I remember visiting Ireland with my father as a teenager. A local in my father’s hometown referred to someone “having more tricks than a lorry load of monkeys” which as stuck with me nearly 50 years later.
We have a little over 200 units / 18 story building and the associations insurance covers the building shell and structure. I assume because of the $$$ involved this is a commercial policy. I was advised by one of the board members of the 20 year requirement. I am not sure if this is a Florida thing for hurricane resilience or a way to keep the premiums manageable?
I purchased a condo in 2005 and lived there since. The condo fees were $450 at the time and are now $1200/month. This calculates to 5% annual compound interest. Some points to note:
The developer set the HOA rates artificially low to be attractive in the market place. The first real reserves study revealed this.
The increases were modest for a number of years but the biggest increases have been over the past 6 years or so.
Insurance very large increases.
The collapse in Miami has resulted in mandatory structural inspections and collecting reserves for structural repairs in Florida.
As the building reached 20 years of age we had re-roofing done. You cannot get insurance if the roof is older than 20 years. Re-roofing also falls under the structural repairs category.
Our common spaces are also due a refresh. This has proven to be quite controversial but we are close to receiving the necessary votes to getting this done. We do have reserves for most of the cost, but do anticipate either an assessment or increase in monthly fees. Elevators also need an overhaul as part of the project.
The good news is the monthly fees cover building insurance, maintenance of the pool, gym, landscape, cleaning, utility bills for all common areas, trash/recycling, a building manager and two maintenance guys. Our association is well run and well funded. The set up here is perfect for aging in place. Supermarket (pantry) across the street, I can see the hospital from my window, and downtown is walkable distance. Better still I have not raked a leaf or shoveled snow in 20 years! I love condo living but the costs seem to be outstripping official inflation rates. That being said the costs of owning and maintaining a sIngle family home isn’t cheap either?
Very nice article, I am sure many at HD can relate. Now approaching 63 years old (young!), I think back to being raised, one of three children, by my father in England. He had little more than an elementary school education and left Ireland as a 19 year old to find a better life. He had with him a small tool chest, containing some carpentry tools from where he had served as an apprentice for a couple of years making coffins. He passed 12 years ago and when sorting through his affairs I found old photos. A couple in an envelope here, a couple more there. I ended up with a small box full. One photo in particular stood out. A photo with his mother and 5 siblings. My father was 8 or 9 years old at the time. He had no shoes, similarly a couple of the others, and they appeared to be dressed in their Sunday best. Within a year or two of the photo his mother had passed along with one of his sisters due go the ‘consumption’ (TB). Growing up I had no idea of the degree of poverty he experienced during his childhood, and while I grew to understand more as an adult this photo was still a revelation to me. I often think back to how far he came, through hard work, perseverance, making sacrifices and making the best choices he could, while passing a better life onto his children as a single parent. We never had much growing up, but we never wanted for much either. My sister and I were the first in family history to go to university and have lived our lives with similarities and differences as you described in your article. All made possible by our father and hard work on our part.
During Covid I decided to tackle the renovation of our master suite. Jack hammering tile that refused to release its 20 year bond with the concrete below (more powerful tool purchase required), glass block splintering, drywall that left the studs in tandem with the old tile (not part of the plan) and hauling to the dump. I was still working full time and the project spanned vacations and the Christmas holiday season. Six months later we the beautiful bathroom was complete. The two smaller guest bathrooms have bern waiting in the wings and my wife has waited patiently as I kicked the can down the road. In February quotes from contractors started appearing! Message received. This go round I relented and have a tiling contractor do the demo and retiling, and I am enjoying getting the rest of the project done while still working part-time. One month in we are about 90% complete. The tiling contractor took two weeks to complete what would have taken me a couple of months. Better still we don’t have to endure living in a construction site. Money well spent, but it did take some nudging from my wiser better half.
