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Dana Ferris, known here as DrLefty, retired in July 2025 after 35 years as a university professor (applied linguistics and writing). She is the author of many academic articles, chapters, and books and is also a weekly columnist for a San Francisco Giants fan site. When not working or writing, she enjoys exercising, cooking, and traveling. She is the mother of two adult daughters, and she and her husband live in Davis, California, where they first met as undergraduates at UC Davis. You can read her Giants content here, and her Amazon author page is here.
The "Mean Girls"/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
94 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 1/9/2026
FIRST: quan nguyen on 1/9 | RECENT: Brian White on 1/18
New Year’s Resolutions, Target Date Funds, and My New Friend Gemini
22 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 1/4/2026
FIRST: Dan Smith on 1/4 | RECENT: normr60189 on 1/8
Six Months In! (from Dana/DrLefty)
15 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 1/1/2026
FIRST: Brian on 1/3 | RECENT: DrLefty on 1/4
Another IRMAA Question
13 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 11/5/2025
FIRST: parkslope on 11/5/2025 | RECENT: R Quinn on 11/10/2025
Oops!
7 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 10/25/2025
FIRST: Mark Crothers on 10/25/2025 | RECENT: normr60189 on 10/26/2025
Thank you, Jonathan
73 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 9/23/2025
FIRST: Jeff Bond on 9/23/2025 | RECENT: DrLefty on 10/1/2025
Ten Frugal Habits
20 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 9/16/2025
FIRST: baldscreen on 9/16/2025 | RECENT: R Quinn on 9/19/2025
Am I Really Married?
34 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 5/6/2025
FIRST: stelea99 on 5/6/2025 | RECENT: DrLefty on 8/21/2025
The Half-Completed Retirement Transition
30 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 8/13/2025
FIRST: 1PF on 8/13/2025 | RECENT: DrLefty on 8/20/2025
Today’s the Day!
72 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 7/1/2025
FIRST: Ben Rodriguez on 7/1/2025 | RECENT: mytimetotravel on 8/18/2025
Family Dynamics, Part 3: What Do Adult Children Owe Their Aging Parents?
40 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 7/29/2025
FIRST: DAN SMITH on 7/29/2025 | RECENT: Richard Hayman on 8/18/2025
Family Dynamics, Part 2: Supporting Adult Children
48 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 7/22/2025
FIRST: David Powell on 7/22/2025 | RECENT: John Doe on 7/30/2025
Estrangement & Estates
59 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 7/10/2025
FIRST: David Lancaster on 7/10/2025 | RECENT: Brett Howser on 7/26/2025
In Short-Term Limbo
34 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 7/23/2025
FIRST: David Powell on 7/23/2025 | RECENT: DrLefty on 7/24/2025
2025 Retirement Countdown
40 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 1/1/2025
FIRST: Rick Connor on 1/1/2025 | RECENT: MikeinLA on 5/31/2025
Stay or Go, and How Do We Know?
41 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 5/2/2025
FIRST: mytimetotravel on 5/2/2025 | RECENT: Rob Jennings on 5/14/2025
Today's the Day!--Well, Sort Of (by Dana/DrLefty)
29 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 4/1/2025
FIRST: Ken Cutler on 4/1/2025 | RECENT: luvtoride44afe9eb1e on 4/5/2025
A Rental House? By the Numbers
3 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 9/11/2024
FIRST: William Perry on 9/11/2024 | RECENT: DrLefty on 9/15/2024
A Rental House? Questions to Consider
16 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 9/9/2024
FIRST: Michael1 on 9/10/2024 | RECENT: Mark Eckman on 9/12/2024
Final Arrangements: A Learning Curve
28 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 8/18/2024
FIRST: Jonathan Clements on 8/18/2024 | RECENT: parkslope on 8/22/2024
Aging in Place: Count the Cost(s)
3 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 6/22/2024
FIRST: baldscreen on 6/22/2024 | RECENT: DrLefty on 6/23/2024
WHEN I WAS A YOUNG adult, my parents sat me down and explained that I might at some point inherit money from my grandfather’s trust, which had also helped put me through college. My grandfather passed away in 1984, and his wife—my father’s stepmother—became the trust’s beneficiary.
My father was an only child. The trust stipulated that, if his stepmother died before him, he would receive two-thirds of the trust, while my two siblings and I would share the other third.
I’VE DECIDED UPON MY retirement date: July 1, 2025. We just passed the one-year countdown point, so I thought I’d share some of my ideas and plans for my final year in the workforce.
This countdown idea, of course, isn’t original with me. Indeed, there are apps that you can put on your phone to count down the time until retirement. I was primarily inspired by a retirement blogger named Fritz Gilbert. He’s way more decisive than I am.
MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE movie is the Coen brothers’ 2000 classic, O Brother, Where Art Thou? At one point, Holly Hunter’s character, Penelope, declares, “I’ve said my piece and I’ve counted to three.” Her estranged husband, played by George Clooney, understood from long experience that once she had “counted to three,” her mind couldn’t be changed.
Last summer, I wrote an article that explored the decisions my husband and I are working through about our retirement date and location.
MY LATE FATHER SPENT his entire career, from the time he dropped out of college to marry my mother until the day he died at age 61, in the insurance business. My father was also a huge fan of the San Francisco 49ers, our hometown NFL team.
