health awareness day. I bought into the good work the company was doing. But less than a week after its special day, it terminated hundreds of people. I’ve experienced termination, along with the depression, embarrassment, and fear of being unable to pay the mortgage and take care of the kids. I can’t see how terminating employees during a pandemic supports mental health. But if you thought that was bad, the way the company gave notice was brutal. Because of the pandemic and in the name of efficiency, most firings were done either over the phone or via Zoom. The conversations were usually short and to the point. “Your services are no longer needed. Thank you for your contribution and please clean out your workstation by the end of the week.” Corporations need to show some compassion—simply because it’s the…

FIFA Financials

A Can of Worms

Lessons on the Ground

Buying a car in retirement

K-shaped Economy

Will Your Death Double Your Spouse’s Tax Bill?

Many seniors think we paid for our Social Security benefits based on the FICA taxes we paid. Let’s dispel that myth- we didn’t

Danger, Junk Mail

The Paradox of Wealth

A Letter 40 Years Later: What Mrs. Dolezal Remembered

IRMAA & late filing of tax returns

Mr Market visits Art Basel

FIFA Financials

A Can of Worms

Lessons on the Ground

Buying a car in retirement

K-shaped Economy

Will Your Death Double Your Spouse’s Tax Bill?

Many seniors think we paid for our Social Security benefits based on the FICA taxes we paid. Let’s dispel that myth- we didn’t

Danger, Junk Mail

The Paradox of Wealth

Free Newsletter

Get Educated

Manifesto

Truths

humans

think

Money Guide

Manifesto

Spotlight: Family

Am I the boring aunt?

Getting Roasted

Ageing and the Open Road

Guiding our Youth

How was your Mother’s Day?

Reaching Two-thirds of a Century!

Spotlight: Drak

Who’s a Senior?

Home Rich Cash Poor

Life’s Not a Beach

Death by Retirement

Finding Your Purpose

Ill-Gotten Gains?