I think your plan is an excellent launch pad for most people. As I look back, I have benefited from making 401k contributions every two weeks since 1994. Not through some great financial wisdom, it just seemed like a good idea to get the company match (free money) when I started. I set it and mostly forgot it. With the exception of over time increasing contributions with pay raises until I was able to max out the contribution limit. For many years the quarterly paper statement received in the mail was my only window into progress being made and I didn't pay attention to the stock market. Simple. Back then I did not understand the complexities of investing and the potential pitfalls. It is only over the last 5-6 years that I have sought to better educate myself. In retrospect I am sure that I would have been much better off today if low-cost index funds had been available as a choice in my 401K, fortunately I wasn't paying outrageous fees either. Over the past 2-3 years, I have been trying to give some financial advice to my now 30-year-old daughter. At first some suggested reading and websites, to no avail, and some gentle prompts to let me look under the hood of her finances. Eventually, when the time was right for her, she did allow me to take a look under the hood. Unfortunately, I found credit card debt (for which she was making minimum payments) and while she did have a 401k retirement plan, its balance was meagre and she was not saving enough to take full advantage of the company match. Today she has a simple plan:
Credit Card Debt is gone and several cards cancelled
She is automatically saving 10% to her 401K each pay-check
She is invested 100% in a low-cost Target Date Fund
I consider this a major achievement! When I saw the title of your article for some reason it made me think of an interview with Bono from U2 discussing the bands success and longevity. He said, in reference to selecting songs for an album, "good is the enemy of great". That might be the case for a rock band but not necessarily for personal investing / retirement planning.
To offer a different perspective. I think it admirable you took your responsibilities as a professor seriously, conducted yourself professionally as an educator and you did not take the easy way out. I am in the final chapter of a 40 year career as an architect. In the architecture and engineering world we have a “Standard of Care” we are expected to meet. I like to think I have conducted myself professionally and exceeded that “standard of care” over my entire career. I suspect much like you in your profession. Here at Humble Dollar we have people from all walks of life, that is the beauty of it. We are here voluntarily and not as part of our job. As such, I have no expectation that others will meet my personal “Standard of Care” for how they write or they how they vote. I do of course hope the contributions will be courteous and informative. I have commented above why I support keeping the up and down arrows.
I would have liked to see Mark’s simple experiment play out and happy to live with the results. I personally think there is a place for up and down votes. On the down votes side, I have observed on many occasions where enough has been written and I do not wish to enter the fray. By adding a downvote I believe I helped to express the collective opinion of the HD community. I understand it is imperfect system, such is life. I visit other websites and blogs associated with my other interests. It is alarming how quickly the comments section can dissolve into personal attacks and insults. At Humble Dollar I find the discourse to be courteous and educational. I believe the down votes have been a positive force which helped the HD community police itself. Imperfect, but what we have, or should I say used to have, and I respectfully suggest part of the reason Jonathan kept them in place.
From personal experience layoffs are a tricky subject and there’s a great deal of nuance. For the largest of companies that have 10s of thousands of employees there can be many factors which drive layoffs. Whether it be economic conditions, change in direction of the company, management or mismanagement, or simply pleasing Wall Street! For many reasons the process for performing layoffs may seem sterile but unfortunately from an HR and business security perspective it has to be. Many employees for large companies receive very generous severance packages. For small companies there is little incentive to let people go, they are our number one resource. It can take a long time and financial resources to replace the employees further down the line. But circumstances outside of the business’ control can make layoffs a necessary evil in order to keep the doors open. I work in the architecture and engineering field. In July 2008 it was announced that I would manage our local office of about 50 employees starting January 1, 2009. In July 2008 business was booming, and we couldn’t hire someone if we tried. September 15 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. By January 1, 2009, I inherited an office with a rapidly declining book of business as clients cancelled projects. We were a satellite office and also navigating the proclamations received from ‘mothership’. On the personal side of things my was wife was laid off while I was simultaneously planning a business future with fewer employees. Without doubt this was the hardest time of my career. Not because of the long hours spent trying to keep the business viable but because letting people go was so emotional and stressful. I knew everyone personally and knew the impact this would have on their families / personal life. The list of those to be let go changed 3-4 times a day as I sweated the details and consulted with senior colleagues. If skillsets were similar, what if one employee has two young children and mortgage and another a single person who rented an apartment? Is there a right answer? There were many other factors to account for. I still lose sleep over the day when the layoffs were made and unfortunately had to repeat the process in January 2010. The plan for our office was to avoid the weekly lay-off scenario. We also wanted to reassure retained employees that all things being equal we had a plan for the rest of the year. We watched from afar the weekly torture in other parts of the company.