Last year, the 49ers cruised through the playoffs, led by the team’s dynamic young quarterback, Brock Purdy. But then, in the NFC Championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles,
A LOT HAS BEEN written, here at HumbleDollar and elsewhere, about the “when” of retirement. Not surprisingly, there are strong opinions.
For example, I’m a member of a Facebook group where the overwhelming consensus is, “Don’t work one single day longer than you absolutely have to.” Of course, many people don’t have the luxury of choosing their ideal retirement date because life intervenes: They get let go from their job or experience health issues that dictate the answer to the “when” question.
I’M NOT SOMEONE WHO enjoys spending money on luxury travel. I’d never pay cash for a business class airline ticket or a hotel suite. Nonetheless, on a recent trip to Spain with my husband, we flew business class and had suites in all four hotels we stayed at.
We also visited lounges in every airport before our flights, had access to executive lounges at two hotels where we could get free meals, snacks and cocktails,
THE PROLIFIC MR. QUINN recently wrote that people who were irresponsible in one area of their life, such as failing to return shopping carts, also tend to be irresponsible in other areas, like managing their finances. He’s probably right. Still, I’ve had times when, even though I’m a “responsible person”—I’ve had a successful career, my kids lived to grow up, and so forth—I nonetheless had pockets of disorder in my life.
For me, the two biggest areas of chaos were managing money and maintaining a healthy diet and exercise regimen.
“I’D BE HAPPY TO JUST come here every year,” I told my husband. We and our two daughters had arrived on Maui 72 hours earlier. It was May 2000—and our first trip to Hawaii.
We’d signed up for a timeshare presentation in return for discounts on tours and activities. By the time we got to the meeting, I’d fallen head over heels in love with the place. The timeshare salesperson had an easy time persuading me to buy.
MY HUSBAND AND I WERE late bloomers when it came to estate planning. Though we took care of the basics when we became parents, such as purchasing term life insurance and naming a guardian, we never had a professionally executed will and trust until 2016, when we were in our late 50s.
Observing my in-laws, now in their 80s, made us realize how important it was to get our own estate-planning house in order.
Comments
Yes, left-handed.
Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 10, 2026
FINAL COMMENT: I want to thank everyone who has commented and engaged with this post over the past day. I think I’ve said everything I have to say about this, and I don’t want to further belabor the point and tax people’s patience. If you comment later and I don’t reply, please know that I appreciate your participation in this discussion.
Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 10, 2026
So here’s a good case in point. I know this could change in a few hours, but right now there are two downvotes to my above comment. I get that “I disagree” is the “message,” but I don’t know why or with what. How is that helpful to me or anyone else? Meanwhile, I’m left with this: If I make a substantive (and hopefully respectful) reply to a commenter, I get downvotes. If I make a friendly, harmless reply, I get downvotes. If you were me, what would you make of that? Would you conclude that you’re just not welcome/liked here? If you’re supposed to somehow take this (anonymous, vague) feedback and “be better” or “learn from it”—how, exactly? I understand this comment will get downvotes, too. I rest my case.
Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 10, 2026
Thanks for your comment. But there are two different kinds of downvotes that happen here:
- There is a substantive comment with content, and the downvoter disagrees with it.
- There is a perfectly harmless comment along the lines of "Thanks for your thoughts," and--why is that being downvoted?
I'm not sure I'd really characterize either version as useful feedback, but especially not in the case of #2. As an author of a post, I welcome substantive feedback. Indeed, in a forum, the entire point of posting things is to invite discussion. As a writing professor, I gave students feedback on their writing all the time. If I just gave them a low grade (which I guess would be the equivalent of a downvote) with no explanation or suggestions about how it could have been better, I would have been doing a pretty lousy job.Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 10, 2026
Makes sense, thanks!
Post: Four Weddings and a Wake-Up Call
Link to comment from January 9, 2026
Thank you for at least acknowledging that anonymous downvotes can be hurtful, especially when they are in response to comments to which no reasonable person would expect a negative response. I would agree that downvotes are either hurtful or ignorable. I can’t see any possible way they’d be instructional. A downvote either communicates “I don’t like what you said” or even “I don’t like you,” but it gives no information as to why. And you’re right that all of us get to decide how to react, whether to downvotes or to comments with actual content.
Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 9, 2026
Thank you for the reply, Bogdan. I appreciate the acknowledgment, even if I disagree with your decision to “keep it as it is.”
Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 9, 2026
From engaging in the discussion here, I think there are two competing values in play:
- The anonymous downvote arrows are needed so that participants can “police” other commenters who are behaving poorly. (Example: inappropriate political rant)
- The downvote arrows are being abused (or at least misused) against people who are not behaving poorly. (Example: “Thanks, and Happy New Year to you, too!”)
The same larger value underlies both concerns: commenters should treat each other with respect. I believe and hope there’s a middle ground where both values can be addressed.Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 9, 2026
Honest question, not trying to be sarcastic: If someone new (or old) does engage on the board and gets anonymous downvotes, do you think that feels welcoming to them? Is it kind and civil to them?
Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 9, 2026
Well, I apologize that I offended you, both in my choice of words in the post and in my response to your comment. But this is exactly what I and others are getting at. You’ve articulated your concern and now I know what it is and can respond to it. And since you were honest, I’ll be honest, too. I did think your previous comment was uncaring toward people who are being unfairly targeted by the abuse (your word) of anonymous downvotes: “hardly a reason for discontinuing it.” That said, I appreciate that you engaged with me honestly, and I wish you well.
Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 9, 2026