From a purely $ numbers perspective being ahead of the curve actually saved jobs long term. When I received calls from mothership to cut more people, I simply declined, indicating that our business was in equilibrium and we were not the problem! I fully expected to be locked out of my computer the next day. Even though we carefully prepared with HR and tried to be as humane as possible during the lay-off process, I am sure the only thing the affected employees heard was the fact they no longer had a job. Severance packages, COBRA, resources we would make available to find new employment, in one ear out the other. Understandably so. HR demanded that e-mail be shut down. We negotiated the ability for employees to retrieve personal information from computers and to copy information that would help them to update their resumes/portfolios, under supervision, and allowed the affected employees to come back at a different time, after hours if they desired. While I am still happy working part-time, I am so glad I don’t have to deal with this aspect of business anymore. One size doesn’t fit all.
Comments
I remember visiting Ireland with my father as a teenager. A local in my father’s hometown referred to someone “having more tricks than a lorry load of monkeys” which as stuck with me nearly 50 years later.
Post: Living On Autopilot
Link to comment from May 9, 2026
It’s hard turning off the “reinvest dividends” button 😊
Post: Slow on the Draw
Link to comment from May 9, 2026
We have a little over 200 units / 18 story building and the associations insurance covers the building shell and structure. I assume because of the $$$ involved this is a commercial policy. I was advised by one of the board members of the 20 year requirement. I am not sure if this is a Florida thing for hurricane resilience or a way to keep the premiums manageable?
Post: The condo, HOA, senior citizen conundrum
Link to comment from April 20, 2026
I purchased a condo in 2005 and lived there since. The condo fees were $450 at the time and are now $1200/month. This calculates to 5% annual compound interest. Some points to note:
- The developer set the HOA rates artificially low to be attractive in the market place. The first real reserves study revealed this.
- The increases were modest for a number of years but the biggest increases have been over the past 6 years or so.
- Insurance very large increases.
- The collapse in Miami has resulted in mandatory structural inspections and collecting reserves for structural repairs in Florida.
- As the building reached 20 years of age we had re-roofing done. You cannot get insurance if the roof is older than 20 years. Re-roofing also falls under the structural repairs category.
- Our common spaces are also due a refresh. This has proven to be quite controversial but we are close to receiving the necessary votes to getting this done. We do have reserves for most of the cost, but do anticipate either an assessment or increase in monthly fees. Elevators also need an overhaul as part of the project.
The good news is the monthly fees cover building insurance, maintenance of the pool, gym, landscape, cleaning, utility bills for all common areas, trash/recycling, a building manager and two maintenance guys. Our association is well run and well funded. The set up here is perfect for aging in place. Supermarket (pantry) across the street, I can see the hospital from my window, and downtown is walkable distance. Better still I have not raked a leaf or shoveled snow in 20 years! I love condo living but the costs seem to be outstripping official inflation rates. That being said the costs of owning and maintaining a sIngle family home isn’t cheap either?Post: The condo, HOA, senior citizen conundrum
Link to comment from April 19, 2026
Very nice article, I am sure many at HD can relate. Now approaching 63 years old (young!), I think back to being raised, one of three children, by my father in England. He had little more than an elementary school education and left Ireland as a 19 year old to find a better life. He had with him a small tool chest, containing some carpentry tools from where he had served as an apprentice for a couple of years making coffins. He passed 12 years ago and when sorting through his affairs I found old photos. A couple in an envelope here, a couple more there. I ended up with a small box full. One photo in particular stood out. A photo with his mother and 5 siblings. My father was 8 or 9 years old at the time. He had no shoes, similarly a couple of the others, and they appeared to be dressed in their Sunday best. Within a year or two of the photo his mother had passed along with one of his sisters due go the ‘consumption’ (TB). Growing up I had no idea of the degree of poverty he experienced during his childhood, and while I grew to understand more as an adult this photo was still a revelation to me. I often think back to how far he came, through hard work, perseverance, making sacrifices and making the best choices he could, while passing a better life onto his children as a single parent. We never had much growing up, but we never wanted for much either. My sister and I were the first in family history to go to university and have lived our lives with similarities and differences as you described in your article. All made possible by our father and hard work on our part.
Post: A Life You Build
Link to comment from April 19, 2026
During Covid I decided to tackle the renovation of our master suite. Jack hammering tile that refused to release its 20 year bond with the concrete below (more powerful tool purchase required), glass block splintering, drywall that left the studs in tandem with the old tile (not part of the plan) and hauling to the dump. I was still working full time and the project spanned vacations and the Christmas holiday season. Six months later we the beautiful bathroom was complete. The two smaller guest bathrooms have bern waiting in the wings and my wife has waited patiently as I kicked the can down the road. In February quotes from contractors started appearing! Message received. This go round I relented and have a tiling contractor do the demo and retiling, and I am enjoying getting the rest of the project done while still working part-time. One month in we are about 90% complete. The tiling contractor took two weeks to complete what would have taken me a couple of months. Better still we don’t have to endure living in a construction site. Money well spent, but it did take some nudging from my wiser better half.
Post: Scent of a Cheapskate: Frugality Gone Wrong
Link to comment from April 18, 2026
I think your plan is an excellent launch pad for most people. As I look back, I have benefited from making 401k contributions every two weeks since 1994. Not through some great financial wisdom, it just seemed like a good idea to get the company match (free money) when I started. I set it and mostly forgot it. With the exception of over time increasing contributions with pay raises until I was able to max out the contribution limit. For many years the quarterly paper statement received in the mail was my only window into progress being made and I didn't pay attention to the stock market. Simple. Back then I did not understand the complexities of investing and the potential pitfalls. It is only over the last 5-6 years that I have sought to better educate myself. In retrospect I am sure that I would have been much better off today if low-cost index funds had been available as a choice in my 401K, fortunately I wasn't paying outrageous fees either. Over the past 2-3 years, I have been trying to give some financial advice to my now 30-year-old daughter. At first some suggested reading and websites, to no avail, and some gentle prompts to let me look under the hood of her finances. Eventually, when the time was right for her, she did allow me to take a look under the hood. Unfortunately, I found credit card debt (for which she was making minimum payments) and while she did have a 401k retirement plan, its balance was meagre and she was not saving enough to take full advantage of the company match. Today she has a simple plan:
- Credit Card Debt is gone and several cards cancelled
- She is automatically saving 10% to her 401K each pay-check
- She is invested 100% in a low-cost Target Date Fund
I consider this a major achievement! When I saw the title of your article for some reason it made me think of an interview with Bono from U2 discussing the bands success and longevity. He said, in reference to selecting songs for an album, "good is the enemy of great". That might be the case for a rock band but not necessarily for personal investing / retirement planning.Post: Perfection, enemy of good
Link to comment from April 8, 2026
To offer a different perspective. I think it admirable you took your responsibilities as a professor seriously, conducted yourself professionally as an educator and you did not take the easy way out. I am in the final chapter of a 40 year career as an architect. In the architecture and engineering world we have a “Standard of Care” we are expected to meet. I like to think I have conducted myself professionally and exceeded that “standard of care” over my entire career. I suspect much like you in your profession. Here at Humble Dollar we have people from all walks of life, that is the beauty of it. We are here voluntarily and not as part of our job. As such, I have no expectation that others will meet my personal “Standard of Care” for how they write or they how they vote. I do of course hope the contributions will be courteous and informative. I have commented above why I support keeping the up and down arrows.
Post: Let the Arrows Speak for Themselves
Link to comment from March 28, 2026
I would have liked to see Mark’s simple experiment play out and happy to live with the results. I personally think there is a place for up and down votes. On the down votes side, I have observed on many occasions where enough has been written and I do not wish to enter the fray. By adding a downvote I believe I helped to express the collective opinion of the HD community. I understand it is imperfect system, such is life. I visit other websites and blogs associated with my other interests. It is alarming how quickly the comments section can dissolve into personal attacks and insults. At Humble Dollar I find the discourse to be courteous and educational. I believe the down votes have been a positive force which helped the HD community police itself. Imperfect, but what we have, or should I say used to have, and I respectfully suggest part of the reason Jonathan kept them in place.
Post: Let the Arrows Speak for Themselves
Link to comment from March 28, 2026
From personal experience layoffs are a tricky subject and there’s a great deal of nuance. For the largest of companies that have 10s of thousands of employees there can be many factors which drive layoffs. Whether it be economic conditions, change in direction of the company, management or mismanagement, or simply pleasing Wall Street! For many reasons the process for performing layoffs may seem sterile but unfortunately from an HR and business security perspective it has to be. Many employees for large companies receive very generous severance packages. For small companies there is little incentive to let people go, they are our number one resource. It can take a long time and financial resources to replace the employees further down the line. But circumstances outside of the business’ control can make layoffs a necessary evil in order to keep the doors open. I work in the architecture and engineering field. In July 2008 it was announced that I would manage our local office of about 50 employees starting January 1, 2009. In July 2008 business was booming, and we couldn’t hire someone if we tried. September 15 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. By January 1, 2009, I inherited an office with a rapidly declining book of business as clients cancelled projects. We were a satellite office and also navigating the proclamations received from ‘mothership’. On the personal side of things my was wife was laid off while I was simultaneously planning a business future with fewer employees. Without doubt this was the hardest time of my career. Not because of the long hours spent trying to keep the business viable but because letting people go was so emotional and stressful. I knew everyone personally and knew the impact this would have on their families / personal life. The list of those to be let go changed 3-4 times a day as I sweated the details and consulted with senior colleagues. If skillsets were similar, what if one employee has two young children and mortgage and another a single person who rented an apartment? Is there a right answer? There were many other factors to account for. I still lose sleep over the day when the layoffs were made and unfortunately had to repeat the process in January 2010. The plan for our office was to avoid the weekly lay-off scenario. We also wanted to reassure retained employees that all things being equal we had a plan for the rest of the year. We watched from afar the weekly torture in other parts of the company. From a purely $ numbers perspective being ahead of the curve actually saved jobs long term. When I received calls from mothership to cut more people, I simply declined, indicating that our business was in equilibrium and we were not the problem! I fully expected to be locked out of my computer the next day. Even though we carefully prepared with HR and tried to be as humane as possible during the lay-off process, I am sure the only thing the affected employees heard was the fact they no longer had a job. Severance packages, COBRA, resources we would make available to find new employment, in one ear out the other. Understandably so. HR demanded that e-mail be shut down. We negotiated the ability for employees to retrieve personal information from computers and to copy information that would help them to update their resumes/portfolios, under supervision, and allowed the affected employees to come back at a different time, after hours if they desired. While I am still happy working part-time, I am so glad I don’t have to deal with this aspect of business anymore. One size doesn’t fit all.
Post: America Doesn’t Just Do Layoffs. It’s Fallen in Love With Them
Link to comment from March 20, 2026